Sometimes the best way to hurt your people is to support the enemy. And that is what the high Congress and now called rebel leader Anand Sharma has done. In a series of tweets, Anand Sharma has praised the prime minister’s visit to institutes that are working on COVID-19
vaccine. He tweeted: “Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s visit to the Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and Zydus Cadila was a recognition of Indian scientists and their work to produce the vaccine for COVID-19. That alone will boost the morale of the front-line warriors and reassure the nation. “
Anand Sharma’s praise for the prime minister’s visit to these institutes on Saturday stands in stark contrast to the line of the Congress party, which has ridiculed the prime minister for visiting the vaccine institutes. Congress called it a photoshoot of the prime minister and an attempt to get credit for the work done by the scientists.
Anand Sharma, along with 22 others, are the mastermind behind the letter written to Acting President of Congress Sonia Gandhi, which raises questions about the party’s functioning. He, along with many others, was criticized at a special CWC meeting called to discuss the letter. Anand, who has been very close to the Gandhis and rose under Rajiv Gandhi, was branded a traitor. The fact is that many high-level Congress leaders like him have felt left out in Rahul Gandhi’s Congress and their anguish is about being sidelined.
But sources close to some of these senior leaders also feel that they attack the prime minister for COVID-19 the vaccine could once again boomerang. With the number of viruses increasing, what most people look forward to is the vaccine. While the BJP used the vaccine as an electoral tool in the Bihar elections, the image of the prime minister as a fighter for the vaccine has so far remained intact.
Many elders in Congress feel that images of the prime minister visiting vaccine institutes and video conferencing with scientists show his desperation for the vaccine, and this also satisfies concern among the people. Criticizing or ridiculing the prime minister for this could backfire on Congress.
In fact, Anand Sharma, among many others, had raised doubts about the tone of personal attacks on the prime minister in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sources say they sent comments to Sonia that the slogan “chowkidar chor hai” it was not resonating with the people and that any personal attack on the prime minister was used by the BJP effectively to their advantage. That’s exactly what happened. In response to the slogan “chowkidar chor hai”, the BJP started the hashtag “main bhi chowkidar”.
Apart from this, Anand Sharma’s tweet is also a reminder to Congress that he and many of the dissidents can make things difficult and embarrassing for the party. Of course, many have already started to attack him and accuse him of trying to join the BJP.
But sources close to Anand Sharma say his tweet was necessary in this difficult hour for the country, when all political parties must stand together. This may just be the narrative that Anand Sharma and many like him want to establish, that with the absence of Ahmed Patel, who acted as a bridge, it could be quite a knife. And this latest tweet from Anand Sharma pulling a completely different party line may just be the beginning of another battle within Congress.
.
