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Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi rarely need much prompting to lament the ‘curse of destiny’. For him, it appears to be the best strategy to merge the past with the present to gain electoral benefits in 2014. With an eye on minority vote bank, Gandhi’s emotional outburst against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is part of a conscious effort to differentiate his party from the saffron organisation in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, according to experts.
Gandhi has opened a Pandora’s box by claiming that intelligence agencies in Pakistan were approaching Muslim youths from riots-ravaged Muzaffarnagar to lure them to terrorism. Political pundits say the Amethi MP’s controversial remarks sprinkled salt on the wounds of the minority community. Prominent Muslim leaders are of the view that such unreliable statement has painted the community in bad light.
Both retired and serving bureaucrats are questioning how an intelligence official could brief the vice-president of a political party, who is not bound by the oath of secrecy. They also lambasted the Gandhi scion for going public with information that should have ideally prompted a secret intelligence operation to identify the youth contacted and neutralize the ISI agents carrying out sabotage and subversion in the hinterland, reports The Times of India.
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The Uttar Pradesh police denied having any information about Pakistani intelligence agencies being in touch with Muslim youths in Muzaffarnagar as part of their sinister designs.
As of now, the Congress party has been struggling to defend the Manmohan Singh-led government against the attacks of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Now, it will look foolish to defend its prime minister- in waiting. The Congress spin doctors, however, feel that an emotional explosion may help Gandhi make a clean break from the record of United Progressive Alliance-II.
Will Congress president Sonia Gandhi again intervene and douse the flame? Party insiders say it’s high time to nip the problem in bud. The Congress chief, who had almost withdrawn herself from party affairs, was forced to take centrestage to deal with the situation thrown up by Gandhi’s outburst against the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers.
The Congress had paid a heavy price for the polarisation on Mandal (reservation) and Mandir (Ayodhya) issues in the 90s and is still trying to recover lost ground in the Hindi heartland.
After the split in the BJP-Janata Dal (Uinted) alliance, the marginalised Congress in Bihar is now the most sought-after party for alliance for the next Lok Sabha polls. Opinion polls predict that a tie-up the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Jan Shakti Party will likely do even better than a JD(U)-Congress alliance.
Muslims constitute around 17% of the Bihar electorate and RJD chief Lalu Prasad has, till now, got a lion’s share of those votes. His mistake of snapping ties with the Congress in 2009 cost him dearly as Congress candidates made inroads into his Muslim votebank. Also, in the caste-driven politics of the state, political analysts who are closely following the RJD say Yadavs (Lalu's castemen) will not ditch the jailed leader in his hour of crisis.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Congress won 22 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2009. Muslims, which constitute approximately 20% of the electorate in the state, play a crucial role in at least 25 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress leader appeared to be courting the minorities, hoping for a repeat of 2009 when the Grand Old Party got a large share of minority votes in the wake of Muslim disenchantment with Mulayam Singh Yadav following the Samajwadi leader’s alliance with former BJP chief minister Kalyan Singh. However, early poll surveys predict the Congress could lose ground heavily in 2014.
Political commentators say till the 2014 elections get over, there is nobody in the party who can rise against Gandhi.
Political commentators say till the 2014 elections get over, there is nobody in the party who can rise against Gandhi.
