In another futile political gimmick to grab headlines, president-in-waiting of the Congress party Rahul Gandhi has made some baseless and absurd remarks in his Parliamentary speech. Such tactics now appear to be the modus operandi of Mr Gandhi. Whenever his party is down and out, he comes up with such pseudo intellectual comments to stage a farce comeback.
Discrediting the Election Commission of India is equivalent to disrespecting the fundamental democratic values enshrined in the Indian Constitution. He needs to be reminded that it was during the Congress rule when sanctity of the impartial Election Commission was compromised when Navin Chawla (who has been close to the Congress Party) was made the Election Commissioner even after recommendation for his removal by Chief election Commissioner, N. Gopalaswami.
Navin Chawla’s excuses and frequent visits to the washroom whenever crucial decisions were taken by the full bench of the Election Commission were among the instances cited by the Chief Election Commissioner in his letter to the President recommending the former’s removal. As expected, the CEC’s recommendation was rejected by the Congress-appointed President and Navin Chawla rose to become the Chief Election Commissioner of India. Similarly, M.S. Gill, who was Chief Election Commissioner from 1996 to 2001, was later inducted in the cabinet by the Congress government.
Let alone the Election Commission, the Indian National Congress-appointed former Vice President of India, Mr Hamid Ansari, leaves no occasion to criticise India on national and international platforms. He recently spoke at a Muslim forum (IAMC or the Indian American Muslim Council), which is a proxy of Pakistan and ISI. In this meeting, he said that India is run by a religious majority party which promotes hate, discord and insecurity over rule of law. The organisers of this event are infamous for targeting India many times for its sovereign decisions. They have not only lobbied against India for acts passed in Parliament democratically, but also constantly engage in a discourse which is anti-Indian.
India has an independent judicial system, free from any kind of external control. Every common citizen, irrespective of caste, gender, social status etc. has utmost faith in judiciary when it comes to justice. Raising aspersions on the integrity of judiciary, stating it to be a tool of repression, is very unfortunate. Again, it was the Congress that had compromised the independence of judiciary by the imposition of the Emergency in 1975. With the exception of Emergency days, the judiciary is proactive and ensures answerability of the central government on every matter of national concern. The apex court has entertained almost every issue which has been raised by the opposition parties, be it the Rafale deal or the Central Vista project, and has ensured fair and impartial trials.
The Wayanad MP alleged that the current government brought Pakistan and China closer. He again needs to be reminded that both the countries have been close allies since the Nehruvian era. Pakistan recognised China in 1950, it was the first Muslim country to do so. Shaksgam Valley was ceded by Pakistan to China in 1963, just one year after the India-China War, when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was the Prime Minister of India. Even during the 1971 India-Pakistan war, China assured support to Pakistan.
There have been multiple instances where China has backed Pakistan at the UN Security Council. Even in 2019, China became the only country to back Pakistan on Kashmir issue (which was taken to United Nations by Pandit Nehru). Therefore, he blaming the current government for China-Pakistan friendship is nothing but a result of his ignorance.
As far as the issue related to Republic Day guests is concerned, all five guests held a virtual meeting with the Indian Prime Minister since they could not be physically present for the event due to COVID-19 surge. Needless to remind Rahul Gandhi that it was the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that could bring the heads of 10 ASEAN countries during the Republic Day parade of 2018 or that the US Foreign Policy has undergone a huge transformation under Prime Minister Modi-led government, or that US President Barack Obama was the chief guest at the Republic Day in 2015.
On the issue of national security too, Rahul Gandhi suffers selective amnesia. UPA government under Dr Manmohan Singh was not only soft on Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, but also believed that talks with Pakistan and cross-border terrorism could go together. “Action on terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue process and these should not be bracketed,” read the joint statement after the bilateral meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in 2009.
Foreign policy is now treated as an instrument of national interest which runs in tandem with the concept of effective multilateralism. “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” is a key foundational principle of our foreign policy but at the same time we refuse to compromise with our sovereignty and integrity. The diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics is perfect example of this.
Reducing national security to a mere political subject just to get some limelight is crass and petty politics. The role of opposition in Parliament is to engage in fruitful debates and constructive criticism. Criticising the judiciary and a constitutional body like the Election Commission of India, that too with baseless allegations, is uncalled for in the Indian democratic set-up.
Dr Vijay Chauthaiwale is In-Charge, Foreign Affairs Department, Bharatiya Janata Party. The views expressed in the article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
Read all the Latest Opinions here
Comments
0 comment