As our columnist today points out, the Congress cannot afford to think that its disrespect for institutional autonomy is irrelevant to politics. It allows all sorts of attacks, it permits unpleasant associations, it creates space for evasion by electoral enemies. Consider Narendra Modi’s glee — on the very day that the Supreme Court finally links his name to Gujarat, he gets to claim that this is thanks to UPA meddling. In the end, this is not about whether or not Tytler is guilty, or whether Quattrocchi is being unfairly hounded. It is about how, if some in the Congress believe that, they think that subverting institutions to achieve “laudable” ends is acceptable, in the party’s interest. They are wrong. It is neither in their interest, nor in India’s.