Using the 'chakravyuh' metaphor as a leitmotif, Rahul claims that fear has pervaded our country

Using the 'chakravyuh' metaphor as a leitmotif, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed that an atmosphere of fear prevails all around with a group of six trapping the entire country in a 'chakravyuh' he promised would be broken by the INDIA bloc.

Participating in the debate in the Lok Sabha on Budget 2024-25, Gandhi said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will ensure that a legal guarantee for MSP as well as a caste census is passed by the House.

In a speech that invoked the Mahabharat and led to an uproar in the House, prompting Speaker Om Birla to intervene frequently, the former Congress chief alleged that the sole aim of the Union Budget is to strengthen the framework of big businesses, political monopoly that destroys the democratic structure, and the deep state or the agencies.

"There is an atmosphere of fear and that fear has pervaded every aspect of our country. In the BJP only one man is allowed to dream to be the prime minister. If the defence minister wants to be PM, there is a big problem, there is fear. This fear has been spread throughout the country...why is it that my friends in the BJP are terrified, ministers are terrified, farmers, workers are terrified?" the Congress leader asked.

Thousands of years ago in Haryana's Kurukshetra, six people killed a youth, Abhimanyu, in a 'chakravyuh', he said, adding that a 'chakravyuh' has violence and fear.

Gandhi's reference was to the Mahabharat legend according to which Abhimanyu was killed in a 'chakravyuh'. 'Chakravyuh' refers to a multi-layered military formation aimed at trapping a warrior by opponents placed strategically in an alignment resembling a lotus-shaped labyrinth.

He said the 'chakravyuh' is also called a 'padmavyuh' for its resemblance to a lotus (BJP's election symbol) formation.

"In the 21st century, another 'chakravyuh' has been prepared. It is in the form of lotus and the prime minister (Narendra Modi) wears the symbol on his chest. What was done with Abhinmanyu is being done with India, with its youth, women, farmers and small and medium businesses," he said.

Today also, there are six people at the centre of the 'chakravyuh', including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Gandhi took the name of four more people but Speaker Om Birla disallowed it citing that they were not members of the House and hence cannot be named.

As the treasury benches erupted in protest, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Gandhi was not following parliamentary procedure. The Congress leader was not showing him the courtesy of allowing him to intervene, Rijiju said.

Gandhi responded by saying that opposition would always "reciprocate the courtesy" if the PM and ministers do the same.

"The 'chakravyuh' that has captured India has three forces behind it: first is the idea of monopoly capital-- that two people should be allowed to own the entire Indian wealth... The second element is the institutions, agencies, CBI, ED, Income Tax department of this nation; and the third is the political executive," Gandhi went on to say.

These three together are at the heart of the 'chakravyuh', and they have devastated this country, he said.

"My expectation was that this budget would weaken the power of this 'chakravyuh'. It would help the farmers of the country, the youth, labourers, and small businesses of the country. But what I have seen is that the sole aim of this budget is to strengthen this framework of monopoly business, the framework of political monopoly that destroys the democratic structure, and the framework of the deep state or the agencies," he said.

The first thing this 'chakravyuh' did was to attack the small and medium businesses that used to give jobs to crores, he said, adding that this was done through demonetisation and tax terrorism.

"The finance minister talked about the internship programme in the budget. This is a joke, because you said that the internship programme will be in the top 500 companies of the country...99 per cent of the youth have nothing to do with this programme," he said.

According to Gandhi, the paper leak is the biggest issue for the youth today but was not discussed in the budget.

"You created a 'chakravyuh' of unemployment and paper leak... You call yourself nationalists but when you have to help jawans, you do not give money for pensions. You trapped the youth in the 'chakravyuh' of Agniveer," he said.

Gandhi said the middle class of the country probably supported the prime minister before this budget.

"When during the Covid pandemic the prime minister asked the middle class to bang plates and switch on mobile lights and they did. But in this budget, you have stabbed the same middle class in the back with one knife and in the chest with another . The cancellation of indexation and increase in capital gains tax were examples of that," he said.

However, he added, that there is a hidden advantage for the INDIA bloc as "the middle class is going to leave you and come to this side".

"You create 'chakravyuhs' and we break them," he said and asserted that the best way to break 'chakravyuhs' was through the caste census.

Gandhi also displayed a photo of the halwa ceremony that precedes the printing of the budget, saying there was no Dalit, adivasi or backward class person in the photo.

Gandhi said 20 officers worked on preparing the country's budget and of them only one was from the minority community and one from the OBC category.

"The 'padmavyuh' people think that the youth and backward class people are Abhimanyu, but they should know that they are not Abhimanyu but are Arjun and will break the 'chakravyuh'," he said.

"INDIA bloc has taken the first step and we have destroyed the confidence of the PM. He is not coming for our speeches. I tell you in advance he will not come for my speeches. The 'padmavyuh' people do not know that India's nature is not of violence and 'chakravyuh'," Gandhi said.

Referring to Lord Shiva's wedding procession, Gandhi said anyone can join it and in all religions people are welcomed in religious places but in the government's 'chakravyuh' there are only six people.

"The fight is between 'Shiva ki baraat' and 'chakravyuh'. We break chakravyuhs --Independence, Constitution, green revolution, MGNREGS are all examples of it," he said.

After the speech, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh rose to say that the Leader of Opposition was trying to mislead the nation about the sensitive issue of national security and the Agnipath initiative. In his response, Gandhi said the defence minister had told the House that the family of an Agniveer martyr was paid compensation of Rs 1 crore but it was only insurance payment and not compensation.

Later, in a post on X, Gandhi said, "Today a 21st century lotus-shaped Chakravyuh is trapping India and is controlled by six figures: Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Adani, Ambani, Ajit Doval, and Mohan Bhagwat."