A leader who has been accused of smothering democracy is being asked for a public debate. An anti-intellect atmosphere hasn’t been so meticulously created over the decade to ultimately surrender to reason. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s exceptional decision to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have a public debate is actually a useful ploy to expose the nature of the political project envisioned by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which never believed in deliberative democracy.Rahul Gandhi is intelligent enough to understand the paradox; he knows that Modi would never fight using a legitimate democratic instrument that public debate is, to either run down the opponent or defend his own credentials. He will rather rely on propaganda, falsehood, irrelevant issues, myths and distorted facts of the past, emotional anxieties of the masses and plain lies to mask the reality. Debate is the heart of democracy. Why will a leader undermine democratic culture if he has to solve issues through debates and deliberations?A leader interested in autocratic control will have to avoid exchange of ideas, sense of accommodation and the commitment to operate within the confines of constitutional scheme. Little wonder, Modi replaced those democratic virtues by monologues, unilateral decision-making and extra-constitutional machinations. His decisions to devalue the Cabinet system, stop addressing press conferences and dodge parliamentary proceedings are manifestations of the same undemocratic syndrome. He is the first and the only prime minister who has not answered any questions at all in Parliament.While the prime minister has obviously not responded to the Congress leader’s repeated exhortations on his refusal to join the public debate, Union home minister Amit Shah’s sole answer to Gandhi’s dare is – come to parliament and debate every issue! That compels us to recall the miserable plight of parliament over the last few years. While many critical issues are not allowed to be discussed, every word Gandhi speaks triggers wild protests from the ruling party members and ministers. Even the Lok Sabha Speaker does everything to obstruct and derail his speech, finally expunging all the expressions and arguments which can irritate the prime minister.Also read: How Differently Is Parliament Functioning Under Narendra Modi?While specific questions related to sovereignty and national pride, people’s miseries and corruption, are not answered, the Prime Minister and his minions resort to cheap vilification campaigns and diversionary tactics to escape any meaningful conversation and accountability. Ruling party members indulge in bogus whataboutery and abuse Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi without offering any explanation for their own misdeeds and failures.When has Modi answered questions on note-bandi? Did Modi discuss the whole gamut of issues before enacting farm laws? Was even one out of the hundred questions asked by the Congress about Adani ever replied? The China border issue has troubled the nation since 2020 but has Modi answered any question so far? Even on such a fundamental issue like unemployment, Modi never acknowledged the problem and presented half-truths and lies to mislead the nation. On the Manipur crisis, the opposition had to move a no-confidence motion to extract a reply from the prime minister. A simple question – did the government buy Pegasus – was not answered. Who ordered firing of pellets on protesting students? Not answered. The Home Minister nervously chose to hide somewhere instead of facing Parliament.This government has so desperately sought to seek the comforts of party office in Parliament by silencing and manipulating the dissenting voices. Two powerful voices, Rahul Gandhi and Mahua Moitra, were thrown out of Lok Sabha on frivolous grounds. Opposition MPs have been suspended en masse and bills have been passed without deliberations. What are the issues raised by Gandhi in the current controversy? Who is anti-national and questions about the BJP’s financial structure, US deal, Adani case and Epstein Files. None of the issues is new; all of them should have been discussed and closed by now under normal circumstances. After all this, an invitation to discuss everything in Parliament!Real questions If the RSS-BJP understands its responsibility of being in power and starts answering questions, they will be in unimaginable difficulty. From their imagination of Bharat’s greatness in ancient times to their vision of a modern India, nothing concrete has been articulated in their existence of 100 years. Countless questions cloud their understanding of history and politics. What’s their vision of religion? V.D. Savarkar was among many Sangh Parivar leaders who have been proponents of atheism. Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru have written and spoken about the Gita but has anybody read anything credible about the most celebrated Hindu scripture by RSS-BJP leaders? They talk about the murderer Nathuram Godse, not about spiritualism and philosophy.Questions are aplenty. Why did the RSS not participate in the freedom struggle? Why did the RSS oppose the constitution and the tricolour? Did M.S. Golwalkar or K.B. Hedgewar ever have a public debate with Gandhi or Nehru on the future and content of Indian nationhood? Did Atal Bihari Vajpayee or Advani have a public debate with intellectuals and political stalwarts of their time on their rejection and attack on secularism? Did Modi ever publicly explain the contents and objectives of ‘Gujarat model’, the vague project that propelled him to the prime minister’s post? The BJP tests the Congress on the bloody yardstick of 1984 anti-Sikh riots every now and then despite repeated public apology. Will Modi-Shah ever have a public debate on 2002 Gujarat riots; the gory episodes of rape and murder and the shady role of the state government?Forget Gujarat riots. Will Modi agree to a public debate on his economic and foreign policy? Will he tell the nation why his special friendship with Xi Jinping collapsed? Why did he remain silent to wanton public humiliations by Donald Trump? Answers to all these questions are – no, never. This is not the first time Rahul Gandhi has dared Modi to a public debate. He did the same in 2019 as well. He knows Modi won’t accept the challenge. And that’s not because of Modi’s personal intellectual deficiencies. Even a far more intelligent leader from the Sangh Parivar will not agree to a public debate. They know their political project is indefensible. That’s why they need blind supporters and gullible masses – a Dhirendra Shashtri, a Baba Ramdev, a Kangana Ranaut, an Akshay Kumar – tainted officials and judges, and those semi-literate, bigoted and corrupt journalists.Bogus debatesIsn’t it ironic that Narendra Modi kicks up a huge ruckus when any unknown person abuses him but ignores serious questions about his character and integrity? He even reels out the abuses rained on him, but he doesn’t confront those who call him coward and questions his patriotism. While the BJP leader Subramanian Swamy’s insinuations are too indecent to be reproduced here, Madhu Kishwar too has thrown hints on his personal conduct. No self-respecting citizen likes to hear such things about their prime minister. The least Modi could have done is confronted Rahul Gandhi head on, answering all the questions about Adani, US deal, Epstein files and Chinese aggression.It’s not that Modi, unlike his predecessor Manmohan Singh who rarely indulged in frivolous talk, avoids loose talk and never responds to vilification campaigns. Modi pounced on Mani Shankar Aiyer for calling him “neech kism ka aadmi (lowlife)” Though Aiyer had intended to point to his low-level thinking, Modi twisted it into a caste-debate to extract electoral gains in Gujarat. Are electoral and political gains more important for him than critical national concerns? A Prime Minister who wastes his time and energy on taali-thali, mujra and mangalsutra trivia must help the citizens understand serious issues related to economy and diplomacy in the right perspective.If Modi can use the exceptional instrument of address-to-the-nation to talk about petty savings for the people after tweak in GST, he can certainly answer specific questions raised by the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha without accepting the challenge for a direct debate. If he can react to finger injury of a cricketer, he must speak about the truth of India-Pakistan war, stopping the incessant blabbering by the US president. If the prime minister can spend hours with the film fraternity, he can surely call the opposition leaders to his chamber for an off-the-record briefing on sensitive issues related to the nation’s security. If he doesn’t invest in normal systemic engagements, embarrassing challenges to public debates will keep pouring in.Sanjay K. Jha is a political commentator.