Congress must play role of strong opposition: Shiv Sena

Three days after questioning where the Congress would be in terms of national-level politics in 2024, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday, in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, said the Congress must play the role of a strong opposition in the future

Three days after questioning where the Congress would be in terms of national-level politics in 2024, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday, in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, said the Congress must play the role of a strong opposition in the future. It stated that the popularity of the Narendra Modi government is sliding due to Covid-19 deaths, inflation, economic slowdown, unemployment, etc, and added that the prominent opposition party in the country must come down from “Twitter branch” to the ground.

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On Sunday, Sena leader Sanjay Raut in his weekly column RokhThok had taken a critical tone on the Congress’ performance in the Assembly elections held in West Bengal, Assam and Kerala. He had said there was no leader in Delhi to take on Modi. However, in an editorial on Wednesday, the Sena lauded Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of the Centre and said that the Central government accepted several suggestions made by Gandhi in the fight against Covid-19.

“Going ahead, the Congress party must act like a fierce opposition party. The anger against this government is building up among the people. The popularity of the government is sliding due to unemployment, economic slowdown, inflation, and deaths due to Covid-19. At this moment, all the key opposition parties must come down from the Twitter branch (social media) and go on ground. That does not mean leading crowd on the streets amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but the opposition must question the government on a daily basis. The Congress must take a lead in this,” the editorial said.

The editorial further said that during the Congress Working Committee meeting, party president Sonia Gandhi expressed concern on the poor performance in the recently-held Assembly elections in five states. It said that the same issues were raised by the column (RokhThok) in Saamana. “The results are so poor that some changes have to be made to the party. Sonia Gandhi raised these issues in the meeting. Congress leaders from Maharashtra say they do not read Saamana, but Sonia Gandhi takes cognisance of Saamana,” the editorial read, taking a swipe at Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole.

The editorial also added that leaders, who had left the Congress, are going on to bring their own regional parties to power in that particular state. It cited examples of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, Hemant Sarma in Assam, and N Rangaswamy in Puducherry — all three are former Congress leaders.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Raut, executive editor of Saamana, said the views expressed in the newspaper was due to concern, as the Congress is a big party and contributed immensely in the freedom struggle. “The same party had to face defeat in Assam and Kerala, and Sonia Gandhi raised the issue of why the party could not come into power in the states during the party’s working committee meeting, which was also raised by Saamana,” said Raut. He further said that everybody, “be it gully or Delhi” (at local level and national as well), take note of Saamana and decide their policies accordingly,” said Sena leader.