As Shama Mohamed sparks row with Rohit Sharma jibe, why Congress is still struggling to find Oppn voice

The ruling BJP alleged that the Congress “resents a self-confident India”. Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said the Congress spokesperson’s “body-shaming” remarks were “deeply shameful”. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) called it “unfortunate”.

This was not the first time the Congress faced such a row. Over the last 11 years as the principal Opposition, the Congress has often found itself in a soup over various remarks made by its several leaders on a range of issues, which has been promptly used by the BJP to fire salvos at the grand old party.

Last month, Indian Overseas Congress chairman and a close aide of Rahul Gandhi, Sam Pitroda, landed the party in a fresh controversy by claiming that the threat from China is “often blown out of proportion”. “I don’t understand the threat from China. I think this issue is often blown out of proportion because the US tends to define an enemy. I believe the time has come for all nations to collaborate, not confront…We need to change this mindset and stop assuming that China is the enemy from day one,” Pitroda said in an interview.

His comments deviated from the Congress’s line as the party has been targeting the BJP-led NDA government over the “occupation of large swathes of the Indian territory by China”.

So distancing the Congress from Pitroda’s remarks, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The views reportedly expressed by Pitroda on China are most definitely not the views of the Indian National Congress.”

During the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Pitroda repeatedly put the Congress on the back foot by triggering several rows. In May 2024, in a podcast, he made a racial analogy to describe India’s diversity. He claimed that the “people in the East look like the Chinese, people in the West look like the Arabs, people in the North look like, maybe, White, and people in the South look like Africans”.

This set off a storm, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the BJP’s attack from his election rallies, accusing the Congress of allegedly having a racist mindset and trying to divide the nation on the basis of skin colour. The Congress distanced itself from Pitroda’s remarks, calling it “most unfortunate and unacceptable”. This led to Pitroda’s resignation from his position – only to be reappointed barely a month later.

In April 2024, amidst the BJP’s attacks on the Congress manifesto regarding distribution of assets, Pitroda described the inheritance tax in the United States as an “interesting law” which could be among the issues for debate in India. This also hit a flashpoint, with PM Modi alleging that the Congress would snatch properties left behind by people for their children.

The Congress had to clarify that it had “no plan whatsoever to introduce an inheritance tax”. The party leaders had then admitted in private that Pitroda had become a “habitual offender”, and that a “stern message” needed to be sent to him.

Pitroda also threatened to shake the Congress’s tightrope walk ahead of the consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya in early 2024 when the BJP was accusing the Opposition parties of allegedly disregarding Lord Ram and hurting sentiments. “When the entire nation is hung up on Ram Temple and Ram Janmabhoomi, it bothers me… To me, religion is something very personal,” he said.

In the midst of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls too, after India’s Balakot airstrike, Pitroda had sought “more facts” and proof of the death toll in it. The Congress said his remarks had “nothing to do with the party’s opinion”, even as the BJP whipped up a nationalism row over it, slamming the Congress for raising doubts on an operation conducted by the armed forces.

Since 2014, when Modi first led the BJP to storm to power, the Congress has been scrambling to frame its narrative against the BJP, with its leaders often making remarks which the BJP has seized on to raise the heat, especially on issues like nationalism and Hindutva.

In January 2023, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh questioned the surgical strikes conducted against Pakistan along the LoC after the Uri attack in 2016, saying “no proof” was provided. He accused the Modi government of “spreading lies” about these strikes. He also raised questions about the 2019 terror attack in Pulwama, attacking the government for not presenting a report in Parliament on “why the 40 CRPF personnel had got martyred’’.

Singh was addressing a rally during the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra’s J&K leg in Jammu.

His comments led to a swift blowback from the BJP, which said the Congress was “blinded by hate” for PM Modi and had insulted the country’s armed forces. The Congress distanced itself from Singh’s comments, with Jairam Ramesh saying they “do not reflect the party’s position”.

In July 2016, another senior Congress leader and ex-Union home minister P Chidambaram, while commenting on the Kashmir situation in an interview, advocated restoring the “grand bargain” under which Kashmir had acceded to India by granting a large degree of autonomy, warning that otherwise the country will have to pay a “heavy price”. He also suggested relaxing the AFSPA.

His statements came during a severe turmoil in the Valley in the wake of the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

The BJP hit out at Chidambaram, saying his proposal “compromises the national security” and that the Modi government will secure the unity and integrity of the country without any compromise.

In February 2015, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor triggered a furore when he said that the execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru was both “wrong” and “badly handled”. In response to a question on Twitter (currently X), Tharoor stated: “I think the (Afzal Guru) hanging was both wrong and badly handled. Family should have been warned, given a last meeting and body returned,” Tharoor said. Afzal Guru was hanged on February 9, 2013.

The Congress quickly distanced itself from his observation, saying “all the due processes of law were followed” by the then UPA II government.

Tharoor’s comments had come just days after five Congress MLAs in Jammu and Kashmir had in a written statement accepted that it was a “mistake” by the then UPA government not to allow his relatives have a last meeting with Afzal. The letter was handed over to then Independent MLA Engineer Rasheed, whose crucial vote helped the party get its then leader Ghulam Nabi Azad elected to the Rajya Sabha. Azad, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House, quit the Congress in August 2022 and went on to float his own outfit.