Er P L Khushu
Lal Chowk ‘part of RSS agenda’, says Cong, will end Rahul Yatra with flag hoisting at party’s Srinagar HQ. AICC Incharge of Jammu & Kashmir and party MP Rajni Patil had said here that Rahul Gandhi will hoist Tricolour at Congress headquarters in Srinagar on January 30, and not Lal Chowk, saying unfurling it there was part of ‘RSS agenda’. “We do not believe in the agenda of the RSS to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk, where it has already flown high,” Patil said when asked about the plan for Rahul to hoist the national flag on the culmination of the Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 30. Reacting to Patil’s statement on flag-hoisting at Lal Chowk being the RSS’s agenda, the BJP had said that ‘given an option, we will like that Lal Chowk be the place where Tricolour is unfurled on January 26 every year’. “Making Lal Chowk, which had been the nerve centre of separatism, the nerve centre of nationalism will be the answer to all separatist activities there,” said J&K BJP’s Chief Spokesperson. It is in the national interest to “Unfurl Tricolor at Lal Chowk, as it is not RSS agenda, but it is India vs Separatist forces in Kashmir, and Lal Chowk being the nerve centre of Kashmir politics, only nationalist forces should be there to unfurl the national flag. It appears that Rahul Gandhi has now understood the national language of the national security and adopted the RSS model by unfurling the national flag at Lal Chowk, to convey to the separatists that whole India is one as for as the oneness of India is concerned. It is hoped that Rahul Gandhi will become more matured and shun his intemperate approach of hate and anger about the progressive and people akin policies followed by the present ruling political party in the Delhi for the overall development of the country and its masses which is growing on a fast pace He is equally advised to learn from it, about the sordid mistakes and brazen errors which Congress party committed in the past, while governing India for the last about fifty years when Jammu and Kashmir remained detached from India. The myopic policies of pseudo secularism divided India on cast and regional bass, with the snoring political motives of congress and its allies while ruling the country, for its vote bank politics. Who advised Rahul Gandhi to unfurl the national flag at Lal Chowk Srinagar has ceremoniously saved the congress from further erosion, due to the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which was otherwise looking like ‘Kashmir-Todo’ Yatra, otherwise as well all this exercise of yatra was an exercise in futility. Earlier, at peak of Pakistan backed Islamist terrorism in the valley, there have been instances where the Pakistan flag was unfurled at Lal Chowk and the India national flag was not allowed to be hoisted there. This is true about the dynastic based politicians too, when they have never hoisted the national flag at Lal Chowk after the onset of militancy in Kashmir fearing that the separatists and their mentors across the border will be annoyed and there vote bank of larger section of the population of Kashmir will be against them. BJP on this occasion said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi could hoist the tri-colour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar because of the courage shown by the Narendra Modi government which “normalised” the situation in Kashmir Valley with the abrogation of Article 370. “Rahul Gandhi should tell the country how it could be possible. If you come from there (Kashmir), tell the countrymen the truth from there with a true heart,” said senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad. BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir president Ravindra Raina too said, “The hoisting of the national flag by Rahul Gandhi at the historic Lal Chowk is welcome but he should be generous and thank PM Modi, whose leadership has witnessed restoration of normalcy in the Valley after abrogating Article 370,” he said. The only recourse for congress and its crown prince is to see the reality on ground situation in Kashmir. It is now much better after the removal of Article 370, when he along with his sister and the other members of his coterie of hunch men freely moving at Lal Chowk Srinagar, during the hoisting of the Indian flag at Lal Chowk. He along with his other congress party partners should understand that abrogation of article 370 has brought a sea change in the political and the strategic scenario of Kashmir which the people of Kashmir wanted it badly from a long time. It is further substantiated by the fact congress Yatra captioned as Bharat Jodo Yatra led by Rahul Gandhi and his coterie of sycophants was quite safe and free from any trouble from any source including the terrorists who have been eliminated almost from the roots. The Congress had written a letter to 21 parties inviting them to join the Yatra at the culmination in Srinagar. The congress spokesperson had said that the SKICC event to mark the Yatra’s end will be attended by top leaders from the country as well as from abroad. But none amongst the prominent and responsible political party leaders attended this yatra at its concluding day, except, congress’s clan of dynasty chosen leaders. Even his local political guardians, like national conference and PDP leaders who had done a lot of drum beating about Rahul Gandhi’s Yatra in Kashmir, were conspicuously missing when Rahul Gandhi was hoisting the Indian Flag at Lal Chowk. Probably they must be annoyed now, with the congress leaders on this count, as it appears that these very dynasty based political leaders must have provoked the congress leadership not to hoist the national flag at Lal Chowk, as a condition for their participation in this yatra in Kashmir. It must have been on this condition, that they gave a clapping ovation to Rahul Gandhi for this Yatra in Kashmir. It cannot be denied that congress party has its own leadership, who are valiantly opposed to any compromise with the political agendas of dynasty based political leaders from the valley, though the veteran political leaders of congress party have been shown the door. It is where a strong leadership in congress party is the need of the hour, as a strong opposition party, which should shun the path of hating and abusing Modi out of their frustration, having been refused by the masses of this country to rule this country.
