As the Congress party appearing to split in two halves on the matter of abrogation of Article 370 and 35A which were applicable to Jammu and Kashmir, party president Rahul Gandhi seems to be taking a cautious stance as he avoided the topic today after tweeting against it two days ago.
The Congress party has officially opposed the move to fully integrate Jammu and Kashmir into India. Senior leaders of the party leaders like Adhir Ranjan Chowdhuri, Manish Tewari, Digvijay Singh etc have opposed the move. On 6th August, a day after the government’s decision was announced, Rahul Gandhi had opposed it on Twitter. But the hold of the party president on the party seems to be reducing, as several leaders have opposed the party’s position and supported the government in the matter.
Rahul Gandhi talked to media today evening, just after the completion of PM Modi’s address to the nation. While the journalists were expecting comments on Kashmir and Article 370, and reaction on PM’s address to the nation on the subject, they were surprised to hear that Rahul Gandhi had invited them to talk about ongoing floods in Kerala and his constituency Wayanad in the state.
Rahul Gandhi: I was planning to go there but the Collector told me that will not be a good idea because it would disturb rescue operations. I will try and go there as soon as possible. #Wayanad https://t.co/WnNL9PA6Jv
— ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2019
Addressing media persons in Delhi, Rahul Gandhi said that he is very concerned about rain and landslide in Kerala and Wayanad. He said that he has talked about the same with the Kerala CM and officials, and he will be taking up the matter with the prime minister. He also informed that he wanted to visit the constituency, but the collector advised him against it as it will disturb rescue operations.
Shri @RahulGandhi addresses the media on the critical situation of floods in Wayanad & urging Congress workers to extend any help required. pic.twitter.com/hFa3WiUy7P
— Congress (@INCIndia) August 8, 2019
Rahul Gandhi kept his interaction with media to Kerala floods only, he didn’t talk anything about Article 370 and Jammu & Kashmir. Prashant Kumar, a journalist who was present, informed that Rahul Gandhi said he was not there to speak on Kashmir, surprising everyone.
And rhe best of all, the media coordinators of the party have no idea about any such briefing. And am not even joking!!! No one who covers Cong had any official message from the party!!!
— Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) August 8, 2019
Kumar also said media coordinators of Congress party had no idea about the press briefing. And no beat reporter covering the Congress party didn’t get any official message from the party about the same.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi posted several tweets on Twitter, and all of them were about floods in Kerala and his new constituency. After 6th August, he has not said or tweeted anything about Kashmir, even though his party is strongly opposing the government on the matter. It seems the increasing number of Congress leaders opposing the party’s stand has become a cause of worry, and the party president has decided that it is better to keep quiet about it.
Another incident that raised eyebrows today was that the Gandhi family, including current president Rahul Gandhi and former president Sonia Gandhi, didn’t attend the ceremony today at the Rashtrapati Bhawan where former president Pranab Mukherjee was awarded the Bharat Ratna, along with Bhupen Hazarika and Nanaji Deshmukh. Mukherjee was a longtime Congress leader before he was elected as president of India, and several Congress leaders had attended the ceremony today, while the Gandhis were notably absent.
