Congress has its priorities clear more than any other political party- you can make objectionable remarks about India’s position in Kashmir but you cannot criticise China’s repressive policies towards Taiwan and People’s Liberation Army’s aggression at the Line of Actual Control (LAC). This is why the party which tolerated its Lok Sabha leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s anti-India remarks over abrogation of Article 370 last year, went into panic mode after he made certain comments critical of Beijing’s role in Taiwan.
But the moment he spoke against China, top party leadership scrambled together to dissociate itself from the stand taken by Chowdhury. Chowdhury had tweeted, “Be careful China, Indian forces know how to defang the venomous snakes like you, entire world is watching the sinister design of yellow expansionist. I would suggest the government to accord diplomatic recognition to Taiwan without much delay.”
But this didn’t go down well within the Congress and soon Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury deleted his tweet, but the screenshots of his tweet are now doing the rounds which suggest that the Congress doesn’t fancy its leaders criticising Chinese expansionism.
The situation has since turned rather embarrassing for the Congress, with senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP, Subramanian Swamy taking a jibe at Congress President Sonia Gandhi and suggesting that Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a senior Congress MP was compelled to delete the tweet because the grand old party feared a retaliation from China.
He tweeted, “Congi LS leader in Lok Sabha wrote a harsh abusive tweet against China. TDK (referring to Sonia Gandhi) worried about a retaliatory Macao leak by China, smacked him and he abjectly withdrew & deleted his tweet. Chickens coming home to roost?”
Congi LS leader in Lok Sabha wrote a harsh abusive tweet against China. TDK worried about a retaliatory Macao leak by China, smacked him and he abjectly withdrew&deleted his tweet. Chickens coming home to roost?
— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) May 11, 2020
The Congress soon went into “damage control” mode, showing how deeply it respects the ‘One China’ Policy in Taiwan. Anand Sharma, senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP, tweeted, “The Indian National Congress recognises and values the special strategic partnership between India and China. As two ancient civilisations and large economies of the world both countries are destined to make a significant contribution in the 21st Century.”
He also tweeted, “The views of Congress LS leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary on China are his own and do not reflect the party position.”
The views of Congress LS leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary on China are his own and do not reflect the party position.
— Anand Sharma (@AnandSharmaINC) May 12, 2020
Honestly, a clarification wasn’t even needed as it is well-known that the Congress deeply respects the Indo-China ties (read ‘Chinese supremacy’) and this is why the Gandhi scion had set off secretly to meet the Chinese Ambassador Luo Zhaohui, amidst the Doklam stand-off, even as the Indian Armed Forces were engaged in tensions with Chinese PLA soldiers at the Doklam tri-junction in Sikkim.
How dare Adhir Ranjan criticise China? When even the party patriarch Jawaharlal Nehru had dismissed Chinese expansionism in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, saying, “In those barren land and mountains of Ladakh and Arunachal, not even a blade of grass grows, why Parliament is wasting time.”
Anand Sharma, while clarifying the official stand of the Congress party, has said, “As two ancient civilisations and large economies of the world both countries are destined to make a significant contribution in the 21st Century.” But how? Just like China had joined hands with India during the 1962 war to make a “significant contribution” in the 20th century?
Today, Beijing is engaging India in confrontations at disputed borders in Eastern Ladakh and Sikkim- engaging in scuffles with Indian soldiers and flying its helicopters very close to the LAC, but the Congress is busy pandering to China. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has every right to call out China’s objectionably aggressive tilt but it seems that the Chinese interests figure far more deeply in the Sonia Gandhi-led party’s calculations than India’s security situation.
