Blaming Hindus for turning away from the Congress party, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad claimed that the number of Hindu brothers inviting him to campaign for them have reduced. In an attempt to stir communal cauldron, Azad also asserted that Hindu candidates fear losing out on votes if he campaigns for them.

Speaking at an event in Lucknow last week to mark the 201st birth anniversary of the Aligarh Muslim University founder Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, Azad contended that since his days as a youth leader he has been campaigning across the country for a number of party candidates belonging to the Hindu community, but of late the number of Hindu candidates calling him to campaign for them have reduced drastically.

“Since the days of the Youth Congress, I have been campaigning across the country from Andaman Nicobar to Lakshadweep. 95% of those who used to call me were Hindu brothers and leaders, and just 5% were Muslim brothers,” he said.

Azad, who is essentially blaming Hindus for being so communal that they have stopped inviting him for campaigning, forgets that his party itself, that claims to be the minority messiah has failed to ensure commensurate representation. If we go by the number of Muslim candidates Congress fielded in 2017 Gujarat elections, it was just paltry 5 out of the 182 seats that went to the polls. That is approximately 2.7% of candidates were Muslims.

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If we consider Uttar Pradesh, Congress and Samajwadi party together fielded just 80 Muslim candidates (18 by Congress, 62 by SP) out of 404 seats that went to the polls in 2017. That is roughly 19% of candidates were Muslims. The remaining 81% were overwhelmingly Hindus.

Even in their heydays of Muslim appeasement, in 2012, Congress could only send 3 MLAs to the Vidhan Sabha when the UP state saw one of the highest representation of Muslims in the state assembly-63 since the independence.

It is interesting that first, the party that claims to be the harbingers of minority rights, has fielded paltry Muslim candidates, to begin with. Secondly, instead of calling Hindus ‘communal’, perhaps it is necessary for the party and for Azad, who is a mentor to Rahul Gandhi to realise why Hindus have stopped trusting Congress.

Eminent Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has claimed that no ‘good Hindu’ would want a Ram Mandir at Babri site. Another senior Congress leader, Kapil Sibal, pleaded the SC to defer the decision on Ram Temple in Ayodhya till 2019 elections, insinuating that the decision might influence the election outcome. Congress leaders routinely indulge in appeasement politics, shaming Hindu festivals and Hindu Gods. Recently, Narendra Modi slammed Congress for attacking artwork of Lord Hanuman.

With this appalling blame on Hindus, Azad also made a tacit approval of waning popularity of the Congress party among Hindus. Azad asserted that fewer candidates invite him as Hindu candidates fear losing out on votes if he campaigns for them.

Hindus may have realised the nefarious designs employed by the Congress party to woo them during the election seasons, like organizing Rahul Gandhi’s temple runs in the run-up to elections and appeasing minorities once the elections are over, like supporting Sharia courts. Ghulam Nabi Azad himself has given controversial statements in the past. Pakistan based terror outfit LeT echoed Azad’s views on Kashmir. He also insulted the Army by claiming that it killed more civilians than terrorists did. Just before Karnataka went to the polls, Azad made a clarion call to all Muslims of the state to vote for Congress.

Perhaps Azad fails to realise that it was Congress that moved heaven and earth to concoct the “Saffron Terror” narrative by falsely implicating Sadhvi Pragya and even Lt Col Purohit. It was Congress which wanted to pass the Communal Violence Bill which basically ensured that only Hindus would be considered perpetrators and never a Muslim, should there be any communal violence. The bill was formed by people who were associated with various foreign-funded NGOs. It was Rahul Gandhi who deemed mythical “saffron terror” more dangerous than LeT. It was P Chidambaram and Sushil Kumar Shinde who called Hindus terrorists with no proof or reason. It was Manmohan Singh who said Muslims have the first right on our country’s resources. It was Congress that divided Hindus by giving Lingayats the separate religion tag. It was Congress’ stand that was supported by Hafiz Saeed. It was Congress that ran a ‘Modi hatao desh bachao’ Facebook campaign in Pakistan and it was Congress whose leaders went to Pakistan and derided India. The list of Congress’ treachery with respect to Hindus is rather endless.

Against such a dreary backdrop, why would any self-respecting Hindu rally behind the Congress party? It is almost as if the Congress expects the Hindus to ask if the Hindu’s back hurt the Congress’ knife. Azad needs to realise that it is not because a ‘Muslim’ campaigns that Hindus don’t wish to vote for Congress, but because Congress has historically betrayed Hindus and now, they just refuse to take it lying down.