- Will not excessively trumpet the fact that it has managed to push Pakistan to admit that its citizens were involved in 26/11
- Campaign, however, will send out the subtle message that it is not soft. And that it was able to achieve through diplomacy what the BJP could not through its rhetoric and by lining up troops along the border.
- At the government level, will keep pressure on the Zardari government and keep the issue alive
- Will hit back only if the BJP accuses the UPA government of being softon terror
***
"Only a party that respects the plurality of our traditions, that celebrates the diversity of our heritage...will fight terrorism," a belligerent Congress president Sonia Gandhi thundered from the stage at Delhi’s Ramlila Grounds on February 8. "The Congress," she went on to stress, "is the only such party." Launching the party’s campaign for the general elections scheduled to be held in April-May this year, she repeated what she has said at public rallies around the country in the last few weeks—whether in Jammu, Silvassa, Kochi or Jaipur: "India’s restraint must not be understood as weakness. Those who, from across the border, are aiding, abetting and encouraging terrorism in our country will be given a befitting reply."
Then, turning the BJP’s terror card on its head, she said, "Terrorism can be combated only if we are united as a society, and are one as a country. Parties that have a divisive agenda, parties that thrive on rejecting our diversities, parties whose sole objective is to polarise our people playing on religious sentiments, cannot be effective bulwarks against terrorism." As a final salvo, she said: "A party that has lost two of its beloved leaders at the hands of terrorists needs no certificate from anyone."
With that speech, Sonia Gandhi set the stage for what promises to be a key election plank for the Congress. Simultaneously, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee’s two speeches in Parliament last week took on both Pakistan and the BJP, stressing that the government had successfully used the diplomatic rather than the military route, while being firm and decisive (see Those BadApples).
Not just that, on two successive days, Congress spokespersons Abhishek Singhvi and Manish Tewari used the routine party briefing to hit out at Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani’s criticism of the UPA government’s handling of the issue. "Mr Advani’s irresponsible statements about an internal hand have been valuable fodder for the rumour machine in Pakistan, fodder for those who are battling to sow confusion globally," said Singhvi. "The BJP," he went on to stress, "wants to jeopardise the gains we have made. Let him not talk of patriotism and national interest and then make statements for petty political gains." Tewari went a step further the next day. "The Gujarat CM," he said, "tends to make irresponsible statements but for Mr Advani to repeat them means the party wishes to politicise and communalise the issue. Such a stand by the BJP at a time when Pakistan has handed over part of its territory to the Taliban is to act the role of a fifth columnist in the global war against terrorism."
Some Congress leaders are a bit coy about admitting that terror will be an electoral issue, especially as they fear that another terror attack would wipe out whatever political gains the party has made so far. On the other hand, the Congress wants to post its diplomatic victory against Pakistan as an achievement. "Internal security is a matter of concern for the whole nation," general secretary Digvijay Singh, who also heads the party’s publicity and publications committee, told Outlook The BJP’s approach is clearly different. "Terrorism is a core issue for the nation," says party MP Shahnawaz Hussain. "We won’t ignore it for fear of alienating a particular community. Terror shouldn’t be linked to any religion but when dealing with it we don’t think of a votebank."
Of course, not being a "natural" issue for the Congress, many in the party would rather put the onus on the BJP for deploying terror in the electoral arena. "If the BJP attacks us on the issue," says a key party functionary, "we will not hesitate to give them a fitting reply." Conversely, there is discomfort in the BJP that the terror issue has somehow slipped from its hands—depriving it of an effective vehicle for its Hindutva project. As senior Congress leader Salman Khursheed says, "The BJP is having a problem formulating the issue. Phrases like ‘soft on terror’ have lost their meaning and thrust in post-Mumbai India." But, with the UPA government continuing with its diplomatic offensive against Pakistan, it will loom large over the elections, forcing both parties to engage with the issue.
As it did in the assembly elections held in the immediate aftermath of 26/11. In Rajasthan, for instance, the BJP went for the jugular in print ads, holding the Congress approach to terror responsible for the Mumbai attack. The Congress, says spokesperson Mohan Prakash, responded immediately. "We had a print ad that did not mention the BJP but the reference was obvious," he says. The ad read: "Jo silsila shuru hua/Kargil, Kandahar, Sansad Bhawan se/Use jad se ukhad phenkega Hindustan/Na rihai, na phiroti, na saudebaazi/Aatankvadiyon ka jawab goli se/Na darenge na jhukenge/ Ekjut hokar vijayi honge (India will uproot the affair that began with Kargil, Kandahar and Parliament/there will be no release, ransom or deal for terrorists, they will be fought with bullets/we will neither be afraid nor will we relent; united, we will succeed)." The last two lines, interestingly, were an echo of a speech made by party heir apparent Rahul Gandhi at an election rally on November 27, 2008, in Kishangarh where he said: "Ham sabko ekjut hokar inka mukabala karna hai."
Indeed, of all the political parties, Digvijay Singh stresses, the Congress alone has "the leadership, resolve, political will and determination to fight terror to its logical end". The party, he says, has tackled terror in Punjab, Mizoram and Assam and is battling terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir. "We have the credentials and we will say so in the campaign," he says. "It is a core issue on which we will build."
As the Congress begins to work on its electoral strategy, senior party sources toldOutlook that the framework had already been drawn up: the three poles will be ekta (unity), vikas (development) and bhavishya (the future). Internal security and terror, these sources said, will be subsumed in the unity pole—the need to fight terrorism unitedly. "There will be a sober, firm expression of what we have achieved and what we hope to achieve. It will reflect a responsible and controlled attitude to Pakistan and terrorism. There will be no clamour, no jingoism, no self-congratulation. That is the current mood," explains Khursheed.
So the Congress reclaims the terror issue after 25 years, but in a different way. In 1984, in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination, it had mounted an aggressive, strident print campaign, bolstered by disturbing visuals of barbed wire and crocodiles and united by a single message: Only the Congress could save India from disintegration. The party won a four-fifths majority in that election. Times have changed—the Hindu card belongs to another party and there will be no panic-generating propaganda evoking images of blood, violence and devastation which had come in for a great deal of criticism at the time. Now the message will be: Only the Congress can keep India united and safe from terror.
