Like the Bharat Jodo Yatra back home in India, Rahul Gandhi’s Cambridge Yatra has now become the focus of controversy.
It’s not much of a surprise considering Gandhi’s earlier foreign trips, too, have ended in bashing the country. Whether in Germany or the UK or Sweden, he has always accused the Modi government of being fascist, not respecting the minorities and crushing the voice of the opposition.
While his speeches get eyeballs and give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a handle to attack him and the Congress, it does put the party in a spot.
First, the Congress has criticized the PM for criticizing the Gandhis, especially Indira Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, when he travels abroad. Each time the PM says that the country has not achieved anything before he came to power, it is seen as a comment on the work not done by his predecessors. The Congress cites this in their defence.
But there are mainly two problems here.
"What kind of sentiment is Rahul Gandhi trying to stoke here? Rahul Gandhi is running his own agenda," says @Tushar15_"It's a fact that BJP was using pegasus against the opposition party," says @ravi4354
(@Arunima24) | #Pegasus #RahulGandhi #Cambridge pic.twitter.com/4C9YFfdTNe
— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 3, 2023
WRONG SIDE OF NATIONALISM DEBATE
One, the Congress has always been caught on the wrong side of the nationalism debate. The main pitch on which Modi came to power in 2014 was that unlike Dr Manmohan Singh, he was not a “weak PM” and could stand up to our enemies across the border. Every time the Congress has questioned the Balakote airstrike and raised questions over China, the Congress has been accused of being soft on terror and our opponents.
And this has emboldened the pitch of the BJP that the Congress disrespects the Armed Forces and our opponents across the border namely Pakistan and China.
#BreakingNews: Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge backs Rahul Gandhi's remarks, and says "Everyone knows telephone tapping is happening"@_pallavighosh with more details(@Arunima24) | #RahulGandhi #Cambridge #Pegasus pic.twitter.com/qtn4NRCk0D
— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 3, 2023
POTSHOTS AT G20, NE LOSS
Second, there was much disdain within the Congress itself when many senior leaders like Jairam Ramesh took potshots at the PM and said that G20 presidency was not such a big deal. This then gave the BJP the handle that Rahul Gandhi’s Congress had demeaned the prestige of the country. It is the same now.
The timing of Rahul Gandhi’s comments, too, has been wrong. It comes just as the party was wiped out in the North-East (N-E). It takes away the base of the points made by the former Congress president.
Union minister & BJP leader Anurag Thakur: #Pegasus is inside Congress's brain and heart. Rahul Gandhi has a habit of lying and defaming India. This raises questions on the agenda of the #Congress party.. Listen in@shilparathnam #BJP #RahulGandhiinCambridge pic.twitter.com/bpR78R8GUR— News18 (@CNNnews18) March 3, 2023
At the end of the day, the power of any party comes from the elections it wins. So far, the Congress does not have much to boast of.
And Gandhi’s Cambridge Yatra has just overturned the narrative the party hoped to reap from the traction of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
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