Show Us the Evidence, Rahul

For a man who may soon lead the country, he still has to learn to think things through before he speaks

“Quite severe atrocities [took] place there…There is a set of large 74 heaps of ash there with dead bodies inside. Everybody in the village knows it. We can give you pictures. Women have been raped, people have been thrashed…” 

—Rahul Gandhi after meeting the PM on 16 May

Startling words coming from any politician of stature, but more so when the man uttering them is seen as a likely Prime Minister of India. This is a charge whose seriousness exceeds the compulsion of politics in this country where political opponents often accuse each other of various misdeeds without offering any evidence. The media, in turn, reports these allegations as such with almost no effort going into verifying them. But the mass murder of scores of people cannot fall in the same category. If true, it suggests the UP police and the state authorities are responsible for an act that exceeds in barbarity any other single act of the Indian state, even when you factor in what the security forces have been accused of in the Northeast, Kashmir or the Naxal belt. 

To just place this in context, it took the discovery of a mass grave in Syria, where as many as forty bodies may have been buried, to have the international community raise questions about a government as brutal as the one run by Basahar al-Assad. In contrast, the evidence offered by Rahul is scant, a few photographs of burnt haystacks and dung heaps, without the  testimony of any individual who may claim to have witnessed the burnings. No one else but Rahul could have made such a charge on so little, or have obtained an audience with the PM to air these allegations.  Certainly, no news reporter in any media organisation could have run a story on the basis of what was eventually proffered as evidence. So far, reporters who have managed to venture back to the villages of Bhatta and Parsaul have not been able to strengthen Rahul’s case for him.

Families say no one in their house or village has suffered the same fate, but they have heard that the police barbarity was far worse in a neighbouring village. Rahul may lack the experience of having negotiated such situations before, but surely some of those who number among his close advisors do not and they must have told him that rumour, exaggeration and invention often fog the truth after such incidents, as seems to be the case here. This is not to say the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) of the state is a benign force, or even to argue against a judicial inquiry, but none of this can justify charges that people were burnt alive and numerous women raped unless they can be substantiated.

In Selling Brand Rahul (which ran as the cover story in the offline magazine this week), we have detailed how Rahul and his team have over the years taken pains to build an image that identifies him with the poor and the underprivileged. Through a carefully crafted set of initiatives, he has made select public appearances and spoken largely on those issues that firm up this image. This strategy has seen Rahul unwilling to engage with the media on a regular basis or speak with spontaneity on issues that go beyond a carefully pruned list of subjects. Some of this may have had to with his experience in the past where statements about Mulayam Singh and Lalu Prasad attributed to him have led to controversy.

But at some point, Rahul has to engage with the way politics is conducted in this country. His early morning bike ride on 11 May to the villages of Greater Noida was a clear indication that we are now nearing a crucial test for the Rahul brand. Elections in UP are due next year and the personal stakes for Rahul are high, as he has clearly marked out the state for special attention. Perhaps, this was the context that persuaded his close advisors to insist Rahul take a bolder line against the Mayawati government. But there is a vast difference between a bold line and a lack of caution. The charges he has made need to be substantiated. And if they cannot be, then it is time he took a good hard look at the people advising him. In the end the responsibility lies with him. If he has to run a country in the future, he must show us the ability to accept blame for what is wrong and take the flak that is due. 

(The version printed in the offline magazine was based on Rahul’s quote as it appeared in the newspapers. Clearly he was misquoted, but the basic thrust of what he had claimed remains much the same. This piece is based on Rahul’s original quote and differs at some points from the version that went to print.)

About The Author

Hartosh Singh Bal