The longest the Congress ‘technically’ remained out of power is eight years between 1996 and 2004. It still enjoyed power between 1996 and 1998 during the Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujral governments. Effectively, it was just six years of the Vajpayee-led NDA regime. But now, the party is out of power for 11 years and in all likelihood is to remain so for another four years, at least, although the widely held belief and prediction is much more.
The party’s, particularly its leader Rahul Gandhi’s frustration towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs to be viewed in that context. Someone, who has seen two Prime Ministers in the family, father and grandmother for 10 years and then a compliant Prime Minister like Dr Manmohan Singh for another 10 years, remaining out of power that long seems to have had an impact on his political behaviour. Gandhi, in his 55 years, has seen and experienced unbridled power for 20 years. He, of course, must be missing those times.
Otherwise, what can justify his opposing Prime Minister Modi on Operation Sindoor and Trump tariffs and endorsing Trump’s views that the Indian economy is “dead”? He already has been buying the enemy narratives about the crashing of Indian jets during the Operation Sindoor.
Gandhi’s stringent and vociferous opposition against Modi on multiple domestic issues is understandable. Even if, at times, he goes out of way to blame Modi for everything, it is understandable. But just siding with US President Donald Trump and taking a stand on Operation Sindoor sounds like the enemy narrative is unexplainable and unacceptable.
The moment Trump’s announcement imposing a 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports spread across the country, most of the Congress leaders appeared “celebrating” it. The tone and tenor of their messaging on social media platforms was not lost on anyone. Some party insiders have expressed reservations about the way chairman of the Media and Publicity Department Jairam Ramesh initially reacted to the tariff announcement.
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Although leaders like Shashi Tharoor and Rajiv Shukla did take a different stance and rejected Trump’s damnation of the Indian economy as dead, the damage had been done by what Gandhi had told reporters outside the Parliament that Trump was right and that the Indian economy was dead.
The party’s spin managers also tried to make up for the initial damage by putting a detailed statement on Gandhi’s ‘X’ handle, explaining why and how the Indian economy was dead.
Like Modi is the Prime Minister of 1.4 billion people of India, Gandhi is their representative as the Leader of Opposition. He is authorised and entitled to hold the government in the dock. But here the issue was not between the government and the Opposition. It was between two countries – the United States and India. It was the US President imposing a 25 per cent tariff on India and not on the “BJP-led NDA government” or the Prime Minister alone.
Gandhi should ideally have defended his country and that would not have meant defending the government. He is not just the “voice” of Opposition, but the voice of entire 1.4 billion people, whose interests he has to watch. And this does not mean criticising and condemning Modi and his government alone and that too just for the heck of it. When this 1.4 billion population was “attacked” by way of tariffs by the US President, Gandhi should first and foremost have condemned and rejected it and said the country stands united against this hostile US tariff regime. His stature would have grown among people across the country. Instead, what he did was act like the spokesperson of Donald Trump, not only endorsing his views that India’s economy is dead, but further justifying it and explaining why and how it is “dead”. He needs to ask himself as for whom he was speaking – for his own country or for the US President?
Ideally, in such situations, the government and the Opposition should be acting together and presenting a unified case for the country. But consensus has lost to confrontation long back in India. The ruling dispensation and the Opposition consider each other as enemies and both can go to any extent to damage each other. Hence, there is nothing surprising about Gandhi using Trump tariff and his brutal remarks on the Indian economy to corner the government. This has happened for the second time, within a few days.
This must change. There must be all party consensus on the issues of national concern. The Trump tariff regime is an assault on the Indian economy. It will have quite a damaging effect on a number of sectors. There will be possible loss of jobs. The growth may slow down. The exports obviously will fall to some extent, till India does not explore alternate markets and diversify the export market. This is a sort of national emergency concerning all, not just the ruling party.
Also read: Polarised debate on Operation Sindoor was avoidable
The best course for the country is that it must be seen as united against any adversity. While the Opposition has a role to support and cooperate with the government, those in power also need to be large hearted and magnanimous and not treat the Opposition as insignificant, inconsequential and like enemies.
The Congress in general and Gandhi in particular need to rethink their strategy and approach. Gandhi is well within his right to keep on criticising the Prime Minister whenever and wherever he thinks he needs to be criticised. At the same time, it is not that he deserves to be criticised always and for everything that he does and does not do. In the age of social media and spontaneous messaging, people do not need to be told who is wrong and who is right. They may not necessarily, rather they rarely will, accept your interpretation of things. So when you second and endorse Trump’s scathing, but unjustified criticism of the Indian economy, people don’t like it, leave aside accepting it.
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