Unable to swallow the bitter pill of being rejected by the nation and its people, in its lust for power the grand old party has stooped so low that it has started flirting with the nation's enemies. The plot is now going to fester with Rahul Gandhi’s elevation
An article published in Sunday Guardian on December 18, 2016, exposed the Congress leadership’s desperation and mind-set. It said, “Modi’s massive win and Congress’s complete decimation in 2014 had led the Congress along with its lutyens moles to adopt a policy of total war with Rahul Gandhi at its helm against the Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the fact is that RaGa has been working to a plan to derail Modi from the start.” This purported plan also envisages help from nations and agencies inimical to India with the sole aim of dethroning a legitimately chosen Government by the people and to snatch power from it at any cost.
The plan unfolded with a number of pro-Pakistan and anti-Modi statements by prominent Congress leaders immediately after the Modi Government assumed power. Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, while delivering an invitation lecture at the Jinnah Institute in Islamabad in 2015, was all praise for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who not very long ago had referred to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as a dehati aurat (village woman), while sparing no effort to lash out at Prime Minister Modi.
Incidentally, Khurshid was the nation’s Foreign Minister when Sharif used these words for the country’s Prime Minister. Mani Shankar Aiyar, a senior Congress leader and close confidant of the Gandhi family, in a panel discussion on Pakistan’s Dunya TV said, “The first and the foremost thing is to remove Modi. Only then can the talks move forward. We have to wait for four more years. Bring us (the Congress) back to power and remove them. There is no other way (to better the relations). We will remove them, but till then you (Pakistan) will have to wait.” Indirectly, he was seeking Pakistan’s assistance to remove the duly elected Government of Modi to bring the Congress back to power, mid-course. The statement was not accidental, but by design.
The Congress has always maintained a soft stand against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Digvijay Singh had provided cover to Hafiz Saeed by blaming the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for the 26/11 carnage and had also called Osama-bin laden as Osamaji. Former Defence Minister AK Antony described Pakistani terrorists as “merely dressed in Pakistani Army uniforms”. Saifuddin Soz had opposed the killing of Burhan Wani and Sanjay Nirupam had questioned the surgical strikes. These are just a few examples.
The nation is witness to Former Home Minister Sushil Shinde’s coining of the phrase “saffron terror” and his successor P Chidambaram advocating for removal of AFSPA from J&K and seconding the demand of greater autonomy as well as his pro-separatist statements. None of the Congress leaders have so far appreciated the National Investigation Agency for its stupendous effort in exposing the Hurriyat and the terror funding network.
Even dreaded terrorist Saeed praised the Congress in an interview to Pakistan’s Zem TV and said, “Not everyone in Bharat is like this — there are good people there too in the media and politics. But one segment is against me, my organisation (Jamaat- ud-Daw’ah) and Pakistan. They blame Pakistan for everything; to hide their mistakes, to hide their terrorist faces…they use my name. I talk of Kashmir, but they change the subject and to fool the world, they blame me for terror activities. But there are people who talk well and make sense. Even the Congress recently made a statement, asking the BJP not to blame Pakistan but to look at how they (BJP) have oppressed the people of Kashmir and committed atrocities. The Congress said that by blaming Pakistan, you cannot solve the Kashmir issue. So, I believe there are good people too in Bharat. Modi and the people around him have decided to defame me as a terrorist in front of the whole world, just to hide atrocities committed by them against their own people. This is their ploy.”
An absconder as per the records of J&K police, youth Congress leader from Kashmir, Suleman Nizami, who had supported the “azadi” of Kashmir and called the Indian Army “rapist”, is a star campaigner for the Congress in ongoing Gujarat election. In a tweet, he went to the extent of questioning Prime Minister Modi’s origin. A known anti-national and pro-Pakistan, Nizami is a frequent tweeter in which he spits venom against India and the Indian Army. A radical Kashmiri leader and hard core supporter of terrorist Afzal Guru calls for Azad Kashmir and says harghar se Afzal nikalega. While the JKPCC disowns him, he is being patronised by the central leadership. What a hypocrisyIJ
At the height of Doklam crisis, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, accompanied by his brother-in-law, Robert Vadhra held a secret meeting with the Chinese Ambassador in New Delhi. No Indian, least of all Congress, can forget how China backstabbed India even after years of Nehruvian ‘Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai’.
Till 2003, China refused to recognise Sikkim as part of India. Recently, Beijing threatened to encourage separatist movements in Sikkim if India did not hand over Bhutanese Doklam plateau to China. The Chinese media went to the extent of threatening of ‘Third party’ intervention in Kashmir at Pakistan’s request. Given the sensitivity of the situation and the well- known track record of the Chinese, to foment internal trouble; to gain ground by encouraging in-fighting, as they did in Nepal by supporting its Maoists, why did Rahul Gandhi meet the Chinese Ambassador in secret and that too with his tainted brother-in-lawIJ The secrecy in which the meeting was wrapped and the Congress’s initial denial of any such meeting gives rise to a ‘conspiracy theory’.
A few days back, at the peak of campaigning for Gujarat election, the Congress leadership again decided to meet Pakistan’s Ambassador at the residence of Aiyar in New Delhi. The meeting among others was also attended by Manmohan Singh. While the nation is aghast, the Congress is trying to cover its back by saying that the meet was convened to discuss improvement in Indo-Pak relations. Did they seek permission from the Ministry of External Affairs or did they have any mandate for this meetingIJ
Surprisingly, or as a matter of coincidence, a retired Pakistani General tweeted at the same time, recommending Gandhi family’s loyalist Ahmad Patel as the next Chief Minister of Gujarat. Unable to digest the fact that the Congress has been rejected out rightly by the nation and denied the opportunity to rule, its leadership is so desperate to regain power that it does not hesitate to even flirt with the nation’s known enemies. The contra-Modi plan of Congress is unfolding as per planned script and is likely to gain momentum with Rahul Gandhi elevated as Congress president as per the dynastic tradition of the party.
(The writer, a BJP State spokesperson, is a Jammu-based strategic and security analyst)