Opinion The Congress’s doublespeak

The Congress party has a history of doublespeak. To run with the hare and hunt with the hound may be justifiable to some degree in a national party which has to pitch an appeal which cuts across caste,creed and regional divides.

February 15, 2010 03:38 PM IST First published on: Feb 15, 2010 at 03:38 PM IST

The Congress party has a history of doublespeak. To run with the hare and hunt with the hound may be justifiable to some degree in a national party which has to pitch an appeal which cuts across caste,creed and regional divides.

But the ruling partys recent mixed messages on sensitive and emotive issues like the Batla House encounter,welcoming back Kashmiri militants,resuming the dialogue with Pakistan and the formation of Telangana is simply duplicitous,divisive,damaging to the national fabric and irresponsible.

A government flip flop,which has left most of us bewildered,is the sudden decision to hold secretary-level talks with Pakistan this month. Just a week before the announcement of talks,Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao had given an extremely hawkish interview,which is still on the MEA website.

In London a fortnight back,our Foreign Minister S M Krishna expressed pessimism over the prospects of talks since the Pakistan government has taken no meaningful action against the Pakistan-based perpetrators of the 26/11 attack. In fact,the Pakistan government recently permitted leaders of jihadi groups to stage massive rallies in Muzaffarabad and Lahore where participants vowed that the jihad against India would continue until it hands over Kashmir. To top it all,there was a fresh terror attack in Pune on Saturday.

Congress general secretary Digvijay Singhs recent trip to Azamgarh also exemplifies the opportunistic tactic of playing both sides. Singh went to Azamgarh merely to give a sympathetic hearing to those questioning the veracity of the Batla House encounter and demanding a fresh probe,even after the National Human Rights Commission gave a clean chit to the police.

By encouraging suspicions about a genuine crackdown on terrorists,Singh has succeeded in demoralizing the police just days after they had made a fresh arrest in Azamgarh which provided more corroborative evidence in the case. Singh clearly believes that the key to the Muslim vote in the forthcoming UP assembly polls is to pander to false suspicions.

In the process he has succeeded in strengthening misgivings and the sense of alienation within the minority community.

The Home Ministry backing the Jammu and Kashmir governments proposal to welcome back terrorists settled in PoK,provided they give up militancy,is another example of the ruling party speaking from both sides of its mouth. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and several other Congress leaders have made it clear privately that they believe such an initiative,which will effectively legitimize infiltration,is harmful to Indian interests.

It is a common political ploy for a leader to adopt a stance which is at variance with the stated position of the party and claim he is acting independently. In a disciplined,authoritarian and hierarchical party like the Congress,this is simply not possible.

The truth is that the party finds it convenient at times to speak in different voices while addressing different constituencies. It plays the game of good cop and bad cop,with the Gandhis keeping an enigmatic silence and their options open.

The strategy of speaking from both sides of ones mouth cannot be a permanent solution. At some point the contradictions are bound to catch up. This is what has happened in Andhra Pradesh,where the Congress finds itself caught in a cleft stick. To woo the Telangana electorate it promised a separate state. Now,faced with a backlash from other parts of Andhra,it has retracted and tried to buy time by setting up a pointless committee.

But will this really work? As the saying goes,you may be able to fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time,but you cant fool all the people all the time.