The All India Congress Committee has issued a statement on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine War on the Congress’ Twitter handle on Monday. The statement says that the party is ‘alarmed and distressed’ over the escalation of military conflict in Ukraine, two weeks after Russia started its invasion of Ukraine.
AICC statement on Ukraine:
— Congress (@INCIndia) March 7, 2022
It is the duty of Government of India to make all efforts to bring back our citizens and it is important to remember and recall that India has in the past undertaken successful large-scale operations by its Air Force and Navy to evacuate Indians. pic.twitter.com/EfGpJ1EUMU
The statement also indirectly accused the Central government’s operation to rescue Indians laced with ‘partisan propaganda’. The statement said, “It is the duty of Government of India to make all efforts to bring back our citizens and it is important to remember and recall that India has in the past undertaken successful large-scale operations by its Air Force and Navy to evacuate Indians during Gulf War, Lebanon, Libya and Iraq without indulging in partisan propaganda”.
At a time when rescue operations of Indians under the Central Government’s Operation Ganga are underway, the AICC has asked to remember how ‘large-scale rescue operations’ were carried out by India during the Congress rule as well. While close to 16,000 have already been evacuated from war-torn Ukraine, Central ministers including Gen. VK Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kiren Rijiju are themselves monitoring the rescue operations from neighbouring countries.
While tom-toming their own achievements, Congress seems to have forgotten how they endangered lives of Indians during the Libya evacuation.
What was, however, far more concerning was their first paragraph where they issued a statement on the war itself, given that when international events take place, like a war between two nations, it is the government of India that issues statements and decides the policy on how to deal with the situation. Generally, political parties do not issue statements on international conflicts.
However, this is not the first time Congress has gone beyond the foreign policy of the nation and has issued a personal official statement on matters concerning international politics. In 2021, The AICC had issued a similar patronizing statement on the Israel-Palestine issue saying it was concerned about ‘the intrusion by Israeli forces into the Holy Al Aqsa mosque during Ramzan prayers (which) ruptured the delicate peace in the region’
Earlier, the Congress itself tried to peddle its propaganda when the statement made by a Congress leader’s daughter who was evacuated from Romania was used by Rahul Gandhi to attack the Modi Government. The Congress leader had shared a selected excerpt from the NDTV interview of the student quoting, “Evacuation is a Duty, not a Favour,”
Evacuation is a Duty, not a Favour. pic.twitter.com/LgW6fifoG4
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) March 3, 2022
Congress Party ally in Tamil Nadu, the DMK did not spare the occasion of the war, to further its North-South divide rhetoric. By claiming that the evacuation efforts of ‘Tamil’ students needed to be accelerated, The TN government made a PR stunt by sending an additional fleet of DMK MPs to look after the operation. Here, TN Chief Minister M K Stalin was toeing the similar line Congress line to that of Rahul Gandhi when the latter claimed that India was just a “union of states” and not as a nation.
Wrote to Hon’ble @DrSJaishankar requesting him to increase the number of Tamil students to be evacuated from #Ukraine by focussed intervention and sought MEA clearances for the team proposed by GoTN to coordinate with the Indian embassies in Romania, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. pic.twitter.com/175b3qthcB
— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) March 3, 2022
In more ways than one, Congress has cultivated an opportunity in times of calamity at a time when a war has broken out between two countries while rescue operations to bring back Indian nationals is underway. Congress and its allies seem to be playing dangerous politics, not just by issuing statements on an international event that is contrary to the stand of the Indian government but also by playing petty local politics during tumultuous times.