Gulam Nabi Azad is a prominent political leader in this case. Azad was a loyal and a committed Indian Muslim and a matured politician of this country, who has the glorious feather in his cap having worked with Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and above all a founder well wisher of the Gandhi family since decades. This is the fate of the congress at this stage, when it is now a Mother, Son and Daughter trio which are the remnants of this political party. Rahul Gandhi in its Yatra should have focused more on Congress-Jodo, which is in bad turmoil, rather than spreading hate against Modi, which can have an adverse effects on the overall performance of the congress party in the coming elections in 2024. Most of the people in India has pooh-poohed the Congress party’s Bharat Jodo Yatra saying that the Yatra got totally punctured in its last lap when NC and PDP leaders, Farooq Abdullah, Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti stayed away from National Flag hoisting in Lal Chowk thus leaving Rahul Gandhi alone. Some people are not happy with the Rahul Gandhi while unfurling Tricolor at Lal Chowk, Srinagar with his own cutout larger than the Tiranga. Netizens say it is disgusting, disrespectful. Netizens were quick to point out the seemingly disrespectful behavior by Rahul Gandhi. What has this so-called ‘T Shirt’ enamored Yatra achieved so far? Its drumbeaters are punching their breasts with the hoax slogans of removing hate from the country. Hate against whom. It is their own hate against their own selves. Congress is facing a countrywide identity crisis with the party not having come up with enough numbers to even qualify as an opposition party in the polls. They are reduced to just almost fifties in the parliament. Six years after the party’s electoral rout pushed it into a continuing downward spiral, 23 senior leaders of the Congress, including five former Chief Ministers, many Congress Working Committee members, sitting MPs, and several former Union Ministers, have, in an unprecedented pushback, sent a letter to party chief calling for sweeping changes, from top to bottom. The letter, learnt to have been sent some time back, details a reforms agenda that is, in effect, a stinging indictment of the current leadership. This letter of dissent mentions that the revival of the Congress is “a national imperative” fundamental to the health of democracy. It is now a situation of leadership crisis in the Congress, which is now manifesting in a farcical battle of the generations. The fact, India’s Grand Old Party seems unable to look beyond ‘the family’. The cognizant group of 23 senior Congress leaders, including former chief ministers, Union ministers and party general secretaries, are calling for ideological clarity, an overhaul of the party’s organization and addressing the leadership vacuum. The winner takes it all. So is the case with the, 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections when Narendra Modi tsunami dismantled the entire opposition barring a couple of states where regional satraps still rule the roost. The mandate was not only for Prime Minister but also a referendum on Rahul Gandhi’s leadership and acceptance as a leader who cannot replace Modi. The mandate shows that people not only rejected Rahul Gandhi but also the top brass of the Congress. Has the Raj Kumar of Congress party, Rahul Gandhi become a liability for this grand old party? With this degree of performance, can Rahul Gandhi continue to successfully function and lead the party as also day dream for becoming the prime ministerial candidate of Congress party for the coming national elections of 2024. Should he quit and make way for some other deserving candidate? Will the mother, son and the daughter trio allow it to happen? It is question bigger than its size. Will this “Yatra” help him? Distinctly not. But while being on an excursion trip to Kashmir, in the guise of Bharat-Jodo yatra, at least Rahul Gandhi has started learning that the solidarity and oneness of Bharat is more important rather than ridiculing Modi with vicious words like ‘Chowkidar Chor Hai’ and the like. His similar utterance from time to time has done more harm to the congress party rather than affecting Modi. As ultimately Rahul Gandhi adopted the RSS model for hoisting the Indian Tricolor at Lal Chowk, Let him also follow RSS agenda for the development of this country too, on all the fronts of the developments of the economic corridors of this country, along with the general prosperity of the masses of India. That way he will be able to bring back the disgruntled veteran political leaders of congress, who have left the congress party, due to the alleged political immaturity of Rahul Gandhi. Let him revive the image of congress party rather than doing more harm to it with his impious utterances about Modi, the Prime Minister of India. His often repeated ground situation on the Indo-China border with false versions and without verifying the actual ground situation is nothing but a great disrespect to our armed forces.
(The author is a Chartered Consultant Civil Engineer, passionately attached and devoted to his motherland –
Jammu & Kashmir).