Caught unawares after the Modi government deviated from the country’s stated position on Pakistan, the Congress is now scrambling to come up with an appropriate response to the ruling alliance’s handling of the unending unrest in Kashmir and the prime minister’s conscious attempt to corner Islamabad with his recent public references to the human rights violations in Balochistan.
The principal opposition party is clearly in a dilemma: it cannot openly rubbish the Modi government, especially after it raised the nationalism bar and is publicly perceived to have taken on Pakistan with the prime minister’s tough talk both on Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and Balochistan. Having been in power at the Centre and in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress is well aware that the BJP can turn around and remind the grand old party about how it had contributed to the mess in the strife-torn border state.
The Congress is constrained from criticising the government after the bitter lesson it learnt during the 1999 Kargil war when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was prime minister. The Congress had then come down heavily on the National Democratic Alliance government for its failure to detect the incursions by the Pakistani army into Indian territory. However, the Congress reaction did not go down well with the public as the overwhelming view at that time was that the opposition and the government must present a united face in the midst of an armed conflict. The Congress responses were then described as anti-national. The party obviously does not want to go down the same road again.
While it cannot go all out to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government, the Congress also finds it difficult to heap praise on the ruling alliance as it would be tantamount to playing second fiddle to Modi. As an opposition party, it is galling for the Congress to admit that the prime minister is on the right track and that it supports him in his endeavor.
“We are always in difficulty when the BJP raises the nationalism flag and adopts a muscular approach to Pakistan,” remarked a former Congress Union minister. "Since the public sees the issue in shades of black and white, our nuanced position fails to make an impact."
Mumbai attacks
The only time when the Congress succeeded in turning the tables on the BJP on its nationalism plank was in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. Like the BJP, the Manmohan Singh government had adopted a tough line on Pakistan. It suspended talks with Islamabad and insisted that the dialogue would only be resumed if Pakistan brought the 26/11 terror attack perpetrators to book. Since the 2009 Lok Sabha election was then round the corner, the BJP had no choice but to go along with the Congress on this issue though it did attempt to put the government in the dock for negligence and intelligence failure.
Today, the shoe is on the other foot. As a result, the Congress has been speaking in different voices and its spokespersons are doing a tightrope walk over the past few days. The party began by supporting the government on the Kashmir issue but gradually changed tack. It did not oppose the Modi government’s decision to highlight the human rights violations in Balochistan and PoK but it instead sought to corner the ruling alliance by charging that it had failed to follow these issues up with sufficient force in the international fora. It also charged that Modi’s references to Balochistan, PoK and Gilgit-Baltistan were nothing but an attempt to whip up patriotism and divert attention from pressing issues like price rise and the atrocities on Dalits and that the government was doing nothing to end the ongoing unrest in the Kashmir Valley.
When the ongoing turmoil in Kashmir came up for discussion in the recently-concluded monsoon session of Parliament and at the all-party meeting called by the prime minister, the Congress and other opposition parties adopted a conciliatory tone and assured the government of its support in finding a solution to the violence in the Valley.
In fact, Ghulam Nabi Azad, the leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha, had then said that his party felt this was no time to stand on prestige and that it would support any measures the government would take to restore normalcy in the Kashmir Valley.
Modi’s references to Balochistan and PoK at the all-party meeting and his Independence Day speech have, however, resulted in utter confusion in the party. Former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid set the ball rolling when he openly opposed the prime minister’s formulation, stating that the references to Balochistan amounted to interference in the internal affairs of another country and that the doctrine of Panchsheel did not allow it. He said by highlighting this issue, India will lose the high moral ground in the international arena and give a handle to Pakistan to corner India.
Shifting positions
The Congress, however, distanced itself from Khurshid’s remarks, dubbing these as his personal views with party spokesperson Randeep Surjewala saying that India was concerned about human rights violations in Balochistan. He said India had spoken about these earlier as well and that the Congress believed this issue needed to be pursued internationally. But the party modified its stand subsequently. Shifting gears, it accused the Modi government of using the Balochistan issue to divert attention from its own shortcomings and for indulging in jingoism. Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh pointed out that the BJP was doing so with an eye on the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections where it is fast losing the support of Dalits following the beating of four tanners in Gujarat last month.
On Wednesday, it was Azad’s turn to deviate from his earlier position. After coming out in support of the Modi government, the senior Congress leader sought to shift the focus away from Balochistan to Kashmir as he charged the ruling alliance for raising extraneous issues while there was no attempt to put an end to the violence in the Valley. Stating that Modi should first put his own house in order, Azad said, “The violence and killings are continuing in Kashmir but the Centre has failed to do anything. The prime minister did not care to participate in the debate on Kashmir in Parliament or issue an appeal to the youth to desist from violence.”
Meanwhile, former home minister P Chidambaram added to the confusion in the party with the suggestion that “the Congress, the National Conference and, if willing the PDP [People's Democratic Party] must come together to find a solution first to end the violence and, then, a path forward”. Chidambaram’s statement, however, was at variance with the party’s official line. Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said these were Chidambaram’s personal views and that the party had already enunciated its position on government formation in Jammu and Kashmir. As for the Modi government’s response to the deteriorating conditions in the Valley, Singhvi maintained they are still awaiting a stable policy from the ruling alliance.
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