Congress seems to be desperate to retain power in Mizoram, the only North-eastern state where it is still in power. There was a time when the INC enjoyed considerable political power in the North East but now being left with power in Mizoram only, makes the party desperate. However, only in the recent past it has been dislodged in several of these states, particularly on account of BJP’s rise in the North-eastern region.
The Congress on Wednesday thus urged the people of Christian-dominated Mizoram to vote for the party in the assembly elections next month and argued that BJP’s entry might hurt their religious freedom. The Congress thus relies on its overused trick of instilling a sense of fear among the minorities and attempting to turn them against the BJP. State Congress spokesperson Lallianchhunga said, “The Congress should win with a comfortable margin as a fractured mandate would pave way for the BJP to go for a post-poll alliance with the Mizo National Front (MNF).” This speaks volumes about Congress’ desperation to retain power in Mizoram. He also said, “The BJP can cause damage to the soul, spirit and body of the Christians in Mizoram.” This is a clear manifestation of the fact that the party is resorting to its oldest trick of portraying the BJP as an enemy of minorities. It has, for long, been wooing the minorities to vote for the Congress. Lallianchhunga also argued that people of Mizoram should support the, church leaders and civil societies in protecting the religious freedom of state.
The BJP in a counter to the charges made by the Congress said that it was Congress’ propaganda to tarnish the image of the party. Rev LR Colney, one of the two Christian priests to contest the polls on a BJP ticket, ridiculed the vicious propaganda against the BJP. He argued that the BJP was not a religious organisation but a political party. Colney called the branding of BJP as ‘pro-Hindu’ or ‘anti-Christian’ to be baseless.
On every occasion, the INC is pushed to the wall and is desperate to bounce bank, it uses the fear-mongering trick and starts propagating about BJP that it is an anti-minority political party. Probably, the biggest example of Congress’ act of fear mongering the minorities was the ‘Maut ka Saudagar’ (Merchant of death) jibe that the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi made about the then Gujarat chief minister and the current prime minister, Narendra Modi. This appeared to be a part of an organised campaign to make a bogeyman out of the BJP and especially, PM Modi. At that time, it backfired badly against the Grand Old Party itself but the party does not seem to have its lesson from the past incident.
Recently, Shashi Tharoor’s ‘Hindu Pakistan’s jibe was nothing but a futile attempt to profuse the fear that the BJP is turning India into a majoritarian nation. In fact, the Congress has still been trying to use the 2002 riots in order to create a sense of fear among the Muslims towards the BJP. This goes on to show how blatantly and openly the Congress resorts to fear mongering for political and electoral gains. The Grand Old Party has now resorted to a similar election pitch in Mizoram as well.