With the Lok Sabha elections right around the corner, political slug fest is at a high with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP campaigning for a second term, and the Congress is doing what they do best, throw dirt at the Chowkidar. Rahul Gandhi was pushed into the forefront of politics by his beloved mother Soniaji, who had high hopes for her prodigy. Great-grandson of late prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, grandson of the first and only female prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi, and son of the country's youngest prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, one would think a man of such lineage has high plans for India.
Congress today has changed vividly under the leadership of Rahul. One would think for the better. The grand political party that was once instrumental in framing the future of the country, currently operates on chaos, and a complete lack of vision. The INC now thrives on bashing the BJP and has for years, especially since Narendra Modi took up office. From blaming the NDA of destroying "communal harmony" to questioning the authenticity of the post-Pulwama surgical strike, what else has the Congress really done to win people's support.
If one were to list down all the allegations made by the Rahul-led party on the current government, they would begin to realise the absurdity of Indian politics. A simple web search for 'Congress accuses BJP' yields multiple results, each more preposterous than the other. The Congress on Monday accused BJP President Amit Shah of ‘undervaluing’ one of the properties mentioned in his affidavit. With polls coming, people are bracing themselves for the Congress to cry foul over voting machines in case of a hard loss.
Rafale Deal
With both the BJP and the Congress pointing fingers at each other, over the infamous aircraft deal, no one really knows who is to blame. However, the latter party seems extremely confident in its claims that the ruling government is to blame for the multi-crore scam. The Rafale deal overlaps both, the UPA regime and the NDA rule. Which is why, both parties find themselves entangled in an endless loop of who did what. The Congress has raised several issues on the topic time and again, sometimes at convenience.
They have specifically asked the BJP how the price of the fighter aircraft went up when 'India-specific enhancements' for it were the same as were decided during the UPA-rule. Accusing the NDA government at the Centre of "compromising national security", the Congress has steadily asked why the BJP-led Centre allegedly forego 'transfer of technology' and reduced the number of aircraft under Rafale deal from 126 to 36. The topic has time and again erupted even in the Lok Sabha and Rahul Gandhi has even asked Modi to reply to the debate in the lower House. Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge accused Modi of giving offset contract to his “favourite man” and reiterated the demand for a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee, in January. The £13 billion deal also involves Anil Ambani, who has a well-known inclination towards the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Electronic Voting Machine
Congress has its own set of doubts on the BJP when it comes to elections. Not a single state election has gone by without the Opposition party blaming the lotus of tampering electronic voting machines (EVMs). A major foul was claimed in the Madhya Pradesh polls held in December last year, where the Congress claimed the EVMs were brought into the strong rooms for counting two days after elections were held. While the Election Commission has cleared any suspicion of tampering of any sort, the Cong continues to bring up the claim every chance they get.
Demonetisation: BJP's biggest scam
At a press conference held on the second anniversary of demonetisation, November 8, last year, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma openly alleged that demonetisation was "a big money laundering project" orchestrated by the BJP. His party has already openly alleged that it was the "biggest scam of independent India" and that it should be probed, asserting the masses will punish Modi for his "wreck-less decision." Sharma in his speech made on the occasion had said the NPAs were increased sharply, the banking system was struggling, and that the Modi government was bent on "snatching" the contingency reserves of the Reserve Bank of India. "What did the country get, was black money found, was counterfeit currency recovered, did it stop naxalism and terrorism, instead the Indian economy suffered a loss of Rs 3 trillion," he claimed.
GST
Modi and his troopers in the Parliament pushed actively for the Goods and Services Tax (GST) even as they faced unhealthy opposition from the other parties. Back in 2016, when the bill wasn't set to motion yet, the Congress accused the BJP and the government of putting up a “false smokescreen” on GST. It argued that it was the RSS and Swadeshi Jagran Manch that have been red flagging the legislation all along. They said the Gujarat government under Modi had consistently opposed the GST proposal of the UPA government, saying it was against the federal spirit of Constitution as also the rights of states to fiscal autonomy.
Pulwama Attack
Congress had declared full support to the government in the aftermath of the Pulwama attack that claimed lives of 40 CRPF personnel. It even refrained from making political statements on February 14. The silence was, however, shortlived as within days of the event, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala asked why the Centre had not declared national mourning and continued with political speeches and inaugurations.
At an AICC news conference, he alleged the BJP was “politicising” sacrifices of our jawans. “At a rally in Assam on February 17, Amit Shah stated ‘their sacrifice won’t go in vain as it was not a Congress government, but a BJP one at the Centre’.” While Congress has always had problems with the BJP's "dirty politics", one can't help but wonder just how long does Gandhi believe this strategy will help his party stick. It is high time the leader took politics seriously, and play the game sportingly.
