| For votes, Congress playing dangerous cards | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Mar 19: On issues of nationalism, national security and national unity, Congress, which claims that it is a grand old party of India, continues to flirt with disaster; from seeking "proofs of the Balakot air-strikes", to having its leader praise Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and contrast him with the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. AICC president Rahul Gandhi even has gone to the extent of insinuating the AB Vajpayee-led NDA government should have let the 190 Indian hostages die during the Kandhar crisis.
Even today, when China once again blocked the moves to declare dreaded terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM)'s chief Masood Azhar as terrorist, the language of Rahul Gandhi and his spokespersons is one of gloating at Narendra Modi's failure rather than anger at China shielding a terrorist. Even allowing for the possibility that a few valid criticisms of this government might have been dubbed unfairly as anti-national, there is no doubt, that in their effort to oppose PM Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and his men have ended up outraging the larger patriotic sentiment shared by over a billion Indians. With a possible promise to repeal the sedition law in these highly challenging and risky times, the Congress's policy has joined its messaging in drifting away from the ordinary Indian.
There should be no doubt in anyone's mind that sedition law that we have could be archaic in some places, while inadequate in most others. Predictably, it is also a huge pain-point for left parties and Left leaning handful sections who look down upon the concept of nationhood itself, and think of sedition laws as an "assault on personal liberties". They, due to the economic and social privileges, enjoy a degree of immunity from chaos of a society getting torn apart through a civil war like situation, while the poor suffer disproportionately. Indian elites also have a high degree of empathy deficit which results into them defending the right of a university educated goon to scream "Bharat Tere tukde honge" irrespective of what risks such incitement might create for the masses.
A political party, however, does not have the luxury of not addressing the anxiety that seditious behaviour creates in the minds of their voters. By promising to repeal the sedition law, the Congress party would make its allegiances clear, putting the entitled elites, over the masses. While the reasons to consider such a proposal can only be speculated upon, one can't help but wonder if this does not reflect leadership's alienation from the grassroots level. |
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