Congress, INDIA bloc don’t offer a viable alternative

The resolution that the Congress Working Committee, the top decision-making body of the grand old party, adopted yesterday is little more than a bunch of slogans and homilies. Apart from slamming the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government, it doesn’t chart the course of action the Congress and the INDIA grouping intend to adopt. It tells us that the BJP government is bad, without spelling out what does a good government look like.

For instance, the CWC expressed grave concern at the “increasing unemployment and continuous rise in prices, especially of essential commodities.” On the job front, the Narendra Modi government has surely failed to deliver, and now inflation is emerging as a big issue. But the GOP does not offer a viable alternative.

If the Congress and INDIA have such an alternative in mind, they haven’t shared with the people of the country. There are grounds to suspect the absence of any alternative, for some of the issues the Congress is focusing on right now smack of reliance on old, discredited programmes like caste-based reservations. The CWC has reportedly endorsed party MP Rahul Gandhi’s suggestion of increasing the quota cap for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

This is not unexpected, given the party’s growing proximity with Lohiaite-Mandalite leaders like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav. One need not be a political pundit to know that reservation is a divisive issue; in the past, it has inflamed passions, occasioned violence, and intensified casteism. This is certainly not the way Rahul’s ‘mohabbat ki dukan’ should be running business.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said that the economy is in grave danger with the rising prices and the Modi government handing over prized public sector undertakings (PSUs) built since Independence “to a few crony-capitalist friends.” So, what is the alternative? Should the government continue to pour in lakhs of crores into sick PSUs like BSNL by way of revival packages and keep recapitalizing public sector banks? Would that be the policy of the government the GOP would lead or be part of?

“On the national security front, the government’s negligence regarding China’s encroachments poses a critical danger to the country’s security. However, ignoring all these fundamental issues, the Modi government tends to repeatedly deflect and divert attention from real issues with empty slogans,” the Congress chief said. But what would the Congress do if in power? No answers.

“After the Mumbai meeting of the INDIA bloc, the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax department, and the CBI have been deployed by the government as part of political vendetta against Opposition leaders,” Kharge said. Does the Congress promise not to abuse these agencies? Again no answers.

It is time the Congress and other Opposition parties informed us what they would do if and when they come to power. Just slamming the Modi government and denouncing the BJP is not enough.