Is Congress becoming Irrelevant? 

(Editorial in Hindu Voice, Sept. 2015)

The monsoon session of Parliament, which began on 21st July and ended on 13th August 2015, is a complete washout. The entire blame should go to the Congress party, especially to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the Mother-Son duo.

Important legislations such as the Goods and Services Tax Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill have been successfully blocked by the Congress. Thus, this deliberate and forcible disruption of the Monsoon session of the Parliament by Congress in an undemocratic manner was a cynical ploy to sabotage India's economic growth. Barring the Congress, the JD(U) and the Left, almost no party wanted to hold up the GST bill. So Congress is isolated on this issue.

Even on the Land Bill, the Congress stand of undiluted opposition to the bill is losing supporters. SP has already broken ranks, and core support for the Congress line is restricted to the Left, JD(U) and BSP.  The rest may be happy to support a diluted bill or abstain, making it possible for the government to pull it off some time in the winter session.

The ruckus created by the Congress members in parliament was so much that the Speaker had to suspend 25 Congress MPs for a period of 5 days.

But what happened in the Rajya Sabha - the house of elders - on 10th August 2015 was most disgusting. Members of the Parliament of Bhutan were attending the Rajya Sabha session. In his welcome address to them, the chairman of the Rajya Sabha said, "they (Bhutanese delegation) would be able to see and learn more about our parliamentary system". Immediately thereafter the opposition members broke into fits of laughter. Even as the chairman tried to silence the members, Congressmen set a very bad example in front of the guests from Bhutan. Is this the way to behave before a foreign delegation? We have to hang our heads in shame.

A debate does not suit the Congress at all. Disruption is the chosen option because it senses that the ground is slipping beneath its feet.

At one stage even Sonia Gandhi rushed to the well of the house in protest against a comment made about her relative during the discussion on 'Lalitgate'. 

The Congress had two aims in this parliament session: keep the media focus on BJP scams (Lalit Modi, Vyapam) and prevent the passing of any important reform legislation in order to derail the government's development agenda. While the first aim is politically legitimate, the second aim is not. Still, disruption is what the Congress adopted as strategy. This is why it was making impossible demands like the resignation of Sushma Swaraj, Vssundhara Raje and Shivraj Singh Chouhan - something the NDA cannot accept.

 Going by convention and propriety, parliament cannot discuss matters falling in the state's domain. While nothing bars parliament from discussing anything, discussing Raje's links to Lalit Modi or Chouhan's to Vyapam means opening a Pandora's box on discussing many other state scams. Mamata Banerjee would not want Saradha discussed in parliament, or SP the scams of Uttar Pradesh. Nor would the Congress itself want to discuss the Goa and Assam bribery scams involving US company Louis Berger.

The Congress' insistence that the PM can order the dismissal of state Chief Ministers is constitutionally invalid and politically untenable. Further, they have not committed any wrong.
Barring family-driven parties like Congress, DMK, ADMK, SP, BSP, etc. - where the Party chief can order CMs to resign at will - cadre-based parties like BJP cannot easily act against CMs without risking serious internal revolts. We have seen it in Karnataka, where the BJP asked BS Yeddyurappa to quit after corruption allegations were leveled against him, but Yeddyurappa split the party and the BJP lost miserably in the 2013 assembly elections.

“When seniority is thrust on you, a certain level of maturity is required. The more he grows, the more he immatures," said the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, on Rahul Gandhi. It is very true. Look at what he talked in Amethi - shirt sarkar, kurtha sarkar, pyjama sarkar, etc. Wasn’t he talking nonsense? Further, what can we expect from a person who cannot talk a few lines on his own? He had to carry a chit, containing his talks (only a few lines) in Hindi, but written using English alphabets. Such a moron is being thrust on the people of this nation, that too as the potential PM.

PM Modi accused the Congress of being "desperate as it wants power to remain concentrated with one family". "The Congress wants to save the (Gandhi) family, BJP wants to save the nation," rightly said the Prime Minister.

Looking at the results of elections to the Municipal Corporations in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, one has no doubt that the people of MP and Rajasthan have completely rejected the Congress. The hue and cry made by the Congress using Vyapam and Lalit Modi issues have not paid them any dividend. People know the truth.

Bangalore Municipal Corporation election results too show the drubbing of Congress there.

This shows the complete rejection of Congress through out the country. The Mother-Son duo may hold the parliament to ransom, but the people of this nation are watching them closely, and really understand their nefarious designs - to block the development of this country and bring a bad name for Modiji. Hence, the voters are showing them their true place - to the dust bin of history.

Yes, Congress is becoming increasingly irrelevant. This time, Congress has only 44 MPs, unfit to qualify even to be the official opposition. If the Congress persists with this kind of behaviour, I am sure, next time, people will cause to vanish Congress from the political map of India.