Rahul Gandhi Or Shashi Tharoor: Will The Real Congress Please Stand Up?

News18

2 days ago

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While Rahul Gandhi continues to undermine the government, Shashi Tharoor has led India's most fierce and sophisticated global PR campaign to counter Pakistan's narrative.
PM Narendra Modi may not yet have succeeded in breaking Balochistan away from Pakistan or getting back Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, but he has split the Congress down the middle.
The recent decision by the Centre to send high-profile, all-party teams to 32 countries as well as the European Union has deepened fault lines in the Congress so much that the rifts are now in the open.
Rahul Gandhi has predictably gone against the patriotic narrative and the tradition of the Opposition standing with the government of the day in the time of a national security crisis. He is talking Pakistan's language, questioning Indian defence forces about the number of planes Pakistan has shot down. He has mocked and attacked S Jaishankar for damaging India's war efforts by informing Pakistan about an attack although facts make it amply clear that India's foreign minister did no such thing.
But this is not new for Rahul Gandhi. He has consistently spoken in China and Pakistan's voice after India's surgical strikes or skirmishes with the PLA. He secretly met Chinese officials while India was engaged in the Doklam conflict with China. He has been seen and accused of meeting Khalistanis, those close to the Muslim Brotherhood (like US congresswoman Ilhan Omar), entities believed to be working for the US Deep State and western globalists, particularly on his overseas trips.
Currently, he is leading the 'Narender-Surrender' campaign against Modi, implying that India lost the conflict with Pakistan, regardless of the extensive and precise airstrikes on Pakistan's terror camps and air bases which ultimately prompted Pakistan to beg for a ceasefire.
In the time of strife, Rahul Gandhi has undermined India's elected government and its stellar security forces more than most Pakistani politicians have.
In contrast, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has led India's most fierce and sophisticated global PR campaign to counter Pakistan's narrative. Tharoor, who would spiritedly debate Sangh Parivar's worldview of the Bharatiya civilisation, nature of being Hindu, and the idea of India, has for the last few weeks been the foremost voice of patriotism in the Congress and to the world. He has been a vocal and articulate endorser and ambassador of India's actions in Operation Sindoor.
Salman Khurshid and Manish Tewari have similarly championed and amplified the Indian government's offensive after the Pahalgam attack. They have spoken in one voice with the nation.
Then there is Jairam Ramesh. He has a different stand and has criticised the government for not being able to eliminate the Pahalgam terrorists so far. But Rahul has lately attacked Ramesh acerbically, even hinting that he could be doing the BJP's bidding.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has curiously been an example of speaking in two voices, perhaps one that of his own self and one of his master's. Presiding over a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on May 7, he said India had given a befitting reply to Pakistan.
'We are proud of the Indian Armed Forces, who have given a befitting reply by taking bold and decisive action against the terror camps of Pakistan and PoK under 'Operation Sindoor'. We salute the courage, determination and patriotism of our brave soldiers," Kharge had said.
But the same Kharge, perhaps after chastisement from the proverbial Congress 'high command', later accused the Modi government of misleading the nation and demanded a special session of Parliament.
So, who is the real Congress?
Is the party torn between retaining a semblance of its patriotic past and legacy of the freedom struggle or has it become a radical, far-Left NGO bent on spreading hate, self-doubt, and chaos?
In that case, it should ask itself: who is it ultimately serving and why must it exist?
Abhijit Majumder is a senior journalist. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18's views.
First Published:
June 05, 2025, 13:15 IST