Of late, the Congress has been striving hard to gain its lost ground which it has lost in the past over a decade and half for various reasons. However, it has been consistent in giving enough signals that it does not want to achieve its intent. If it feels that winning the assembly poll in Himachal Pradesh has improved its prospectus, it would be reading too much in jumbled writings. Ignoring its significant defeat in Gujarat in terms of receding vote percentage and celebrating win with a slender margin in a comparably small state which is known for its anti-incumbency sensitivity and rotating governments, will be an act of misplaced confidence. The main reason why the long-held and worn-out policy of appeasing India's second largest majority over the largest one has proven to be a cropper and for which its foot-soldiers like Digvijay Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyer, Salman Khursheed and likes, have been working overtime. The Congress High Command i.e. the Gandhis, has ignored many signals for balancing its political strategy to check the losing political ground. The strategy it has formulated to achieve the goal is flawed in the extreme. To understand the reasons for the debacles in series is not difficult for many stalwarts of the party. AK Antony report submitted to the Congress president behind doors, had found the Congress' political practice of secularism as its appeasement of minorities and hitting the nationalist sentiments as main reasons for the party's defeat! The latest grey feather to the Congress's cap has been added by the remarks of Digvijay Singh by questioning the veracity of ‘Surgical Strike' at Jammu halt of Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra. It is not for the first time, veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has got his party in hot water. Such aspersions by Singh have time and again given BJP a handle to accuse the Opposition of being blinded by its “hate” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hurting nationalist sentiments and “insulting” the armed forces. On Monday, while speaking at a rally in Jammu as part of the ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister claimed, “the BJP-led Union government talks about the surgical strike conducted across the LoC but has not provided any proof to back up its claim. They discuss how their surgical strike has killed many terrorists across LoC. However, there is no proof. They are peddling a bundle of lies.” This came at the heels of a very controversial statement of former Minister and National Conference leader, Mustafa Kamal levelling serious allegations that the Pulwama was the handiwork of New Delhi. Kamal is the younger brother of former chief minister Dr. Farooq Abdullah who joined BJY and shared a stage with Rahul Gandhi at Jammu. Thousands of viewers have seen how embarrassing Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, who pushed and put down multiple times the microphone of a reporter who was questioning Digvijay for his ‘Surgical Strike' statement from the podium. The party has distanced itself from Digvijay's remarks with its standard stereotyped tweet. “The views expressed by senior leader Digvijaya Singh are his own and do not reflect the position of the Congress. The UPA government used surgical strikes prior to 2014. “Congress has supported and will continue to support all military actions in the national interest,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said. This happened at Jammu – a very sensitive region of Jammu Kashmir that all along accuses the Congress and Kashmir leadership of perpetrating discrimination in the hands of all successive state governments either headed or sponsored by the Congress.
A pertinent question – Does Congress require enemies for its failing fortunes?
