Rahul, Cong barking up the wrong tree

"Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread" is a proverb which goes to say that people without good sense or judgement will have no hesitation in tackling a situation that even the wisest would avoid. Rahul Gandhi was not even tackling the Kashmir situation when he began saying what all he thought was wise enough for him to utter.

He also allowed his party to comment unimaginatively against the national sentiments. He questioned the abrogation of Article 370 which made Kashmiris lose their special powers. His party spokespersons questioned whether Kashmir was an internal matter of India.

His parliamentary party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, had gone ahead to add Jammu too to the issue to claim that these were international issues and international concerns on which India should not act unilaterally.

Then came the question of rights and liberties, Rahul & Co unhesitatingly attacked the Indian government and Narendra Modi to say it was all RSS conspiracy and claimed that Kashmiris were not only being put to untold misery due to the unprecedented clampdown and innocent Kashmiris were getting killed every day.

Rahul slammed the preventive detentions of mainstream political leaders and separatists. They forgot that they were all barking up the wrong tree. They were happy at the headlines they were grabbing in the media locally to some extent and in the international media space which was aimed at anti-India campaign.

Their fulminations only have come in handy for Pakistan now which used his as well other mainstream Opposition party leaders' statements to justify its claims on Kashmir by Pakistan. Stung by the Pakistani manoeuvre in quoting him in its petition to the United Nations, he rose to the reality late.

Very late, rather. Whatever, these people have said are officially documented now. And their senseless rantings would now be quoted often whenever the Kashmir issue comes up for debate. Rahul Gandhi and his party have done all the good work of the past governments.

It would take a long time for people to forget it. It is bound to singe his party. No one would take even an apology from him now seriously. Political agenda is different from the national agenda. Whether Pakistanis argument would gain any traction in the UN is to be seen. But it certainly is an irritant.

So, what next Rahul Gandhi? Is Kulbhushan Jadhav a spy? A skewed view of the world does not help anyone. This is a different world altogether that we are living in. Every nation and every party ruling any nation puts its interests ahead of everything else. The parties may be left, left of centre, centre or right or far right... no on compromises national interests.

Alas, the sagacious advice of some party men like Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh is falling on deaf ears. There are now calls from senior Congress leaders seeking their ouster. That would be the worst thing to happen to the party. The Congress is already reaping what it has sown. Should there be further attempts to decimate the party is what Rahul has to decide. Past tells us that he prefers it. All the best to him.