Opinion: A Lesson For Congress From Britain As Rishi Sunak Gets Labour Party's Support Over Strike On Yemen's Houthis

It's often said that there is no permanent enemy in the politics. However, in its hate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress has gone so far that sometimes it opposes policies which are favourable for India. The party has been opposing the government policies for the sake of opposition and it includes several issues be it of surgical strike article 370 or the recent Maldives row. Amid all this, a lesson has come for Congress from Britain.

What Has Just Happened In UK?

In Britain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has faced Parliament over his decision to send forces to attack the Houthis terrorists who have been attacking ships in the Red Sea. Sunak told Parliament that the UK, with the US, retaliated in self-defence, and to uphold freedom of navigation following the January 9 attack by the Houthis. He maintained that the British government's move was necessary amid a proportionate response to a direct threat to UK vessels. He also rejected the allegations or  'malign narrative ' that this was a part of the Israel-Gaza war. Sunak also said that the strikes by the UK forces were limited in nature and the aim was to disrupt and degrade the Houthis’ capabilities. Interestingly, Sunak has got support from the opposition Labour Party which backed the Conservative Party-led government's move.

Earlier, when the Hamas terrorists attacked Israel in October last year, the ruling party and the opposition formed a joint government to respond to the terrorists.

Lessons For Congress

It may be recalled that when even India carried out a surgical strike in 2016 and the Balakot strike in 2019, on both occasions, the Congress party questioned the government's move. When the government abrogated Article 370 in 2019, the Congress party also failed to see the wider support for the move. The Congress party did not back the move directly and thus that led to more factionalism within the party and several leaders quit to join the NDA. Indian Army was in dire need of young soldiers and on a proposal from the forces, the Union Cabinet approved Agniveer - a four-year service scheme, in 2022. This was meant to give agility to the forces amid the threats from China and Pakistan. But Congress went on to oppose this move as well. Their stand was the same during the Rafale procurement.

Now, consider the Ram Temple issue. The Congress party is aware of the wide support for the Ram Temple issue. The temple is being built after the Supreme Court verdict. Despite it having legal backing, the Congress party rejected the invitation for the temple event just for the sake of its minority appeasement policy, as alleged by the BJP. 

The Congress party has been losing ground in the poll battle and is still not willing to learn from its mistakes or examples from across the world. It's high time that Congress puts its act together if it wants to remain relevant in contemporary politics.