Attacked by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for speaking up for so-called traitors during the Jawaharalal Nehru University row, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday sought to turn around the current narrative on nationalism by playing the Pakistan card to hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Conscious of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s tough stance on Pakistan and terrorism, Gandhi attempted to discredit Modi in the eyes of the extended Sangh Parivar by painting him as anti-national for rushing to Lahore late last year without thinking about the consequences of such a sudden move.

On his way back home from Kabul on December 25, Modi had made a surprise stopover in Lahore and met Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He became the first Indian prime minister in more than a decade to visit Pakistan.

While participating in the debate in the Lok Sabha on the motion of thanks to the President, Rahul Gandhi criticised the prime minister for his soft approach to Islamabad. He contrasted Modi’s actions with the commendable job done by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government in pinning down Pakistan over its role in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai.

“Pakistan directly attacked this country in Mumbai. They trained and sent killers into Mumbai,” Gandhi told the Lok Sabha. “The UPA government succeeded in putting Pakistan in a cage… And what does the PM do? He decides to have a cup of tea with Nawaz Sharif, without any vision, without any thought. He destroyed our work in Jammu and Kashmir when he went to meet the Pakistan Prime Minister.”

One-man show

Gandhi further accused Modi of letting down the country. The prime minister, he said, “gifted Pakistan a status and put them out of the cage we had put them in. He disrespected the national flag, the oath, all those who died in Mumbai.”

Persisting in his attack on the prime minister, Gandhi also painted Modi as an “authoritarian figure” who did not bother to consult anyone before his Lahore trip.

“He did not consult the country’s able diplomats ….he didn’t even ask Sushma [Swaraj] ji. He just went there as if only his opinion matters,” said Gandhi.

He also taunted the ruling party MPs of cowering in fear before Modi and urged them to speak out. At the same time, he “advised” Modi to listen to people around him, naming Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and senior BJP leader LK Advani, all known to be outside Modi’s close circle of confidantes.

Defending the poor

Rahul Gandhi’s impassioned speech had been eagerly awaited by the Congress as the party’s vice-president had seemingly run away from the debate on the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, allowing a free run to Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani.

There was a view in the party that the BJP had succeeded in cornering the Congress on the issue of nationalism and that the Opposition had failed to present a counter-narrative.

Rahul Gandhi’s aides had earlier pointed out that he would unveil the party’s counter on nationalism in his speech on the motion of thanks to the President, as the platform would also enable him to target Modi instead of just taking on Irani.

Under attack for showing solidarity with the protesting JNU students, Rahul Gandhi pitched the row and the suicide of Hyderabad University scholar Rohith Vemula as an attempt to suppress the voice of the poor, Dalit and Adivasi students.

“The income of 40% of the students’ parents in JNU is less than Rs 6,000,” began Gandhi in his bid to underline the BJP as being anti-poor and anti-Dalit. “Why are you going after JNU students? Because they are poor, weak, Dalits and tribals? You do not want them to progress… you want them to stay behind? We will not let this happen. You will not be able to crush JNU or the poor of the country.”

Black money

His speech was full of digs at Modi and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Gandhi said the prime minister had failed to keep his electoral promise of bringing back black money stashed abroad.

“The Modi government launched a ‘Fair & Lovely’ yojana, to convert black money into white,” the Congress leader said. "Modi ji had promised that he will put people with black money behind bars, now they have come up with a way to save those people."

He did not leave out the RSS, even as BJP members shouted him down. “You have been taught by your RSS teachers that there’s only one truth in the universe – your own," Gandhi said. "That’s what you have showed us in the last two years. Nobody’s opinion matters. PM can’t run the country based on just his own opinion. Country is not the PM, and PM is not the country."