More misses than hits for Congress

IT was inevitable that the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor would trigger a political slugfest between the Centre and the main Opposition party, the Congress. While the Modi government rightly took retaliatory measures, the Opposition got an opportunity to raise several pertinent questions, even as it initially showed solidarity with the government in national interest.

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The Congress did well to draw the nation’s attention to possible security lapses that led to the loss of 26 innocent lives, besides the purported loss of jets during the May 7-10 operation. Following Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan’s admission of aircraft losses, the Congress has become more vocal about its demand for holding a special session of Parliament.

The party has also been asking questions regarding the “sudden” ceasefire and US President Donald Trump’s claim that he facilitated the truce by issuing “no trade” threats to both India and Pakistan. The government has been on the defensive over this issue.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi nonetheless took a smart step by deciding to send multi-party delegations to various countries to expose Pakistan and explain the Indian position. The government asked various parties to recommend names of leaders to be included in the delegations.

Each party has its own internal dynamics that would have influenced this exercise. The Congress sent a list of four leaders — Anand Sharma, Gaurav Gogoi, Syed Naseer Hussain and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring. Looking to embarrass the Congress, the BJP retained only Sharma’s name. It also chose four other Congress leaders — Shashi Tharoor, Amar Singh, Manish Tewari and Salman Khurshid. And adding insult to the party’s injury, Tharoor was made the leader of a delegation.

Visibly irked, the Congress faltered in reacting to this development. First, it made its annoyance apparent, which sent a wrong message both to delegation members as well as the government. Second, soon after this episode, Rahul Gandhi unleashed a direct attack on External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, addressing him as “JJ” and accusing him of tipping off Pakistan about Operation Sindoor.

One of the most articulate and erudite Congress leaders today, Tharoor did not miss the chance to further annoy Rahul and the party by concurring with the Prime Minister and expressing his gratitude on being included in the delegation. His post on X read: “I am honoured by the invitation of the government of India to lead an all-party delegation to five key capitals to present our nation’s point of view on recent events. When national interest is involved, and my services are required, I will not be found wanting.”

The Congress’ confusion was clear as its communications incharge Jairam Ramesh said, “…the party recommended four names after Kiren Rijiju spoke with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi.” He did not elaborate why those four were recommended and why the name of a leader like Tharoor was omitted.

Attacking the government for ignoring the official party list and Tharoor for accepting the invitation without the party’s consent, Ramesh said, “Congress mein hona aur Congress ka hona mein zameen-aasmaan ka antar hai (There is a huge difference between being in the Congress and being loyal to the Congress). To compound the folly, party leader Udit Raj targeted Tharoor for his remarks in Panama that India had breached the Line of Control for the first time during the 2016 surgical strike.

This begs the question: What should the Congress and Rahul have done? First, Rahul should have welcomed the inclusion of Tharoor and others by saying that the party is full of competent leaders, which makes selection difficult. He should have commended the selection and extended support to the government as he did during Operation Sindoor. All Congress leaders who were part of the delegations should have been invited by Kharge and Rahul, and felicitated. The opportunity should also have been used to discuss the non-partisan stance the delegation members should take during their foreign tour.

Indeed, their stance could not have been drastically different from the official one. Tharoor, in fact, did well in making it clear at the outset that even though he was leading a delegation, he was not from the ruling party. Announcing his political affiliation, he stated that given the circumstances, all parties had a common stance on matters of national security. This could also have precluded statements from Congress leaders that are now being considered against the party’s programmes and policies.

Overall, the Congress has a mountain to climb to re-establish itself as an alternative at the national level. Along with party-building, it needs to finalise a roadmap so that it can convince the electorate to vote against the BJP, which is always battle-ready to win elections.

The rift between the top two Congress leaders in Karnataka, for example, shows that the grand old party continues to be a loose assemblage of leaders and members. The Congress and its leaders must display farsightedness in strengthening party solidarity. For now, the Congress’ focus must be on upping the ante against the government once the outreach delegations return home.

Ajay K Mehra is a political scientist.