“Not Hindus But BJP spreads hatred and violence…” Rahul Gandhi speech invited political face-off, furore and even Modi’s interjections in Lok Sabha.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi in his maiden speech as the Leader of Opposition in the 18th Lok Sabha, lashed out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP, accusing them of destroying the fundamentals of India’s constitution by spreading fear among people and communities. Gandhi called out BJP and RSS as anti-Hindu. With a picture of Lord Shiva in his hand, he argued if BJP and its ideological parent organisation RSS, are true representations of the Hindu religion. He stressed on the significance of Lord Shiva symbolising the principles of non-violence.

“The Trishul of Shivji is behind his left shoulder because he symbolises non-violence. Hindu cannot spread fear, violence, hate. But those call themselves Hindu, all that they do is spread hatred and violence," said Rahul Gandhi pointing towards the BJP. His statement sparked off a massive face off, even compelling Prime Minister Narendra Modi to interject and say “this is a very serious statement to make, to call out Hindus who spread violence and hatred”.

In a blistering counter, Rahul Gandhi confirmed his statement was only and only directed towards BJP. He questioned if BJP had been allowed to appropriate a religion? “My statement was for the BJP. Are they the custodian of Hindus? Have they appropriated a religion? Not Hindus but its BJP that spreads the violence…Look what happened in Ayodhya. Lord Ram has sent a message for you”, he added as he pointed towards the Samajwadi Party Faizawad MP Awadesh Prasad who unseated the sitting BJP parliamentarian in the seat that also houses the Ram Mandir.

Unlike the past two Lok Sabha sessions where BJP alone had the majority, in the 18th Lok Sabha where BJP has been reduced to 240 seats, Prime Minister Modi interjected Gandhi’s speech thrice, while Home Minister Amit Shah rebutted twice, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh once and even parliamentary affairs minister Kirin Rijiju took turns to interject and give rebuttals.

Speaker OM Birla didn’t allow Rahul Gandhi to show the posters of religious Gods, stating the constitutional rulebook. But the INDIA alliance opposition bloc firmly defended Rahul Gandhi as BJP demanded the speaker to expunge parts of Gandhi’s speech. The Raibareli MP, however reached out to the Speaker to be above any political bias, calling the Speaker the supreme voice in Democracy. “Forgive me for saying this. On the day you were elected as the Speaker, I had walked up to you to help you walk to your chair along with the prime minister. You shook hands with the PM and myself. When you shook hands with me you were upright but while shaking hands with the PM, you had bowed down”, Gandhi said as BJP from the treasury bench objected to the remark as an insult to the chair of the speaker. Speaker OM Birla however called it courtesy to be respectful to the person holding the chair of the Prime Minister and is also elder to him.

In almost an hour long long speech, Rahul Gandhi delved into several issues- from NEET exam row to Manipur; from unemployment to farmers, but in first thirty minutes of his speech he tried cornering BJP over his election campaign narrative depending overtly on religion and communal politics.

In a startling claim, Gandhi said Modi had plans of contesting from Ayodhya but BJP’s internal surveys and indicated otherwise. "Awadh ji told me that twice Narendra Modi tested if he should contest from Ayodhya and surveyors told him not to as people will defeat you. So he went to Varanasi and escaped," Gandhi alleged with Faizabad MP seated next to him.​