A Gandhi should lead Congress, find friends to fight BJP: Mani Shankar Aiyar

The coalition is the only viable way of defeating the BJP and a Kerala type all-India united democratic front is needed for Congress to take on the BJP in 2024, senior leader Mani Shankar Aiyar tells senior journalist Amit Agnihotri in an exclusive interview.

New Delhi:In an exclusive interview to senior journalist Amit Agnihotri, senior Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that the coalition is the only viable way to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and suggested regional parties to work in association with Congress. Excerpts-

Q- A senior vs junior debate and a leadership crisis seem to be raging within the Congress party. What is the real problem?

Well, it is not the leadership, that is incidental. Even the 23 senior leaders (who wrote a dissent letter to Sonia Gandhi recently) have not suggested that the fundamental solution to the Congress’ problems lies in a change of leadership. However, if they believe that leadership is the root of the problem, any one of them can stand in a contest when the AICC session takes place. I can only hope they will not suffer the fate of Jitendra Prasada who got 94 votes against Sonia Gandhi’s 9400 votes.

The problem lies elsewhere. The social groups that were with the Congress through the independence movement and in the first 20 years of our Independence, have since the 1967 national polls broken away from that composite Indian National Congress to try to find their destiny on their own. Particularly after Mandal in 1990, several of the backward classes formed themselves as separate groups. And then discovered that Yadavs were ahead of everybody else among the backward classes and the Jatavas were ahead of everybody else among the Scheduled Castes. There is a kind of confusion after the fall of the Babri Masjid (1992), the Muslims have deserted the Congress en masse.

Don’t look at the leadership as the problem. The problem is much deeper and in my view it can only be solved not by getting these social groups back but more importantly getting the parties that have been formed on the regional or caste or community basis to remain as they are but to come in a coalition with the Congress on the Kerala model where the membership of the coalition is decided immediately after the previous polls. These entities keep their own identities but know the portfolios they will hold if the coalition comes to power.

But why do you need a coalition? Would these regional parties want to work under the Congress umbrella?

A coalition is the only viable way of defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party. I am suggesting the regional parties work in association with the Congress. Only if we stoop, we are likely to conquer. If we start telling them that you come under our leadership, it is not likely they will agree. If we have a general understanding that the coalition will be led ex post facto by the party with the largest number of seats or any other formula that becomes acceptable at that stage, we can put aside the leadership of the coalition and ensure that the alliance leads to a coalition. I am saying don’t ask for prime ministership now. If that comes to us post facto, it is fine. But this is not the time to fight over who would be the PM. I think we need a Kerala type all-India united democratic front to take on the BJP in 2024.

For two successive national elections, the party has not been able to get the minimum 10per centseats (54) in the Lok Sabha to get the Leader of the Opposition post. Your comments!

Of course, it is a big challenge. There have been times when we have been on a back foot. We should take leadership ex post facto if it comes to us. In my home state Tamil Nadu since 1967, we have not been in power and would not be there for at least the next 600 years. But there is no village in Tamil Nadu where someone is not ready to back the Congress. That is what has given us a balancing role between DMK and AIADMK and we have survived. When I came to Parliament in 1991, our alliance with AIADMK won all the 39 Parliamentary seats in TN. There is manoeuvrability in parliamentary politics. We should recognize where we stand and hope to get the social groups back.

That is a long-term solution. For now, does Congress need an elected president?

If the current leadership is able to devote itself more to part affairs it will be all the more good. I don’t think the answer lies in throwing the baby out with the bath water. Poor Rahul Gandhi gave every opportunity to the Congress to find an alternative. He held back for over two months saying I am leaving the leadership and I am not going to allow either my mother (Sonia Gandhi) or sister (Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) to take over. But there was nobody in the Congress willing to come forward as a candidate let alone lead the Congress. The BJP's goal is a Congress-mukt Bharat and they will succeed only if there is a Gandhi-mukt Congress. Our time should not be wasted on the leadership issue.

So you are saying the Gandhis are indispensable? What about strengthening the party?

There is no question in my mind that one of the three Gandhis has to be there at the helm. It can be Rahul if he wishes to...he seems to have again and again said that he is available to the party…how can we go on pushing an unwilling person to take up the leadership…maybe he changes his mind or maybe Priyanka steps in or maybe despite her ill health Sonia Gandhi continues. As a party, we need to make a firm determination that our only enemy is the BJP and the saffron brotherhood. Everything else is subordinate. We should form firm alliances to bring back social groups we had lost. We should unite under Gandhi and fight the next four years and see if we can produce a better outcome. We have come down to 52 seats in the Lok Sabha not because the party is weak, but because the non –BJP vote, which was in 2019 was 63 per cent, is completely fractionated. We need to bring them together. Congress will carry credibility only if we are seen as a strong and united party under a tough leadership. I believe Gandhi can provide such leadership. Five generations of Gandhis have led the Congress and if there is no consensus within the party maybe it is time to try out a new one who has not held the top party post so far.

Q-So Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is your choice?

No, my choice is Gandhi, whoever the family chooses.

Q-There has been some talk of a non-Gandhi Congress president since 2019? Would that be a good option?

In my youth, I had a desire that popular Hindi film actor Madhubala would become mine. That did not happen. The demand of having a non-Gandhi Congress chief is much akin to that old wish. There is no non-Gandhi who can step into that position till a Gandhi is around.

Q-What about having internal elections?

Former (late) prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was saying this in the 1990s and Rahul had been saying this since 2007. He even tried to do this in the Indian Youth Congress and the National Students Union of India. There were some controversies but that is secondary. These were innovative ideas. I hope the party will accept some of the proposals made by the 23 senior leaders and maybe all of them.