THE Congress party is proving to have become a victim of sheer obstinacy of its own kind -- about its insistent campaign against the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Its leadership is refusing to think sanely about the hollowness of the campaign despite the snub by the honourable Supreme Court or the voters. In addition to those snubs, other constituents of the I.N.D.I. Alliance are now asking similar questions to the Congress party. The latest to join those ranks is the Trinamool Congress (TMC) whose leaders have asked the Congress party to prove how the EVMs can be hacked. It is quite likely that most members of the Opposition grouping would soon desert the party on the EVM issue -- though nobody would be able to tell if the Congress would respond to that situation. Enough evidence also is available to suggest that the Opposition grouping is cracking at several other fault-lines -- such as the Adani issue.

 

Even as the Opposition stalled the parliamentary proceedings on EVM and Adani issues, other Opposition parties advised the Congress leadership to stop harking on those points since they did not appear to benefit any cause. The Congress leadership, however, appears adamant on its stand and is very less likely to agree to alter its political strategy. Such a stance the Congress party will take only at its own risk and peril. No matter what its partner parties say about it, the Congress party has insisted that the Government should have a debate on the Adani issue in Parliament. Referring to that, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav, the chief of the Samajwadi Party had said, in effect, a few days ago that the nation faced many other and more critical issues that needed a parliamentary intervention and the Congress should facilitate debates on those.

 

Despite that, the Congress leadership is refusing to see sense in correcting its approach to issues of national importance. Another issue the Congress is raising consistently is about the Constitution. In spite of the fact that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have exposed the flaws in the Congress party’s argument about the Constitution and its alleged distortion, the 138-year-old political party is refusing to correct itself. It is also taking a similarly obstinate stance on issues such a caste-based census and about legacies of personages like Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. In the past ten years, all these issues have brought to the Congress only a monumental setback in electoral politics. Yet, its leaders are refusing to see sense and rectify their approach. This shows their shortsightedness and absence of political acumen. Many political observers believe that this obstinate stance is due to the high-handed leadership of Mr. Rahul Gandhi who does not want to be told what is right and what is wrong. He has refused to take a wise counsel from anybody, and has not minded insulting his own party’s national president. Let alone the Congress party’s partners in the Opposition camp, common voters also have begun seeing its falsehood and thoughtlessness.

 

That is the reason why the Congress is getting lambasted at the hustings in the past ten-plus years, losing more battles than winning, In Maharashtra, where it was considered a senior partner after the Lok Sabha elections, it has got reduced to the smallest group in the Opposition front Maha Vikas Aghadi. Yet, as most political observers see, the Congress is not willing to learn the right lessons -- and is continuing to hold on to rejected political planks. Realising this obstinacy, the common people now appear to have concluded that the Congress party is on a suicidal path from which it does not want to deviate to safety. The country’s premier political party, thus, appears headed for its doom.