At one point during a stirring day’s Lok Sabha drama on Monday, Amit Shah, formidable home minister of India, rose and pleaded for “sanrakshan” (protection) from Speaker Om Birla.

Such was the severity of the rapier assault launched by Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lower House, on the newly re-elected, but reduced, Narendra Modi government.

Rahul excoriated the BJP on its brand of Hinduism based on “fear” and “hate”, telling Prime Minister and party “you are not Hindu” and treating the Lok Sabha to the rare sight of a shaken Modi and Shah intervening repeatedly.

Modi, who sat through the nearly 90-minute speech, rose twice to counter Rahul and Shah five times, joined in by other senior ministers, as the LoP held up an image of “Shivji” (Lord Shiva) to tell the BJP what Hinduism really means.

A rattled Shah went to the extent of insinuating a pro-Rahul bias on the part of
Birla, not a man known for his kindness towards the Opposition.

Narendra Modi. PTI picture

“Aap ek tarfa niyomo ke upar jaake unko riyata de rahe ho, manyavar. Humein sangrakshit kariye, aise nahi chalta (You are ignoring rules to give them one-sided concessions. Protect us, this isn’t acceptable),” Shah complained to Birla.

As Sonia and Priyanka Gandhi watched from the visitors’ gallery, Rahul’s no-holds-barred assault seemed to have thrown the BJP benches in disarray.

Members of key BJP allies TDP and JDU mostly sat silent but the entire Opposition cheered, particularly Trinamool and DMK members.

“Shivji kahte hain, ‘daro mat darao mat’ (Lord Shiva says, ‘Don’t be afraid and don’t make others afraid’),” Rahul said.

“He shows the fearless posture, talks about non-violence… and those who call themselves Hindu, they talk about violence, hatred and falsehood round the clock,” he added, provoking BJP allegations that he was attacking the Hindu religion.

“Aap Hindu ho hi nahi (You are not Hindu). In the Hindu religion, it’s written, ‘Stand with the truth, don’t step back from the truth, don’t fear the truth’. Non-violence is our creed,” Rahul retorted over the din.

Modi then rose to intervene — possibly a first for him in the last 10 years.

“Yeh vishay bahut gambhir hai. Purey Hindu samaj ko hinshak kehna, yeh bahut gambhir hai (This is very serious. Calling the entire Hindu society violent is very serious),” he said.

Other BJP members took the cue and launched into a counter-attack.

Rahul promptly said he wasn’t calling all Hindus “violent” but only the BJP
and Modi.

“BJP ko, aapko… nahi, nahi, Narendra Modiji pura Hindu samaj nahi hain. BJP pura Hindu samaj nahi hai (I’m referring to the BJP and you… no, no, Narendra Modi doesn’t make up the whole of Hindu society, nor does the BJP),” he said, adding that the RSS-BJP did not have a thekedari (monopoly) over Hinduism.

Pointing to the Opposition members, he said: “All of them are Hindus.”

Environment minister Bhupendra Yadav intervened, citing rules. He said Rahul lacked the “tarika” (etiquette), alleging he was continuously — and inappropriately — turning his back towards the Chair. He accused Rahul of tarnishing all Hindus.

Shah rose amid the uproar. “The LoP has categorically said, ‘Those who call themselves Hindu, they talk about violence and resort to violence’,” he said, demanding an “apology”.

“He doesn’t know that there are crores in this country who proudly call themselves Hindu. Are they all violent? Equating one religion with violence by a person who occupies a constitutional post, in my opinion, he should tender an apology before the House,” Shah said.

Modi bit Rahul’s bait the second time when the LoP said defence minister Rajnath Singh had greeted him in the morning with a smile, something Modi or even Nitin Gadkari had never done. He alleged there was “fear” among BJP leaders, even the ministers.

“The Constitution and democracy have taught me to take the leader of the Opposition seriously,” Modi said, striking an ironical note.

Rahul held up a poster with the image of Shiva and then displayed images representing other religions --- including Islam, Sikhism, Christianity and Buddhism --- to stress that all of them underlined “fearlessness” and “non-violence”.

The BJP benches appeared nonplussed initially; the objections started after Rahul shifted from the Shiva image to the symbols of other religions. Speaker Birla too said that showing such images was against the rules.

As Rahul again held up Shiva’s poster again, Shah stood up. “Showing pictures, accusing the whole of the BJP of being violent… don’t the rules apply to him?” he said. “This House can’t run like this. I urge you (Speaker) that the House be in order.”

Rahul referred to the BJP’s defeat in the Faizabad seat, which includes Ayodhya, saying: “The birthplace of Lord Ram has sent a message to the BJP.”

He pointed to Samajwadi MP Awadhesh Parasad, the victor from Faizabad, and said: “And the message is sitting right here in front of you.”

Rahul said the BJP lost Ayodhya because land had been acquired for the airport without proper compensation, and small shops and houses were bulldozed to widen the roads.

Agniveer

On the Agnipath scheme of short-term military recruitments, Rahul said: “One Agniveer lost his life in a landmine blast but he is not called a ‘martyr’. I call him a martyr but the government of India does not call him a martyr. PM Modi does not call him a martyr. He calls him an Agniveer. His family will not get pension. They won’t get compensation.”

Rajnath rose and rebutted Rahul. He said the Agnipath scheme had been launched after wide consultations and that Rs 1 crore was given in compensation to families of Agniveers who lost their lives.

“Whatever the government says, people know the truth of the scheme and we promise that when we come in government, we will scrap the scheme,” Rahul said.

Manipur

Rahul castigated Modi for failing to visit Manipur even once after ethnic violence broke out 14 months ago. “You have immersed Manipur in a civil war…. For the Prime Minister, there is no state of Manipur.” The BJP benches remained silent.

The Speaker

Rahul took digs at Speaker Birla. After the Speaker’s election, Rahul said, he had escorted Birla to his chair along with Modi. “You shook hands with me remaining stiff and straight. But you bowed during the handshake with Modiji,” Rahul said.

BJP members protested, saying it was an assault on the Chair.

Birla said the Prime Minister was the leader of the House and that his “culture” taught him to bow before seniors.

Rahul retorted that the Speaker’s post was for him the highest in the Lok Sabha.

He also attacked the government over the alleged irregularities and paper leaks vitiating national-level exams. He repeatedly accused the Modi government of enriching “Adani and Ambani”.