Ramachandra Guha pulls back no punch attacking both BJP and Congress.
Prominent historian Ramachandra Guha, a well-known critic of the RSS and BJP, shocked a few people when he suggested Congress scion Rahul Gandhi ought to take a permanent hiatus from Indian politics. Guha also suggested that BJP would be the most powerful party in India for the next 20 years.
He compared the electoral strength of the BJP to the Congress of the 60s and 70s when Indian politics was dominated by one party. He told Economics Times: “Rahul Gandhi is an object of ridicule and contempt by people who would otherwise be attracted to a liberal Congress point of view… Rahul Gandhi should retire from politics, get married and start a family. That will be good for him. That will be good for India also.”
He also expressed disappointment at the ambitions of Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal. He said: “Earlier people thought Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal could become an alternative pole, but they have been disappointing.”
Guha also expressed concern over BJP exerting influence over prominent national institutions and while he admitted that the Congress sought to control those also, the party had ‘no malicious intent’ because of its ‘left-liberal credentials’. Guha on the hand worried that the BJP would unleash a ‘conservative onslaught against the nation’.
He also remarked about the Jain monk incident which caused a huge furore stating that it was ‘fundamentally wrong’ and religious preachers shouldn’t have a place in modern democracy.
Most right wingers associate Ram Guha as someone with undying love for Nehru. However, Guha had criticism reserved for India's first PM too. He said Nehru ought to have rolled back the First Amendment which has put reasonable restrictions on free speech. Guha said about Article 191(a): “It, unfortunately, doesn't have the political will to do that. So this will continue. In the late 1950s, when India was secure and safe, Jawaharlal Nehru should have rolled back the First Amendment (restricting free speech), which he didn't do. Subsequent political regimes did not have the legitimacy or the courage or the conviction to do that. I don't think this government sets great store by creative or artistic or intellectual work.”
He also hoped that an alternate right-wing could emerge from youngsters, who are 'outside the RSS ecosystem'.
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