6 days Ago
The Indian National Congress’s social media handles carried a headless image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the caption, ‘Gayab’, or missing. On April 26, four days after Pakistan-backed Islamic terrorists screened tourists for religion and killed 26 Hindus and Christians at Pahalgam’s Baisaran meadow, Indian protesters gathered in front of the Pakistan High Commission in London. The Pakistani Army’s Defence Attaché, Colonel Taimur Rahat, who was standing in the balcony, pointed at the crowd and made a throat-slitting gesture towards the Indian protestors.
Such ugliness of messaging is not unexpected from Pakistan, the world’s biggest exporter of terrorism. But in an almost cinematic extension of that metaphor, the Indian National Congress’s social media handles carried a headless image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi , with the caption, ‘Gayab’, or missing. The image brings back memories of recurring Islamist violence and murders on India’s streets — whether it is against Nupur Sharma or Kamlesh Tiwari — to the chant, ‘ gustakh-e-nabi ka ek hi saza, sar tann se juda, sar tann se juda ’ (there’s only one punishment for insulting our Prophet, head severed from the torso).
It also ties in neatly with Islamist terror worldwide. So, did the Congress consciously choose this messaging? Does it fully realise its repercussions? The answer could be both yes and no. On the face of it, the Congress does not want to be seen as anti-national and pro-Islamist at a time when Hindus and the nation have been so gruesomely targeted.
It paid a very high electoral price for mocking and trivialising India’s surgical strike and Balakot air raid. Rahul Gandhi has publicly called for a special session of both Houses of Parliament and professed bipartisan unity. Even Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has dutifully echoed the Gandhi family scion.
But at the same time, the Congress is extremely nervous that India’s impending muscular response and diplomatic screws that it has already tightened over Indus water is going to make the BJP storm to power again. So, it is desperately trying to discredit the Modi government by raising the issue of security lapse. Some party sympathisers and Congress-leaning influencers have gone as far as to allude that the Kashmir attack was a false flag operation carried out by India.
And yet, this nervousness does not fully explain the sinister import of the headless image that the Congress has circulated. It is unlikely to be entirely unselfconscious. The Congress senses a disquiet among a large section of India’s Muslims after the Modi government brought the Waqf amendment to end arbitrary land-grab in the name of Islam.
It now smells fear of retribution in the community after the brazen communal nature of the Pahalgam attack. It has been the Congress’s mission, especially under Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, to be the sole champion of Muslim interests and the lone collector of the community’s votes. It is perhaps prepared to go to any extent, even if it means assuming that the hearts of all Indian Muslims lie with Pakistan.
In Karnataka, CM Siddaramaiah has already faced a great deal of outrage after commenting “there is no need for war". The Congress is playing with fire . With this kind of reckless messaging, it is only fuelling a civil war-like situation and making itself conclusively a “Muslim party" in the eyes of most Hindu voters.
Rahul Gandhi cannot hide behind his double-faced approach to a massive national security issue. He is only hastening the Congress’s political isolation. 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..
