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After back-to-back scams, now it’s the turn of a Wikileaks cable to take some sheen out of the Congress prospects in the Lok Sabha elections to be held in 2014. At the centre of a controversy is none other than the party’s poster boy Rahul Gandhi.

By saying “Hindu terror groups are a bigger threat to the nation than Pakistan-based ones,” to US ambassador Timothy Roemer, Rahul has stirred up the Hindutva issue again, which could be to the BJP’s advantage.

He has also given Pakistan an opportunity to say that so called “Hindu terrorists” were targeting Muslims in India and the country’s government was doing nothing about it. There was, however, some damage control done when Rahul clarified that “terrorism of all types were a threat to India.”

In fact, the BJP already launched its attack when its spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said “Rahul was speaking the language of Pakistan.”

So, can the opposition parties rake up this issue along with the series of scams that took place during the Congress-led rule to wrest power in Delhi from the UPA after the forthcoming general elections.

Although it is difficult to say who could form the government, these incidents are slowly making the Congress party’s prospects of a comeback bleak. But again, with the Lok Sabha elections four years away, this issue could become a forgotten one altogether.

Another finding by Wikileaks said that a US document, before the Indo-US nuclear treaty was signed, also left the Congress red faced.

The paper said, “Sonia never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” casting a shadow on Sonia’s leadership qualities. This again could be drummed up by opposition parties to vindicate their stand on her “inability to rule the UPA.” But again, communicating this issue to the public could be an insurmountable task as at least 35% of the electorate are still illiterate and could fail to grasp the significance of the issue.

The Wikileaks document has also debilitated on a serious issue our government has been neglecting for long. That our sensitive labs, which lack adequate security (a privilege offered to our netas only) and have weak controls, are prone to bio terror.

Unlike in the US, security in India comes only after a terror incident has taken place. For instance, our government never anticipated an incident like 26/11 and could send Black Cat commandos only after 12 hours after the terror attack. Our government will do well to foresee possible areas that are vulnerable to terror attacks and accordingly devise a strategy.

Can relationships be built on mistrust? Well, that’s what India and China are trying to do. Even as India failed to recognise the ‘One China’ policy – where it will declare Tibet and Taiwan as part of China, China also did not show its keenness on inking a deal on ‘One India’ policy where it will recognise Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India.

Such a deal is unlikely to see light of the day in view of China’s proximity to Pakistan as signing such a pact will put China-Pak ties at a new low. This is something both the countries would like to avoid. Moreover, with India granting asylum to the Dalai Lama, the other treaty (One India) will contradict India’s stand on Tibet.

Also, border disputes remain for which there can be no solution and even China’s ambition on gaining ground in Arunachal and Ladakh are unlikely to die down in the near future.

But thankfully, the economic ties don’t seem to be so bad with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao signing deals worth nearly $20 billion. But if the mistrust between the two neighbours spills over to trade, the two governments may try and nix efforts by the industry to get a strong foothold in the each other’s country.