Column
Ugly face of the Congress
By Shyam Khosla
Several recent developments and exposures have unmasked the real face of the Congress. It is not a secular democratic party that it claims to be. It is communal and fascist to the core that pays only lip service to secularism and democracy. The party that spearheaded the freedom movement died long ago. What remains and work under that banner has no interest in national causes or genuine secularism. The party led by Sonia Gandhi is a motley group of self-serving and highly ambitious individuals who can go to any length to achieve their personal goals. It is not to suggest that there is no one in the party who retains his/her commitment to nationalism and public good. They are the ones who are sidelined and are seldom heard. They do speak out the truth occasionally but are snubbed and ignored. Those who matter in the party are interested only in capturing and retaining power even at the cost of social harmony and public good. They are obsessed with vote bank politics and have no qualms of conscience to go against the broad national interest if it serves their own partisan interests.
Former Bihar Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader S.N. Sinha has in his recently released explosive memoirs exposed the ugly face of Congress leaders. He reveals how the infamous Bhagalpur riots of 1979 that claimed more than 1,000 lives were engineered by two Congress leaders ? Bhagwat Jha Azad and Shivchandra Jha. The veteran Congressman has picked up the courage, though quite belatedly, to confess that it was the Congress that was behind Bhagalpur riots and not the Hindu nationalists as the Congress falsely claimed. Sinha didn'tspare even Rajiv Gandhi (who was then being groomed by Indira Gandhi as her successor) for protecting the notorious SP of Bhagalpur- K.S. Dwivedi. This has been corroborated by another former Chief Minister, Jagan Nath Mishra who claims that he had transferred the SP and DM of Bhagalpur immediately after taking over as CM. Hindus and Muslims were put against each other by Congress leaders just to unseat a Chief Minister with whom they were not comfortable. Congress party'srole in massacre of Sikhs in Delhi in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi'sassassination by her security guards is well known. Rajiv Gandhi'sjustification of Delhi riots ? when a big tree falls, the earth shakes ? is a proof if one is needed to prove Congress party'scomplicity in the Delhi massacres. Yet, the party seeks minority votes by creating fear in the minds of minorities by projecting Hindu nationalists as their enemies.
Supreme Court'sforthright assertion that Assam is facing external aggression and internal disturbance due to large-scale illegal infiltration from Bangladesh has not made the Congress sit up and take steps to face the growing challenge. The party is adopting delaying and diversionary tactics. Congress-led UPA has set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to study the apex court judgement on Illegal Migrants (Determination by Tribunals) ? IMDT Act. What was required of the Government was to take immediate steps to set up Tribunals under the Foreigner'sAct as directed by the Supreme Court to expedite the process of identification and deportation of illegal migrants that pose a serious threat to our economy, social harmony and national security. Instead, Congress leaders in Delhi and Guwahati initially talked of appealing to the Supreme Court for a review of its judgement as if the judiciary had erred gravely in drawing the government'sattention to the grave situation in Assam. Presumably advised by its lawyers not to take this route as the three-judge bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, R.C. Lahoti was unlikely to review its unanimous decision, the Government changed its strategy.
S.N. Sinha has in his recently released explosive memoirs exposed the ugly face of Congress leaders. He reveals how the infamous Bhagalpur riots of 1979 that claimed more than 1,000 lives were engineered by two Congress leaders?Bhagwat Jha Azad and Shivchandra Jha.
Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj says he will take a ?subjective view? of the language used by the court. His remark that the court'sobservations do not merit attention is a sad and uncalled for reflection on the highest judicial authority. Bhardwaj, who is a member of the GoM that is to study the judgement, exudes confidence that the issue will be ?resolved? amicably through talks with various stakeholders. Is there a dispute over the apex court'sjudgment that needs to be resolved? It is painful that the Government has done nothing to assure the people of Assam that the Government at the Centre and in the State will implement the court order in letter and spirit. On the contrary, Congress leaders went to town assuring minorities that they would not be harassed. Their intention really is to reassure the illegal migrants that they would find a way out to ensure that the judicial verdict was sabotaged. This is the depth to which the Congress party has descended to appease its vote bank.
The Congress-led Government has exposed its fascist face and total absence of commitment to democratic values and norms by appointing Navin Chawla as an Election Commissioner. No one in the Government was unaware of the fact that Chawla exercised enormous powers during the hated Emergency by virtue of his easy access to the then Prime Minister'shouse. The Shah Commission that enquired into the excesses during the Emergency had severely indicted Chawla. It was found that his approach during that period was authoritarian and callous and that he abused his powers in cynical disregard of the welfare of citizens and in the process rendered himself unfit to hold any public office that demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others. Since the Commission'sreport was accepted by the Government, Chawla should have been dismissed from the IAS. He was, however, protected by the successor government and has now been made a member of a constitutional authority assigned with the task of conducting free and fair election. A man who has no commitment to democratic values and the Constitution is unworthy of becoming a member of the Election Commission. Only a party that has scant regard for democracy and the Constitution can enact such a gory act.
What was required of the Government was to take immediate steps to set up Tribunals under the Foreigner'sAct as directed by the Supreme Court to expedite the process of identification and deportation of illegal migrants that pose a serious threat.
Congress party'sminorityism has done immense harm to the society and has led to social tensions. What is more repugnant is its anti-Hindu stance evident in Arjun Singh'splan to re-writing history textbooks. As if its obsession with the Aryan invasion theory was not enough, the leftist historians commissioned by Arjun Singh are attacking Hindu icons in their new NCERT textbooks. The notorious writer Satish Chandra Mittal in his Modern India quotes Romain Rolland to damn Ramkrishna Parmhansa, the spiritual Master who inspired countless sages including Swami Vivekananda. Mittal gleefully quotes Romain Rolland to say that if Ramkrishna were in Europe he would have been taken as a mental case and put in a lunatic asylum. This is what the Congress-led Government wants to be taught to school students through NCERT textbooks. Do dogmatic Marxists produce history or malignant untruth? (20-7-2005)
