The powers that be have clearly devised a new innovative way to shut down loudmouths who take the promise of free speech in a democracy too much to heart.

This new way may be christened (since Narendra Modi loves catchy acronyms) the politics of SLURs – Strategic Lawsuits to Undermine Rivals.

Even as the Rahul Gandhi case is now the topic of the day, many more are reportedly in the pipeline – presumably waiting to be pulled out at opportune moments when other verbal iterations become equally annoying.

Gandhi, who gave a long public speech at faraway Kolar in Karnataka, four years ago, was taken up for legal reprimand not by any of the three Modis named by him but by a Bharatiya Janata Party legislator in Surat, Gujarat, whose surname is also Modi.

Instructively, the gentleman in question sought a stay of his own suit from the high court – a stay that remained for just about a year.

But just when Rahul Gandhi spoke of the Adani connection in parliament, the Surat suitor pleaded for a lifting of the stay on his defamation suit in the Gujarat high court, whence the matter reverted to the trial court again, where, interestingly, a new magistrate was in place.

The maximum two-year sentence followed in double-quick time, followed in turn, again in double-quick time, by the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary membership.

The ruling BJP has now taken to propagating that Gandhi’s statement in Kolar defamed the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Never mind that all Modis are not OBCs; certainly two of the three that Gandhi named – Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi – are not.

Be that as it may, here is an instructive vignette: again five years ago, a prominent political leader had in a tweet made reference to “yeh Modi, who Modi… Modi lipt in brashtachar; Modi ka matlab corruption” (this Modi, that Modi, everywhere a Modi, Modi embroiled in corruption; Modi means corruption”

Now the interesting part is, the said tweeter, once a Congress spokesperson, is today a leader of the ruling BJP, and a member of the National Commission for Women. Her name is Khushbu Sundar.

Is there a need to dot the Is and cross the Ts after that?

Also read: Why Rahul Gandhi’s Disqualification May Be a Turning Point

Rahul Gandhi now

So why does Gandhi, especially now, remind us of the George Fernandes then?

Because he seems feistier than ever before, and even more dogged in his pursuit of the truth about corruption at the highest echelons of business and the government.

And why does this now seem like a second Jayaprakash Narayan moment?

Because, a lone and derided voice as Gandhi’s was seemingly parroting “Adani, Adani” all the way back from some two years, his concern about the larger jeopardy to the democratic system now has become the concern of the entire political opposition, including, most notably, of parties like the Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, and the Bharata Rashtra Samiti – parties that have been vocally antagonistic to the Indian National Congress.

And, because the grand old party, like the old Janata conglomeration of the mid-1970s, has now taken the systemic crisis to the street in a plethora of cities, likely to be joined in by others as the movement proceeds apace.

The poser that baffles even obliging sections of the hoi polloi is this: if Modi has nothing to do with Adani, why is he resisting a joint parliamentary enquiry into the former’s doings? And why does he remain so tight-lipped about Adani when he is so used to descanting on anyone anywhere?

Rahul Gandhi’s leadership

Never one for the finesse that realpolitik demands, or for the nicety of the tactical word, Gandhi, mocked and vilified, has proved that a transparent honesty of perception and purpose are yet the best building blocks of a transformative politics.

That, coupled with exemplary personal courage and indifference to personal ambition, which have in due course now ensured a political vantage point for him that many, not excluding lordly commentators, would never have thought conceivable.

Clearly, events are moving fast, and this suggests that the coming year could be a watershed one, not just in terms of electoral fortunes or misfortunes but of attention to a fast-degrading democracy.

Tailpiece

Meanwhile, the honourable Lieutenant Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has claimed that Mahatma Gandhi was only a matriculate and had no law degree.

As per record, Gandhiji was called to the bar at the Inner Temple at age 22 in 1891.

So, may be in this season of “defamania” a Gopal Gandhi, or Rajmohan Gandhi, or Tushar Gandhi might consider a defamation suit?

Badri Raina taught at Delhi University.