Congress faces internal unease as khurshid, tharoor back government on key issues - the statesman

Indian National Congress, the grand old political party of India, has been experiencing something that could be described as political independence among its leaders with people like Shashi

Tharoor and, of late, Salman Khurshid, expressing their views on issues of national importance openly without worrying too much about the party line. Khurshid, a Congress veteran who also

served as External Affairs Minister in the party government, has recently expressed concern over political divisions in India when the Narendra Modi government is busy exposing Pakistan on

the matter of terrorism. Advertisement He asked why it is so difficult to be patriotic, especially when the entire country is united and trying to explain to the whole world how Pakistan has

been troubling India, using terrorism as a state policy, for decades. Advertisement “When on a mission against terrorism, to carry India’s message to the world, it’s distressing that people

at home are calculating political allegiances. Is it so difficult to be patriotic?” the Congress veteran posted on X. Khurshid also endorsed abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir,

the issue on which BJP leaders, every now and then, have criticised the Congress, alleging that it wants to reinstate it. However, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge countered the

allegations, calling the claims by BJP leaders as “divisive and misleading”. Kharge emphasised that Article 370 was revoked by Parliament and accused the saffron party of reviving the issue

solely to create rifts. Khurshid, who was addressing the academia and think tanks in Indonesia recently, created discomfiture in the Congress party. The BJP, almost immediately, welcomed

Khurshid’s praise for Article 370 revocation. The Congress leader told them that the Union Government’s decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in August 2019 led to positive

changes and increased prosperity in the region, but there has been a desperate attempt by terror groups backed and supported by Pakistan to undo the good in the Kashmir Valley. Meanwhile,

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor has already been speaking his mind openly for a long time. He lauded PM Modi’s various programmes and actions, including the government’s new doctrine on terror. A

few days ago, Tharoor who is heading one of the seven delegations, invited strong criticism from his party after he credited the Narendra Modi-led government for green-lighting India’s

‘first’ surgical strikes across the border. Tharoor, for his open endorsement of the Modi government’s new security doctrine, earned strong criticism from the Congress party as several

senior leaders took exception to his views. Responding to the criticism, Tharoor has said he would address the issue when he returns home. He said that presenting India’s stance on terrorism

was the need of the hour, and it was not the time for internal debates but to ensure success of the mission. “When we return to India, we will certainly address our critics and speak with

our colleagues and the media,” he told the media persons. Interestingly, there is a growing sense of disquiet and unease within the Congress party ever since the Centre picked ‘leaders of

its choice’ from the grand old party for a multi-party delegation to put forward India’s stance against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism on the world stage. Soon after Operation Sindoor was

launched against Pakistan, Congress started demanding answers from the government on the number of jets shot down by Pakistan, fixing accountability for the Pahalgam attack and also passing

information to the enemy beforehand. It has also been demanding a special session of parliament to discuss the whole security situation amidst the ongoing hostilities between India and

Pakistan. Advertisement