Congress’ actions and their consequences on the citizens, a losing battle

In the past 5 years, the entire Congress dynasty has been solely focused on condemning and criticising the current government. This is in light of the fact that Congress had failed to gain even a 10% share in the Lok Sabha seats in 2014, thereby not qualifying for the position to have an official Leader of Opposition. Moreover, the question on whether or not the criticism is for the public well being is irrelevant. In fact, their rhetoric and actions have been consistently contrary to what the voters on the ground feel.

In the recent months, during the campaigning of the elections, Congress party has suddenly woken from their slumber and realised they do not have any acclamation to add to their name. Clearly arising from lack of things to speak on, their campaigning and propaganda has been limited to doubting everything that the Modi government is doing. Ranging from the Balakot air strikes to Mission Shakti, Congress’ actions and words have not inflicted much harm to the ruling party but have only antagonized the Indians.

In the Mission Shakti, India has recently carried out A-SAT test in which it successfully destroyed a satellite in low orbit. It was a tremendous achievement by DRDO and ISRO, putting India on the list of space superpowers alongside USA, Russia and China, that too on their first attempt. In light of this, Congress, green with envy attempted to usurp credit for the achievement. They tried to absurdly attribute the achievement to Jawarharlal Nehru, and argued that the credit is due as the organization was established during his time. When people laughed it off, they gave the credit to Dr. Manmohan Singh claiming the research for the same had commenced during UPA time.

Moreover, the Congress had made a public mockery for itself during the Balakot strikes as well. In the aftermath of the Pulwama attack, the Indian air force had carried pre-emptive air strikes on the major terror camps in Pakistan and PoK, the major of them being the one in Balakot. Instead of praising the Armed Forces and boosting the morale of the people, the grand old party had questioned if the attacks even took place. This statement of theirs, aimed at demeaning the current government didn’t really do anything of this sort but had definitely demoralized the armed forces.

In furtherance to their agenda against the Indian army, they have now released the highly detrimental manifesto. The manifesto states to, “Amend the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 in order to strike a balance between the powers of security forces and the human rights of citizens and to remove immunity for enforced disappearance, sexual violence and torture.” Not only is the manifesto highly demoralizing and anti-armed force, but also threatens India’s defence to a huge extent.

Army officials have long held the opinion that the AFSPA is “absolutely essential” to combat insurgency in the country and protect the borders. Lt. Gen. Harwant Singh, Former Deputy Chief of Staff for the Army stated, “In a virulent insurgency, security forces just cannot operate without the cover of the AFSPA. Without it, there would be much hesitation and caution which would work to the advantage of insurgents.”

The threat from all the borders is imminent and the armed forces have been successful in eliminating it to a certain extent. The recent surgical strikes along the Myanmar border against insurgent groups, in addition to the Balakot surgical strike amongst others in PoK along with the Doklam standoff with China goes on to show the extent of internal and external threats India has to deal with. Along with insulting the Armed Forces, Congress has casted aside all this overwhelming evidence, and obviously does not take national security very seriously.

Furthering their stance on not taking national security very seriously, the grand old party has refused to touch Article 370 of the constitution.  In the manifesto, Congress has stated, “Congress has stood witness to the developments in Jammu & Kashmir since the Instrument of Accession was signed on 26th October, 1947. Congress affirms that the whole of Jammu & Kashmir is part of India. We also acknowledge the unique history of the state and the unique circumstances under which the state acceded to India that led to the inclusion of Article 370 in the Constitution of India. Nothing will be done or allowed to change the Constitutional position.” The article was a gift to independent India from the Congress predecessor, Jawaharlal Nehru which has now become the Achilles heel of the country. Article 370 is precisely what is stopping J&K from being completely incorporated in India. It is also directly responsible for the fact that hostile neighbours are staking a claim on a part of our own country. Moreover, the article has led to an economic downfall of the state since it lacks any outside agencies that bring business. Instead of rectifying the grave error, Congress has now become belligerent and is willing to risk the defence and development of the country in order to save face.

Union defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that the poll promise in the Congress manifesto will be misused by the terrorist-friendly people. Perturbed at the anti-nationalistic stance of Congress, she stated, “Is this right? It is an effort to weaken the armed forces. They are trying to dilute the immunity of our security forces.” 

This type of manifesto is more suited to be drafted by a group of extreme left liberals, the “tukde-tukde gang”. This is the kind of manifesto which might be suited to an organization in Jawaharlal Nehru University, certainly not to a national party who has ambitions to form the government in the country.

All of these actions of the party go directly against the common sentiments of the citizens. The manifesto, coupled with Congress’ imbecile actions are indicating a self-defeating attitude as if it has already surrendered. Instead of focusing on their own party and using the little advantage Congress has, the party seems to be throwing away everything in an effort to condemn the Modi government.

Every time Congress had the chance to put BJP out of the limelight, they ended up stomping their own feet. Congress had a wonderful opportunity when they were elected in 3 states in December. However, instead of building upon that public sentiment and securing public support, the party made things worse for themselves by indulging in petty issues and tactics. Instead of being a responsible (pseudo) opposition that supported the Indian armed forces after Pulwama attack, they went against the government. Instead of pushing soft Hindutva and taking the line that BJP was not able to deliver on core issues, they took got insecure and went to Wayanad. Most recently, instead of focusing on the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) in the manifesto, they chose to compromise on national security. The income support scheme, though its practicality is being questioned and is being ripped apart by analysts, happens to be the most positive Congress scheme in recent times. However, their stance on national security has overshadowed the minimum income scheme and has brought Congress in the limelight for their anti-nationalistic policies.

The grand old party is seeking to gain votes by appeasing the left liberals in the country. The entire path is flawed as in this effort, national security and issues of nationalistic importance are being ignored, which has made the manifesto highly impractical and dangerous to implement. Rahul Gandhi’s aim seems to be belittling the Modi government rather than winning the elections. With such an aim, the party seems to disagree with whatever the Modi government does and takes a completely opposite stance to it. When the stance is consistently against national security or development, it does not bid well with the citizens. Congress is witnessing such hardships under Rahul Gandhi’s leadership, who will be the cause of the downfall of the dynasty. This may actually reap positive benefits in the long run as his failure may end nepotism in the party.