Cong desperate to grab attention

The Congress is making a mountain out of a mole-hill with its protest against inquiries made by the Delhi Police personnel at the residence of party leader Rahul Gandhi. In fact, there does not seem to be even a mole or a hill to be made much of, though the party claims that the policemen who came to collect personal information about Rahul were government moles on a political espionage mission. It is absurd also. There is need for some gumption, naiveté or foolishness to imagine that an assistant sub-inspector of police goes to the house of a person under watch and collects details like the colour of his hair and eyes and the names of his friends and other ‘vital’ information, to file them away as top secret data. Even in the bumbling ways of the Delhi Police, espionage would be done by better means. In these days of high-tech gadgets and sophisticated methods, there is no need for a policeman to walk around or up to the house of a person to snoop on him or her. Much of the information that was sought about Rahul Gandhi by the police men would, in fact, be available on the internet.

The government’s explanation that the collection of information was part of a security drill is credible. Similar checks have been conducted in the case all important personalities living in Lutyens’ Delhi. Hundreds of leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister A B Vajpayee and many others have been profiled in the past in a similar manner. The security procedure actually started in 1957 and in the case of some leaders it has been done more than once to update information. It has never become contentious or controversial in the past.

There may be two reasons for the Congress’ over-reaction. It is hypersensitive to anything connected with the Gandhi family. The party had used the posting of two Haryana policemen at Rajiv Gandhi’s residence as an excuse to bring down the Chandra Shekhar government in 1991. It may be trying to draw attention to Rahul Gandhi through the actions of the government, as he has done little to draw any positive attention to himself. It may also be looking for issues, genuine or not, to keep up a continuous attack on the government. But silly charges on unconvincing grounds like in the present alleged surveillance case will only show it in a poor light. They might only help the government, and would be a waste of politics, time and national attention.