Admit it: Congress is the worst Opposition party in India

At a time when the nation is facing a crisis such as the Pathankot terror attack, the Congress is busy politicising the issue. France stood united in the wake of the November 13 Paris attacks as did the US during 9/11. But back home, the Congress has been attacking the ruling BJP on a daily basis ever since the crisis gripped on January 2, instead of standing solidly behind the the nation at this hour.

By choosing to take on the government right now, it has hit out at the Centre in the middle of the Pathankot operation, accusing it of all kinds of ridiculous charges. All India Congress Committee Communication (AICC) department chief Randeep Surjewala charged that despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Pakistan, ISI continues to sustain and support terror activities against India.

Surjewala should be asked whether it is the first time that Pakistan has backstabbed India. Did he forget the 26/11 Mumbai attacks during the Congress-led UPA rule? Or, did he expect the ISI or, for that matter, the Pakistani army or the terrorists to renounce their nefarious designs and surrender to their government? Didn't the senior Congress leader indirectly seek to demoralise our security forces by berating the Centre? He certainly did.

The Congress also has the dubious distinction of being the only political party throughout the world to have ridiculed Modi for making an unscheduled stopover in Lahore on Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif's birthday, on December 25. Modi's unique initiative was lauded world over, and even by the Opposition parties in Pakistan. But the Congress was unique in mocking the PM.

Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari said, "Prime Minister Modi has been bitten by Nobel Peace Prize bug, he has realised that there is nothing that he can do in the country, so suddenly he has turned towards Pakistan... Nawaz Sharif is an old victim of the bug, our Prime Minister has become new victim of the bug."

Congress leader and deputy leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma accused Modi of visiting Lahore to promote personal agenda.

“He (Modi) has not done so to promote India’s national interest. It is now in public domain that he used vested private business interests for a secret meeting with Nawaz Sharif in Kathmandu earlier and the same channel he has used for the meeting in Lahore. The industrialist concerned, who has a business partnership with the ruling establishment in Pakistan, was there for the last two days. This has come out in the open. So how can the government claim this was spontaneous,” he asked.

Sharma is wrong on all the counts. The external affairs ministry has vehemently denied the so-called secret meeting of the two prime ministers in Kathmandu, calling it "baseless".  Secondly, the industrialist in question, Sajjan Jindal, was in Lahore to attend the wedding of Sharif's granddaughter.

Even on the issue of Parliament's functioning, Congress has led the disruption in proceedings.

Its sole motive is now clear - to block all big ticket reforms such as the passage of Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and Land Acquisition Bill. The Congress' rent-a-cause-a-day strategy to scuttle the Parliament's smooth functioning now stands exposed - while they had disrupted proceedings over Lalit Modi-related cases and Vyapam scam, they were, in fact, creating a ruckus over summons issued to party president Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

The Congress is obviously seeking revenge from the BJP, which had not allowed one of the Lok Sabha sessions to function during the UPA rule. The principal Opposition party is perhaps under the mistaken belief that it will return to power by not allowing the Parliament to function. However, it does not accept that the series of scams like the 2G spectrum and coal block allocation were responsible for its defeat, not the BJP's pandemonium in Parliament.

A strong Opposition is a necessity in any democracy. However, any Opposition should be constructive. It should present a critique to the policies of the government of the day. It is expected to present both brickbats and bouquets to the ruling dispensation on the merits of their decisions of the day. Constant praise by the Opposition is looked down upon as sycophancy and a sign of weakness. Conversely, constant criticism loses credibility after a point in time.

The Congress is already facing the threat of being typecast as a constant critic. It is being seen as though it is persistently in a confrontational mode. Even where the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre deserves a pat or receives it from all other quarters, the Congress is seen delivering punches. Or, in cases where the nation ought to be speaking in one voice, the main Opposition party is heard harping on a different tune.

The Congress is not only doing the nation a great disservice by becoming a constant and compulsive critic of the Modi government, but also exposing itself and slowly losing whatever respect it may have in the eyes of its supporters.