Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said on Thursday that “lack of ideological clarity” was harming the party more than any “Press scripted and media sponsored” junior-senior divide within it.
Through his tweets, Mr. Singh waded straight into Congress’s internal debate on how it should target the Narendra Modi government.
“Rather it’s lack of Ideological Clarity that leads to ambiguous stand. Why do some shy away from fighting RSS? Its divisive Ideology of Polarisation & Anti Poor, Anti Farmer, Anti Labour policies are destroying the Unity & Integrity of India, destroying its Socio Economic fabric,” Mr. Singh tweeted.
Debate in party
The debate started last Tuesday when former Union Minister R.P.N. Singh said policies of the Modi government could be targeted instead of mounting direct attacks on Mr. Modi, as it could be misconstrued as an attack on the institution of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Countering Mr. Singh, the former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi had said he was “not scared to attack Mr. Modi, as every policy of the government was made by the Prime Minister himself.”
As most Congress leaders rallied around Mr. Gandhi, young party leader Rajeev Satav wondered how much the role of the senior leaders was in cornering Mr. Modi. Party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is reported to have talked about Mr. Gandhi carrying on against the government alone.
Such attacks on the veterans by Team Rahul were seen as signs of their hurry to reinstall Mr. Gandhi as the party chief and ignore suggestions in some quarters that the next party chief should be elected.
“Who in Congress is opposed to Rahul ji or Priyanka ji? Name one senior leader? Whole Congress unitedly stands with Nehru-Gandhi Family. They are the binding force. What is more important is the Ideological clarity among Congress leaders junior or senior which is harming the Party,” the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said in another tweet.
Amit Shah’s barb
On the 45th anniversary of the 1975 Emergency on Thursday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah made a reference to the June 23 CWC meeting and termed it “Emergency mindset where leaders not belonging to a dynasty are unable to speak up.”
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who was the first to propose Mr. Gandhi as the Congress president once again at last Tuesday’s CWC, replied to Mr. Shah in a series of tweets.
“It is no secret that for last three decades, no one from the Gandhi family has held any position of power. They have always encouraged & empowered the cadre and ground worker of Congress party like me and if at all we are disconnected with public, why is Mr. Shah so worried?” asked Mr Gehlot.
He said the BJP had been hijacked by Mr. Shah and Mr. Modi.
