TNI Bureau: There is a lot of hue and cry over Congress MP Rahul Gandhi questioning the government on Indo-China faceoff in Galwan Valley. He is being accused of being anti-national and a critic of Army. However, he is within his rights to raise questions in national interest. Any curb on the voice of opposition, won’t be in the right spirit of democratic values of the country.
Whether terror attacks or war-like situations on the border in the past, Opposition and Media played the constructive role by supporting the Army, yet tried to make the Government accountable. There was no exception. Even Modi and other BJP leaders kept doing it. The BJP leaders had put more pressure on the Congress and UPA and received widespread support from the media and public. As a result, the UPA Government could not avoid the questions and had to answer those.
Unfortunately, a section of media today, prefers to question the Opposition and malign them instead of posing tough questions to the ruling class, in the guise of patriotism.
Yet again, a section of media as well as the intelligentsia sought to put Sonia Gandhi in bad light today, saying she was isolated in the all-party meeting. Sonia dared to ask the relevant questions while many others did not and just extended support to the government. They did whatever they felt right. And, Congress did whatever it should have done as the Opposition.
“Congress and the entire Opposition unitedly stand by our defence forces and are prepared to make any sacrifice to ensure they are battle ready. The entire nation expects that Government will take all Opposition parties & the country into confidence and brief us regularly so that we may present to the world a picture of unity and solidarity,” said Sonia Gandhi at the meeting. Did she anything wrong here?
As the principal Opposition leader, Sonia wanted an assurance from the Government that status quo ante would be restored and China would revert back to the original position on Line of Actual Control. And, the answer was given by PM Narendra Modi, who assured the Opposition and the Nation that “neither anyone has intruded into our territory nor took over any post”. That’s the answer we all needed for the last few weeks. And, it’s good that we finally got it.
Questioning the Government is not criticism of Army. Supporting the government is not patriotism. Support the Nation all the time, but don’t shy away from questioning the government whenever there is a need. Support them when it’s needed; criticize when the situation demands. This is the vibrant nature of Indian Democracy and should be sustained.
We appreciate when the Government responds to the people and tells the truth instead of some “imaginary sources”.