The media relegated the news of Modi’s accomplishments in the Nordic countries, replacing it with a juicy Rahul Gandhi in his tees in a Nepalese nightclub. The news channels cried hoarse, asking how the prince could, as someone labelled him, or how the scion of the largest or the oldest party in India could be seen in a nightclub with a Chinese girl, transforming soon into an envoy and a Mata Hari kind of character.
Funnily, she could have been another Nepali, whose ethnic features often can match one or other groups in the vast country, China. Someone else in the media wondered about the secret of not Rahul Gandhi not marrying despite crossing fifty years of age. From smoking hash to drinking the hardest beverages floated in the media, trying to paint the unsuspecting youthful and exuberant Congress leader in the nightclub as being unfair to lead the nation or the party.
There seemed a stoic silence from the INC headquarters, not knowing how to respond. Finally, I guess an unofficial and unrecorded CWC meeting was hurriedly called. ‘This is a plot against secularism and by the bigoted Hindutwawadis,’ (read BJP), cried the Congress party’s spokesperson. The nation’s hunger for gossip was not fulfilled as Akbar Road sleuths went into deep-sea mining, extracting a picture of Prakash Javadekar popping a champagne bottle. A few others from Akbar Road claimed that the rules of the BJP are now amended, and the party is now only filled with only jealous ‘Marga Darshaks’ quality of members.
INC was a trifle too late, as Javadekar, a BJP RS member, was relieved of his minister post in 2021. The cricket-crazy nation was not amused, which had witnessed every match won with champagne popping by the cricket stars. The champagne bit was no match for Rahul in a foreign country with a Chinese (!) and when Rajasthan was burning with communal strife. Our country has many things happening, and Rahul’s indiscretions will soon die out, like his previous trips to Thailand for ‘meditation’ and Columbia, for ‘inhalation.’
Rahul is not a nobody, and even if he is criticized as a buffoon, he is a star bettering Mr. Beans or…I do not get any more parallels. He is touted as the future Prime Minister of India by his untired party as often as the sunrises. But he has to be careful where he goes and what he does because he is not one individual but represents all Congressmen who will suffer by giving another weapon in the hands of Amit Malviya and the likes.
It is also important that a good soul (or half-sole?) former Congress President is not honey-trapped when he could spill all the State secrets that he claims to have in his pocket, from Rafale to Covid death figures, from the tweaked GDP figures to the non-existence of any railway network in Gujarat when the PM Modi claimed that he was selling tea in a railway station. Rahul is a repository of all secrets and must be accorded respect.
It is not uncommon that foreign spy networks allure political leaders with wine, women, and wealth to keep a stranglehold on them. I recall the case of the president of a neighbouring country visiting a U.S. nightclub but was filmed and passed for use against him.
Lastly, was the Chinese girl with Rahul, a spy? Wondered a few. Rahul went to attend a friend’s marriage, and the girl was the daughter of Bhim Udas, a former Nepali envoy to Myanmar. Some promptly spring up gleefully, shouting Aha! Myanmar is a close friendly nation with China indeed! I see that the Telangana Rashtra Samity demanded that Rahul undergo a drug test! (LOL). There is no end to the fun!
Cheers!
Sampath Kumar
Intrépide Voix
