Veteran Indian National Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar condemned his party's decision to ally with Vijay’s TVK in Tamil Nadu, calling the move immoral [1].
The criticism highlights a growing internal rift within the Congress party regarding the ethics of strategic alliances. Aiyar said that prioritizing electoral gains over ideological purity undermines the party's historical foundation.
Speaking in Delhi, Aiyar described the alliance as a product of low political opportunism [2]. He said the decision was driven by political stupidity and immorality, labeling the tie-up as an unforgivable violation of a specific historical maxim [3].
Aiyar linked the decision to the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi. He said that in November 1925, Gandhi wrote in his Gujarati magazine, Navjeevan, that Swaraj should mean government by morality [4]. Aiyar said the Congress party violated this injunction by deciding to "jump ship" and join the TVK [4].
The controversy follows the Tamil Nadu assembly election results announced on May 4, 2024 [5]. In that election, Congress won five seats [5].
Critics of the alliance suggest the move was a desperate attempt to regain footing in the region. Aiyar said that backing TVK is dreadful and driven by expediency [6]. He said that the party's current trajectory deviates from the moral governance Gandhi envisioned a century ago [4].
“Congress backing TVK is dreadful; a decision driven by low political opportunism.”
The public condemnation by a veteran figure like Aiyar suggests a tension between the Congress party's pragmatic need for coalition-building in regional politics and its desire to maintain a brand based on Gandhian ethics. By invoking the 1925 Navjeevan injunction, Aiyar is framing the TVK alliance not just as a tactical error, but as a fundamental betrayal of the party's ideological identity in the face of poor electoral performance in Tamil Nadu.
