
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 19: While an FIR was filed against the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Guwahati for allegedly “provoking rebellion against the Indian State,” the Congress leader on Sunday launched a ‘white T-shirt movement’ claiming that the economic inequality was on the rise in the country as the Narendra Modi government was ‘busy enriching a select few capitalists.’
Rahul Gandhi accused the government of ‘turning its back on the poor’ and appealed to his ‘working class colleagues’ and the youth to participate in this movement in large numbers. According to the campaign’s website, a white T-shirt ‘isn’t just a piece of cloth’; it symbolises the campaign’ five guiding principles: Compassion, unity, non-violence, equality, and progress for all. These values ‘echo the spirit of India’s 8000-year-old civilization, built on harmony and diversity,’ the website said.
Further, it stated that rising inequalities rooted in income, caste, and religion demand ‘actions beyond ideology.’ The white T-shirt is a call for ‘just and unified India’ and honours the spirit of Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and its sequel, the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, the website noted. The white t-shirt will ‘echo’ the goals – bridging divides and making India a ‘cohesive’ and ‘equitable’ nation – of the two ‘yatras,’ it added.
Meanwhile, Monjit Chetia, a Guwahati-based advocate, lodged a complaint with the Panbazar police station in the Assam’s capital city citing Mr Gandhi’s reported statement: “The BJP and RSS have captured every single institution, and we are now fighting the BJP, the RSS, and the Indian state itself.” The complainant said the statement, made in a public forum by a person holding the position of Leader of the Opposition, was not an ordinary political remark.
“…The informant believes that these remarks were made with deliberate design and calculated intent to undermine the sovereignty and integrity of the Indian state and to provoke rebellion against the democratically-elected central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Mr Chetia said in his complaint according to the FIR.
“The statement made by the accused has gone beyond the limits of permissible free speech and the same constitutes a serious threat to public order and national security. By declaring that his fight is against the ‘Indian state itself’, the accused has consciously incited subversive activities and rebellion among the populace. This is an attempt to delegitimize the authority of the state and to portray it as a hostile force, thereby creating a dangerous narrative that could provoke unrest and separatist sentiments,” it read.
Mr Chetia said the remarks were a manifestation of Mr Gandhi’s frustration over repeated electoral failures. “Having been unable to gain public trust through democratic means, the accused now seeks to incite disaffection against the central government and the Indian state,” the FIR read.
“This behaviour is particularly alarming given his position as the Leader of the Opposition, a role that comes with the responsibility to maintain public confidence in democratic institutions. Instead, the accused has chosen to exploit his platform to spread falsehoods and provoke rebellion, endangering the unity and sovereignty of India,” it further read.
The FIR is in line with the BJP’s criticism of Mr Gandhi’s remark made in a rally in Patna earlier this week. Calling Mr Gandhi an “irresponsible and immature” Leader of the Opposition, the BJP had accused him of being “in the complete grip of Urban Naxals’ thinking process.”
The former union minister and BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad had said there was a need to change Mr Gandhi’s “tutor.” “You are the Leader of Opposition in Parliament. Do you genuinely understand the meaning of ‘Indian state’?” he asked. Mr Prasad said the “Indian state” represented the Constitutional identity of India as a free country. “It encompasses the President, Vice-President, Parliament, Leader of Opposition, State Assemblies… Supreme Court/High Courts, journalists…,” Mr Prasad had said, wondering if seasoned Congress leaders had stopped advising Mr Gandhi.