Congress’s disruption has only brought it shame
After the drubbing that the Congress received in the 2014 lok Sabha election, one had expected the party to adopt positive strategies that would help it reclaim lost political ground and image. The Congress perhaps believes it has done just that by having disrupted the proceedings of Parliament in all the working days so far of the Monsoon Session through its raucous conduct, which included rushing to the well of the Houses, waving placards and wearing black bands.
It thinks that it has re-occupied the mindscape of the voters and the people of the country in general by succeeding in stalling key reform-oriented legislations the Government has proposed. The Congress is wrong on both counts. It has lost the battle of perception as a horrified nation watches the shenanigans of the party's members in both the lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, and as the people are informed through the media of tens of crores of rupees — from the public exchequer — going down the drain because of the Congress's obstructionism.
Regional parties — some of whom have backed the Congress — are outraged over the fact that Parliament has been held to ransom by a bunch of Congress members led and instigated by party president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi, who have have reportedly directed their MPs to sustain the disruption.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav vented his anger over the state of affairs when he issued an ultimatum to the Congress that his party would no longer back the Congress's disruptionist behaviour. He has the support of other regional outfits as well, which, incidentally, are rivals to the Bharatiya Janata Party. With only a couple of days left for this session, it remains to be seen how useful Mr Yadav's warning will be.
But it at least indicates that the Congress has become increasingly isolated. It is obvious that the party's high command has overdone its aggression on the mistaken assumption that it would forcibly secure concessions from the Government, which it would then tout as its ‘victory'. Had it limited its belligerence to the first few days of the session, allowed Parliament to function thereafter, and put the Government on the mat on various contentious subjects, it would have done itself a great favour.
The ground reality now is that the issues of former Indian Premier league chief lalit Modi's alleged links with Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, and the Madhya Pradesh Vyapam scam, have been pushed into the background while the Congress's obstinacy in Parliament has fetched sharp rebuke and widespread criticism from not just its rivals and allies but from the media too.
The problem for the Congress has been further compounded by its shifting position. It began its protest by demanding the resignations of the senior BJP leaders concerned. It then called for an independent probe into the issues. Now, Mr Rahul Gandhi has said work will be done in Parliament if Ms Swaraj discloses her and her family's ‘financial transactions' with Mr lalit Modi. The Congress has boxed itself into a corner, and it finds no honourable exit. That is why it has decided to keep up the pressure, even if it is not yielding any result.