Pahalgam Aftermath: Congress Shows What An Irresponsible Opposition Looks Like In A National Security Crisis

While India and Pakistan have agreed to stop firing following heightened tensions after the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor, what leaves us thinking is how the opposition parties, especially the main opposition party, Congress, behaved during this period.

Soon after the Pahalgam attack on 22 April, many Congress leaders made such remarks that the party had to distance itself from them and reiterate that only statements by Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, and authorised AICC leaders reflect the official line.

Some of these remarks were even amplified by the Pakistani media, including that of Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah who said that India should not wage a war against Pakistan, and was praised for this in the Pakistani media.

A few other Congress leaders questioned the survivors' claims that the terrorists shot victims after identifying them as non-Muslims including Karnataka's Excise Minister R B Timmapur and Maharashtra Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar, who expressed that terrorists don't have time for such things.

A Congress leader from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Saifuddin Soz, even urged India to believe Pakistan's claim that it was not involved in the Pahalgam attack and move forward with dialogue and discussion and avoid a military solution.

The matters spiralled out of control so much that the Congress had to issue a directive to its leaders, urging them to express themselves in public as per the party stance which extends 'unwavering solidarity' to the nation.

However, the party's own president, Mallikarjun Kharge couldn't reflect these words in his actions. The first such stance was seen after the 24 April all-party meeting when Kharge questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's absence from it.

"How did the security lapse happen despite three-tier security? This is a security lapse and the government did not act promptly in response to the terror attack," he alleged, adding that Congress will 'support the government's decision in the nation's best interest.'

A few days later in a political rally (Samvidhan Bachao Rally) in Jaipur, Kharge reiterated his attack on PM Modi, stating, "It is the misfortune of our country that people from all parties came, but Modi ji did not come to that (all-party) meeting. This is a matter of shame," and repeated the same in Hubbali, Karnataka.

But that still was not the peak. His attack on PM Modi peaked on 6 May, a day before Operation Sindoor started, when he alleged that the PM had intel earlier and that's why the latter cancelled his scheduled trip to J&K but did not transfer the same intel to our security forces and the tourists there.

Other than indirectly blaming PM Modi for the death of 26 innocents, Kharge and Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, also wanted to politicise the matter by urging the PM to hold a special session of the Parliament to discuss the Pahalgam attack.

Both LoPs (Kharge of Rajya Sabha and Gandhi of Lok Sabha) wrote separate letters to PM Modi on 28 April, requesting a special session. While they mentioned that this would be to show 'unity and determination', it goes without saying that the government would have been questioned about its plan of action after the Pahalgam attack.

Given Modi's track record of retaliating after such terror attacks, be it the 2016 surgical strikes after the Uri attack or Balakot airstrikes after the 2019 Pulwama attack, it was sure that the government would do something. But discussing the matter before that 'something' would not only have politicised the matter but also revealed our plans before the enemy.

While this session was never held and Operation Sindoor began on 7 May, Congress was anyways used by the enemy. Pakistan's Army in its press conference after India's airstrikes at the terrorist camps used several clips of Congress leaders' statements.

In one video clip, former J&K Governor Satya Pal Malik was seen discussing the Pulwama attack with Gandhi, where the former alleged that Modi wanted to use the attack for elections and the latter was seen agreeing to it. This clip was used by Pakistan to allege that India has a history of killing its own innocent people for political objectives.

In another video clip, Congress president Kharge was featured questioning how a security lapse happened in a three-tier security system. The video was intended to show India in a bad light and blame the victim country for the Pahalgam attack.

While Congress supported India's armed action against Pakistan, the body language of its leaders did not appear very cheerful while praising the armed forces for Operation Sindoor. Its leaders were standing with gloomy faces while Kharge made the statement.

However, the last nail, confirming Congress' negative role against the Indian government in its war against Pakistan came after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a loan of $1 billion for Pakistan.

While raising concerns about the possibility of misuse of debt financing funds for terrorism by Pakistan, India abstained from voting. However, Congress leaders like Pawan Khera made it an issue to target PM Modi.

"The Modi government was expected to not only vote against but also lobby with other members to oppose fresh IMF loans to Pakistan. But the Modi government chose to abstain from voting," he posted on X.

This attack was made despite the fact that IMF rules don't allow members to vote "No" because of its consensus system and hence, abstention was the best option available to India to make a diplomatic statement against Pakistan.

India also registered a 'strong dissent' against the loan to Pakistan but leaders like Khera wanted to show India did not do enough against Pakistan, at a time when both countries were involved in an armed conflict, which could have lowered the morale of our citizens.

Thus, during this period, Congress presented every example of how an opposition should not behave during a crisis like this. There were no constructive statements given by Congress leaders that could have helped India.

It only tried to spread mistrust against the government and even became useful to Pakistan. The spirit of solidarity, to which Congress committed itself, remained confined to words, and could not transcend into actions.