Attacks ally in Kerala over Run for Unity
PC George, chief whip of the Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala and vice chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), has shocked the Congress by flagging off the Run for Unity marathon, conceived by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to pay tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and to promote the programme of building a statue of India's Iron Man. The Congress and some of its allies in the UDF were quick to ask Finance Minister KM Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), to act against Mr George, and to demand his immediate removal as the Government chief whip for participating in a ‘programme of the BJP', organised allegedly as part of the campaign to promote the prime ministerial candidature of Mr Modi. Mr Mani said his party would discuss the matter, but Mr George remains unfazed. According to him, he had participated not in a BJP event but in a programme meant to pay tributes to Sardar Patel. For good measure, Mr George added that he had never considered the Gujarat Chief Minister an untouchable. As the attacks against him intensified on Monday, the beleaguered leader reiterated that he had not committed any mistake. He added that he did not want to take any advice from Congress president Sonia Gandhi to correct his mistakes, if he had committed any. This infuriated the Congress leaders further. Pundits have already come out with theories to the effect that Mr Mani is not going to take action against Mr George as his participation in the programme was part of a strategy to goad the BJP to help Mr Mani' son Jose K Mani, MP, get re-elected from the Kottayam constituency; victory is not all that easy for him in the present context. However, the fact is that this is not the first time the hypocrisy of the Congress has come out in the open in matters related to Mr Modi.
Kerala’s labour Minister Shibu Baby John was forced to apologise for meeting Mr Modi in April last. He had to capitulate following attacks from the Congress. A legislative panel had recently cancelled its scheduled visit to Gujarat for studying waste-water treatment methods there. The reason Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Oommen Chandy offered is that Kerala had nothing to learn from Mr Modi's development model. The Congress had criticised the Sree Narayana Mutt, a centre of spirituality, for inviting Mr Modi to one of their programmes in April last. But nobody is able to give a clear answer to the questions Mr George has raised: Would the Congress ask for the resignation of its own Ministers who had held discussions with official delegates from the Modi administration on the matter of the Sardar Patel statue just a week agoIJ Will the Congress and the Government it is leading hold Mr Modi an untouchable if he becomes India's Prime MinisterIJ The country is not going to get better and its politics is not going to get saner with the hypocrisy the Congress is showing in matters related to political opponents, especially Mr Modi.