The Congress, which launched a blistering attack and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his sudden, unscheduled visit to Pakistan on Friday, seemed to be suffering from selective amnesia.
The Congress, which launched a blistering attack and questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his sudden, unscheduled visit to Pakistan on Friday, seemed to be suffering from selective amnesia.
In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi did almost the same thing, when he embarked on an one-day surprise visit to Moscow to discuss a Kremlin arms control proposal with then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The official Soviet news agency Tass had then reported that “Gandhi and his wife
Sonia were seen off at Moscow airport by (then) Premier Nikolai I. Ryzkhov, who welcomed the Indian leader...” It further added “Gandhi made the previously unannounced flight to Mosow from the Netherlands”, and said “Gandhi said the trip had been in the offing for some time...”
On Friday, Congress leaders, in their zeal to target Mr Modi, glossed over this. “This ‘adventure’ of the Prime Minister will have serious impact on national security; there were no changes in the relationship (with Pakistan) by the NSA talks, or the Heart of Asia conference. The Prime Minister eventually needs to answer what has changed in the ground situation,” Congress leader Manish Tewari said. It may be recalled that India-Pakistan relations got off to a positive start with Mr Modi inviting Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in in May last year.
Congress spokesman Ajoy Kumar, questioning the visit on Friday, said: “It is unfortunate we get to know about the PM’s visit through a tweet. India-Pakistan relations are not so good, yet that he stops over there on his way back from another country.” Raising some further questions, Mr Kumar asked: “The Parliament session got over just a few days back, why was Parliament and the country left in the dark Why didn’t the Prime Minister take the country and Parliament into confidence ”
The visit appeared to have stunned Mr Modi’s harshest critics, including the Communists and Marxists. With the CPI and CPI(M) “welcoming” the move, the Congress found itself somewhat isolated. Even the National Conference, a Congress ally, supported the move with its leader Omar Abdullah tweeting: “Indo-Pak relations have been plagued by knee-jerk reactions & a lack of consistency. Looking towards two PMs to correct this time” and “The re-engagement with Pakistan is a good step & a very welcome development.
However more than grand gestures we need consistency.” With the PM’s diplomatic masterstroke taking his political rivals by surprise, the Congress also tried to attack Mr Modi by claiming that the visit was “pre-arranged by a businessman.” Party leader Anand Sharma said that the “engagement with Pakistan is frivolous”. Referring to the businessman, he said: “The same industrialist who has a business partnership with the ruling establishment in Pakistan was there for the last two days.
This is out in the open.” He asked the PM to reveal the name of the businessman himself. The Congress, however, refused to respond to queries about Rajiv Gandhi’s surprise visit to Moscow in 1985, which too had then taken the country by surprise.
