Member of Rajya Sabha from the Congress party, Vivek Tankha, took to Twitter to inform that the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has served a legal notice to online publication Firstpost for publishing an article by journalist Abhijit Majumder criticising the Congress party. Congress leader claimed that the article ‘defamatory’, ‘incendiary’ and ‘provocative’ and said that the media should ‘know the limits’ and stop ‘acting like the mouthpiece of the ruling party’.
Firstpost served a strong legal notice by AICC Legal Dept f defamatory, incendiary & provocative news articles. Media must know it’s limits & desist fr acting as mouth piece of Ruling party. @INCIndia @PChidambaram_IN @RahulGandhi @KapilSibal pic.twitter.com/xxd5mKO3Wx
— Vivek Tankha (@VTankha) June 21, 2020
It is not clear what was exactly ‘defamatory’, ‘incendiary’ and ‘provocative’ about the article as Tankha did not mention it in his tweet. The article only says that the Congress party is out of touch with the sentiments of the country’s masses and only concerns itself with the opinions of a deracinated elite. It is same criticism that the party has often faced in recent years.
In his article titled “China jibes: Congress plays to English-speaking social media fans as grassroots support wanes”, journalist Abhijit Majumder compares Congress with someone who is far too away from the reality and is more concerned and aware of happenings across the world than his own backyard. He points out how Rahul Gandhi’s attacks on the India-China conflict at Galwan Valley are ill-informed and just petty.
Majumder also mentions out how Congress interim President Sonia Gandhi at the All Party Meeting held by the PM in wake of Galwan Valley attack, raised questions over the efficiency of the Indian Armed Forces, intelligence agencies and the government. However, he points out, that Sonia was snubbed by NCP’s Sharad Pawar who schooled her that such issues of whether arms are carried by soldiers or not is decided based on the agreements.
More specifically, Majumder highlighted that in the wake of the conflict with China, it was only the Congress party that chose to play petty politics at a time when even its allies such as Sharad Pawar, Naveen Patnaik and even Mamata Banerjee threw their weight behind the Indian government. He also mentioned that the entire opposition showed solidarity towards the government while the Congress party stuck out like a sore thumb.
The article further mentions how Congress has strayed from ground realities and grassroot support-base and been relying heavily on Bollywood cheerleaders like Anurag Kashyap, Swara Bhasker and Anubhav Sinha. But perhaps what must have pinched Congress the most would have been the reminder that Rahul Gandhi lost Amethi and had to bank on Wayanad to get elected back to the Parliament.
Majumder further writes that Congress humiliated Sanjay Jha “who defended the indefensible” for years on various platforms and relies on “aloof 3-person high command, 100-odd pravaktas, about 200 social media cell minions and a geriatric Congress Working Committee”.
However, the Congress party appears to have taken issue with such mild criticism of the manner in which it conducts its politics. It also needs to be pointed out that the party has faced such criticism a lot in recent times. Recently, Sanjay Jha had commented that the Congress party was headed for ‘political obsolescence’ if it continued with the same strategy following which he was dropped as a party spokesperson.
