It’s a bit rich to hear a Congress leader hold forth on democracy and the Constitution when his own party has damaged both

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor is in the limelight yet again. This time not due to the accusations about his involvement in his wife’s death but for warning Indians that if they vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 General Election, India would become a “Hindu Rashtra” and, hence, the country would be a “Hindu Pakistan”. He further said that the BJP would tear up the Constitution and a new Constitution would be 'imposed' on the people. The Congress lost no time in distancing itself from Tharoor’s remarks and also warned its leaders to exercise restraint, asking them to carefully choose their words and statements.

Proponents of Hindu Rashtra, a conceptual construct, have categorically made it clear time and again that their idea of India is of one nation, irrespective of caste, creed, sex and religion and, therefore, no religious minority, such as the Muslim or Christian communities are been excluded from this mix. The dictionary clearly defines a nation as, “a large aggregate of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular country or territory.” Most Indians should have no problem in recognising that it is Hindu/Indic/Bharatiya identity which has been at the root of their cultural expression. Yet, Tharoor wants our people to renounce any thought about ‘Hindu Rashtra’ as, according to him, this term is “unconstitutional” and “undemocratic”.

We have a democratically elected Government at the helm. As it appears, Tharoor holds no sanctitude for such an elected Government. As a matter of fact, elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracies have been operating ever since the French Revolution. Modern constitutionalism was born with the political requirement that representative Government be depended upon the consent of the citizen and by way of an election process citizens could decide on their representative Government.

Now, Tharoor belongs to the Congress party. Incidentally, it was during the Congress’ rule that Emergency was imposed. The Government used police forces across the country to place thousands of protesters and strike leaders under preventive detention. Vijayaraje Scindia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Raj Narain, Morarji Desai, Charan Singh, Jivatram Kripalani, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, lal Krishna Advani, Arun Jaitley, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Gayatri Devi were among other protesting leaders who were immediately arrested. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Jamaat-e-Islami, along with some political parties were banned. Numerous Communist leaders were arrested along with many others involved with their party. Congress leaders who dissented from the decision to oppose the Emergency declaration and amend the Constitution such as Mohan Dharia and Chandra Shekhar, resigned from the Government as well as party positions and were arrested and placed under detention. In Tamil Nadu, the M Karunanidhi Government was dissolved and leaders of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam were incarcerated. In particular, Karunanidhi’s son MK Stalin was arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act.

The controversial sterilisation campaign also happened during the Emergency era where under the grab of family planning millions of people were forced to undergo vasectomy. Quotas were set up that enthusiastic Congress activists and Government officials worked hard to achieve. There were allegations of coercion of unwilling candidates too. In 1976-1977, the programme led to 8.3 million sterilisations, most of them forced, up from 2.7 million the previous year.  Was all this really ConstitutionalIJ Was it all democraticIJ

Further, the 1984 anti-Sikh riots are among the darkest chapters in contemporary Indian history. Thousands of  Sikhs were massacred in a systematic riot planned by the Congress. This too was neither a Constitutional nor a democratic act. It was all ghastly, to say the least. Official reports conceded that about 2,800 Sikhs were killed across India, including 2,100 in Delhi. Independent sources estimate the number of deaths at about 8,000 including upwards of 3,000 in Delhi. Congress is also the political organisation at least partly responsible for the Partition of India during which up to one million people (perhaps many more) died while untold numbers of women were victims of vicious sexual violence.

Is it not the Congress that is the real culprit which has infringed upon our Constitution and democracyIJ Yet, Tharoor has no compunction in belonging to Congress and singing its praises, without willing to listen to its ideological opponents.

(The writer is an author and a senior commentator)