A betrayal in the offing: Why Congress should give a second thought to allying with Shiv Sena

To see the Congress’s compromise with the Shiv Sena, which was the first to have proudly claimed responsibility for the demolition of the Babri Masjid, was the last thing one could have imagined. By considering doing so, it has made it clear that the language of Hindutva will now be the common political language.

In Picture: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackray. The Congress party seems to have succumbed to the temptation to somehow keep the BJP out of power in Maharashtra. (File)

Vinayak Damodar Savarkar must be smiling. It can be said that Congress has seemingly turned its back on the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi. The news of the party being close to sealing its pact with the Shiv Sena came on the eve of Nehru’s birthday. It is the cruelest tribute the party could have paid him. This is also Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. The Congress has shaken hands with the Shiv Sena, a party which demanded a Bharat Ratna for Savarkar, who is often seen as complicit in the conspiracy to assassinate Gandhi. Even if we ignore this, Savarkar certainly led the ideological opposition to the Gandhian idea of co-living and nation-building. By considering aligning with his followers, the Congress has shown that his viewpoint can be accommodated.