Covid-19 is back in the news in India. A new variant BF.7 has become a cause of concern for the authorities across the globe, including India. As a result, the Modi government swung into action earlier this week to take preventive measures to prevent the spread of this new variant. One of the steps in this regard has led to a sparring between the Congress party and the Modi government.
Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya wrote a letter to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot to ensure the implementation of Covid-appropriate behaviour in his ongoing Bharat Jodo Yatra.
The letter was sent after three Rajasthan MPs had written to Mandaviya that a number of Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra participants have been detected Covid-19 positive. Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu also tested positive after attending this yatra.
Instead of assuring the government that they would follow the Covid-19 protocols, the Congress leadership went ballistic over this letter.
The knee-jerk reaction by Congress is disappointing, though not unexpected as the party doesn’t seem to be much aware of the ground realities. This disconnect with issues that matter to Indians has been reflected in the way it has been completely marginalised across the nation. Wherever Congress has lost power over the last two decades, the party has been on the verge of extinction. The exceptions are few and far. And even in the areas where it has a strong presence, the party is suffering from deep factionalism. The reason for this state of the Congress is that its leaders are more bothered about embarrassing its opponents rather than taking up people-centric issues.
Thus, Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi not only have come out with scathing criticism of the government. They alleged that the government is scared of the success of Bharat Jodo Yatra. So, this is an attempt to stop it but the Congress would continue with it.
The reaction of Congress leadership shows that the party’s top brass is still suffering from the ‘sense of entitlement’ that has been the key reason for the downfall of the party. The tone and tenor of the statements of Congress leaders on this issue indicate that no one can dare to ask them to do anything, they know what is best for the people of this country even if they have been rejected by the electorate. The reaction of the Congress leadership also shows that they give scant regard to the safety of the common people of this country and to score a few brownie points as an opposition over the ruling party, they would go to any extent. That is not how a responsible political party is supposed to function. But it is clear that the Congress leadership is so desperate after being out of power for almost a decade that the Party would do anything to embarrass the Modi government even if that hurts the national interest.
Most importantly, the Congress leadership won’t let the people of this country or anyone else define what is the ‘national interest’. It is the ‘monopoly’ of the Congress!
A look at how their spokespersons and leaders have politicised the Covid-19 issue in wake of the recent developments reflects the arrogance that Congress has the privilege to define what is good for the country and what is bad for the country. No other party or government is capable of it even if they have got the people’s mandate.
In fact, this sense of entitlement is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since the days of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was not only carried forward with great gusto but was further amplified by Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and now Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
To give you a glimpse of this long legacy of the sense of entitlement, this is what Nehru said during a crucial parliamentary debate on the first amendment of the Constitution on 2 June 1951, “It is we who have brought about these major changes and not these petty critics… and it is we who are going to bring about major changes in this country. We are not going to allow petty critics and others to stop changes. They advance arguments which might have had some relevance some hundreds of years ago but which have no relevance now.”
Indira Gandhi demonstrated this sense of entitlement by imposing an internal emergency and almost strangulating Indian democracy because her election had been declared null and void for malpractices in 1975.
Rajiv Gandhi had dismissed a highly popular and duly elected Chief Minister of Karnataka Veerendra Patil at the Bengaluru airport in 1990.
The carriage carrying the dead body of Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao wasn’t allowed to enter the Congress headquarters as he had refused to buckle down to the Congress leadership during his tenure from 1991-1996. He died in 2004 when Sonia Gandhi was the Congress President and Manmohan Singh was heading the UPA government as Prime Minister of the country.
Several senior Congress leaders have made an exit from the Congress over the last few years complaining about the haughty attitude of Rahul Gandhi ever since he took charge of the party.
Bharat Jodo Yatra: A Flop Show
Now let us take a look at this argument that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is making a nationwide impact that has scared the Modi government and the Bharatiya Janata Party. During Rahul’s Yatra, three polls took place: Assembly polls for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh and municipal polls for Delhi. In Gujarat and Delhi Congress was wiped out while in Himachal it was able to garner only 0.9 percent more votes than the BJP despite the latter facing an anti-incumbency. It is by a sheer stroke of luck that this difference of 0.9 percent led the Congress to have 40 seats, five seats more than the required majority to form a government in Himachal Pradesh. Incidentally, the cracks are already developing in the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh and it is just a matter of time before the Pratibha Singh faction rocks the Congress’ boat.
Rahul Gandhi also didn’t campaign in Gujarat where the BJP registered a historic win with Congress losing a substantial chunk of votes. Had his Bharat Jodo Yatra been successful, the impact should have been visible in Gujarat and Delhi.
It is clear that Rahul might have travelled a lot during his Bharat Jodo Yatra but his actions and political strategy remain absolutely disconnected with the priorities of this country. And nothing reflects it more than the politicisation of the Covid-19 issue. The Congress had done it in the past during the first and the second wave of Covid-19 and it backfired. It is time for Congress to rethink its current stand on Covid-19. If it isn’t going to do that, the political consequences would be severe for the party and it would have only its leadership to blame for that.
The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed are personal.
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