Catch-22 situation? Congress balances between attacking government and backing action against Pakistan

NEW DELHI: The Congress seems to be in a Catch-22 situation. While on the one hand it has openly backed the Centre to take any action against Pakistan to avenge the Pahalgam terror attack, on the other, it is not missing any opportunity to attack the Modi government. On Tuesday, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had cancelled his Kashmir visit after "receiving an intelligence report three days before" the Pahalgam terror attack last month.Kharge further claimed that during an all-party meeting last month, the Centre had accepted "

intelligence failure

" in the Pahalgam carnage and said the Union government should be held accountable for "not reinforcing" security arrangements in Kashmir to protect people, even after such inputs."A major terrorist attack took place in the country on April 22, in which 26 people were killed. There was an intelligence failure; the government has acknowledged it and said they will resolve it. But if they were aware of it, then why wasn't anything done?" Kharge said at a 'Samvidhan Bachao' rally in Jharkhand.

"I have received information that three days before the attack, an intelligence report was sent to Prime Minister Modi, and based on that, he cancelled his program to visit Kashmir. I also read this in a newspaper. If intelligence could warn that it wasn't safe for you (the PM) to go there, why didn't you take proper steps to protect the tourists and civilians?" the Congress president said.As expected, Kharge's remarks evoked very strong reactions from the BJP which said that the Congress president's remarks were similar to a modern-day Mir Jaffar. "He (Mallikarjun Kharge) has made treacherous statements similar to a modern-day Mir Jaffar. His toxic, baseless, unfounded rant against the Prime Minister is most deplorable and condemnable, and Mr. Kharge's remarks are unpardonable, indefensible, and cannot be forgiven. Everybody demands an unconditional apology from him, and he should also come clean on what kind of inputs he received to make such outrageous remarks," BJP leader C R Kesavan said in a self made video.BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad slammed Kharge and said: "What has happened to Kharge ji...On one hand, during the meeting, they say that they are with the country and on the other hand, they are saying that the PM did not go to Kashmir because he was aware of the attack...This is an unfortunate thing to hear, especially when the country is already going through so much border tension...We do not expect such things at this moment."Ravi Shankar Prasad said Kharge has joined the "brigade" of his party leaders making controversial remarks on the issue of national security, instead of controlling them.Former Union minister Anurag Thakur alleged that Pakistan and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge were speaking "on the same wavelength" on terrorism and said this was harmful for the nation.The BJP MP from Hamirpur said that Kharge should tell what the compulsion is that Congress has to "speak the language of Pakistan"."Pakistan and Congress party President Mallikarjun Kharge are speaking on the same wavelength on terrorism. This is harmful for the nation. This is not the first time that the words of Congress and Pakistan are the same," he said.However, Kharge followed up his attack on PM Modi by reiterating the party's backing for any government action against Pakistan."We have already stated that whatever strong decisions the government takes against Pakistan in the fight against terrorism, we will stand with the government. Because this is a matter of national security. The country comes first; everything else is secondary. We have made sacrifices for this nation," Kharge said.The Congress has urged the Centre to act with firmness to penalise Pakistan for its continued export of terror but at the same time it has pressed for time-bound accountability into the "serious lapses" in security and intelligence in one of the most heavily-guarded regions of the country.Clearly, the Congress seems to be playing a delicate balancing game between offering support to the government and attacking it at the same time. The party understands the anger in the country against Pakistan over Pahalgam terror attack and wants to be seen standing with the government in punishing Islmabad. However, being the main opposition party it also cannot afford to give a carte blanche to the government and has been repeatedly questioning it over alleged intelligence failure and lapses.