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Modi bigger brand than Mahatma: How Anil Vij destroyed BJP’s high moral ground in Khadi row

Anil Vij's comment on Mahatma Gandhi shows why appropriating Gandhi will be a big problem for the BJP.

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Anil Vij and Narendra Modi
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As sure as dawn follows dusk, one can count at least one BJP leader to say something that will launch a thousand panel debates and hash tags.  And the latest gaffe involved a calendar, and shockingly it wasn’t even Daboo Ratnani’s or the Kingfisher calendar.  Recently, Twitter was outraged, when PM Modi’s picture turned up in the Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) calendar which showed PM Modi spinning the wheel A La Bapu.

In normal circumstances, no one really cares about the KVIC calendar, one is pretty sure no one knew such a thing existed, before PM Modi graced the pages. But once he appeared on the pages, hell break loose. Now this wasn’t the first time that the Father of our Nation went missing from the KVIC calendar (he wasn't there in 1996, 2002, 2005, 2011, 2012 and 2016).

As a PMO source put it, “Those stoking the controversy over the issue should realise that during Congress rule of 50 years, the sale of khadi remained restricted to 2 per cent to 7 per cent but in last two years, the sale has seen an unprecedented jump of 34 per cent. This is because of PM’s efforts to popularise khadi.”

The BJP at least had a solid defence, and could point to the fact that PM Modi had gone out of his way to promote khadi and the criticism was the usual ‘liberals crying wolf’ but then Anil Vij happened.

Now Mr Vij, for the uninitiated is that special breed of Indian politician – like Abu Azmi, Sakshi Maharaj, Yogi Adityanath, Azam Khan and co – without whose existence a section of the media would be sitting around twiddling their thumbs. Sure enough, Vij had a unique take on the controversy and threw in an economy less as well, linking the Mahatma's picture to devaluation of the Indian rupee!  

Vij had said: “It’s good that Modi’s photo replaced that of Gandhi’s in the calendar. Modi is a better brand name. From the time Gandhi’s name has been associated with Khadi, the industry has never been able to stand up. Khadi has drowned. The day Gandhi came on the rupee, its devaluation started. Gradually, he will be removed from the notes also". 

While we as a nation have obviously whitewashed the Mahatma, there's no denying he is inarguably India’s greatest export around the world. Comparing Mahatma and Modi is sacrilege, or as a colleague pointed out, is a stupid as claiming that the current Pope was a bigger brand than Jesus! It doesn't matter if one is making a valid point, invoking Bapu is like bringing the Indian Army into an argument. It's the Deus Ex Machina of debates, a contrived device following which there can be no sane discussion.

Now Mr Anil Vij, like the rest of us is entitled to his beliefs, but if your opinion gives Robert Vadra to take a moral high ground, then you're probably better off keeping them to yourself. Replying to the controversy, the nation’s least favourite son-in-law said: “I want to tell the BJP mantri, Anil Vij that the kind of statements you have made about the father of nation are stupendously idiotic. Such disrespect to Bapu will not be tolerated by Indians.”

Anil Vij is no stranger to controversies, and is often in the news for saying the exact thing that the press want him to. Over the last couple of years, he has been in the news for everything – from criticising Vijender Singh for going professional to choice of Parineeti Chopra as a Haryana ambassador for Beti Bachao Beti Padhao andolan. He once had a public argument with a woman IPS officer and asked her to get out, has accused his own state CID of spying on him and often takes potshots at Haryana CM Khattar as well. In fact, he was one of the lead-runners for the CM post in Haryana and hasn’t taken too kindly to being overlooked for the top job.

But Vij is a rare politician in the sense that he speaks in his mind, and his comments on Gandhi will probably be echoed by several BJP and RSS members off-the-record. And his comments show the dilemma, Gandhi's legacy presents for the BJP. Even though the PM has used Gandhi’s name to promote many of the Govt’s schemes including Swacch Bharat, the RSS’ stance on Gandhi presents a problem. The RSS’ vision of a United Hindu India is at stark contrast to Gandhi’s vision of the nation, and one of the most popular post-truths of our times is that ‘RSS killed Gandhi’.

In fact, our first Home Minister Sardar Patel had written to Nehru ruling out the notion claiming that RSS had ‘celebrated Gandhi’s murder’ but it would be wrong to blame them for his assassination. He had said: “His assassination was welcomed by those of the RSS and the Mahasabha who were strongly opposed to his way of thinking...But beyond this, I do not think it is possible…to implicate any other members of the RSS or the Hindu Mahasabha. The RSS have other sins and crimes to answer for, but not this one.”

However, the link to Gandhi’s murderer refused to go away even though RSS leaders were acquitted of any conspiracy charge by the Supreme Court, and the Indian government lifted the ban on the condition that the organization accept the tricolour as the national flag of India and the constitution of India. MS Gowalkar also drafted a constitution for the RSS which included a pre-condition from Patel which stated that the RSS wouldn’t participate in politics and ‘would remain devoted to cultural work’. 

But Gandhi’s legacy or how they circumvent Gandhi will always remain a problem for BJP. Even though their ideological brethren RSS disagree with his world view, there’s no way any Indian party can hope to survive in politics by criticising Gandhi, given his godly stature in India and across the world. On the other hand, appropriating Gandhi seems like a hypocritical move, given how he’s undoubtedly a Congress icon even though he had asked for the party to be disbanded post-Independence. But such facts are often forgotten and while BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra can claim that ‘PM Modi is promoting Gandhi’s philosophies, while one party is just using his name’, Gandhi will remain synonymous with Congress. Anil Vij’s comments just reiterate the problems appropriating Gandhi presents for PM Modi and BJP. 

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