Rahul Gandhi on news after saying regional parties “lack ideology.” Statement draws criticism from RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha, and JD(S)’s H Kumaraswamy. Shashi Tharoor comes to Gandhi’s defence, says Rahul has national vision.
Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, is on the news for all the wrong reason again. Recently, Congress has held a “Chintan Shivir” in Udaipur, Rahul Gandhi’s opinions there have caused some inconvenience to it .Rahul Gandhi said: “The BJP will talk about the Congress, will talk about Congress leaders, will talk about Congress workers, but will not talk about regional parties because they know that regional parties have their place, but they cannot defeat BJP. Because they don’t have an ideology”.
Manoj Jha and H.D. Kumaraswamy Criticize Rahul
Gandhi’s comments made news, but created controversy too. Almost immediately, Manoj Kumar Jha, spokesman for RJD, criticised him. He said that Rahul Gandhi’s claims are bizarre and not in sync with his party’s stand. Regional parties are strong in a majority of Lok Sabha seats against BJP. Therefore, Congress should settle as “co-travellers” in 200-220 constituencies . Instead, RJD should be in the “driving seat” in over 320 of the 543 constituencies.
Jha reminded him the recent electoral history of regional parties putting up a strong fight against BJP. It was RJD that was at the receiving end from BJP.Leaders like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejasvi Yadav and many workers have suffered due to their ideological commitment in the fight against BJP. Also Lalu stood with Sonia against her party’s leaders.
After Manoj Jha , H.D. Kumaraswamy of JD( S) criticized Rahul Gandhi . He said that Congress has developed a “phobia” of regional parties. They ruled for a decade with support from regional parties. They toppled Inder Gujral’s United Front government for sharing cabinets with the DMK. After Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, Congress’s relations worsened with DMK because of its ties with the LTTE, yet they later became cordial. Kumaraswamy wondered if that was ideological commitment then. He concluded saying that Congress has no presence in Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Orissa. It is also in its last days in Karnataka. It will be better if Rahul Gandhi understands this.
Why this Outrage?
Ever since 2019, Congress’s fortunes have been downhill. The party won only 52 seats out of 353 seats in the general elctions. Subsequently, it won a few seats as partner of the RJD led Mahagathbandhan in Bihar in 2020. In West Bengal,last year, a coalition with CPI(M) and Abbas Siddiqui’s Indian Secular Front didn’t help. Before the Punjab elections, itheir leader Captain Amarinder Singh defected to BJP. The party won only two seats in Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, BJP and Samajwadi Party won 255 and 111 seats out of 403 seats ,respectively.
The party is eager to be relevant again. However, to what extent Rahul Gandhi’s opinions would help its fortunes is questionable. Recently Hardik Patel has resigned as Working President of the Pradesh Congress Committee in Gujarat. Mamata Banerjee had subtly stated that its ability to lead a coalition has declined. It may exist as a partner in a coalition led by regional parties in future.
Shashi Tharoor defends Rahul Gandhi
While some regional leaders attacked Rahul Gandhi’s opinions, Shashi Tharoor has defended him. In an interview with NDTV, he said that Rahul Gandhi has a national visionand didn’t mean to disparage regional parties.Regional parties are characterically confined to the regions.They may decide to become national parties,but they are not where the Congress is. Its ideology embraces the whole nation.
(Inputs, NDTV,Zee News Jharkhand, ANI)
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