New Delhi: In an exclusive interview to senior journalist Amit Agnihotri, Congress veteran Harish Rawat claims there is no old guard vs young leader power tussle in the organization as he urges Rahul Gandhi to take over the reins of the grand old party. Excerpts:
Q. A dissent letter written by 23 senior leaders has brought the leadership issue in the Congress to the fore. Is the old-guard versus the younger leaders’ debate impacting the Congress’ growth?
See, historically the Congress party has supported and promoted young leaders. During Indira Gandhi’s time, many youngsters joined the party. Sanjay Gandhi brought in many youngsters like Kamal Nath. Later, when Rajiv Gandhi took over, several youngsters including myself, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel, Anand Sharma and Mukul Wasnik came to the party. In fact, people who joined the Congress during the time of Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi are calling the shots today. After us youngsters like Avinash Pande came in and are doing very well. Similarly, many youngsters like Rajeev Satav and Gaurav Gogoi came in after Rahul Gandhi joined active politics and have grown since. Congress has a natural inclination towards the younger generation. There is no old guard versus younger leader debate in the party. All of us are willing to accommodate the younger generation and back them. However, there have been one or two instances like that of Jyotiraditya Scindia. He was given so much by the party in a short time. I will narrate a personal anecdote. In 1980, I was a Member of Parliament along with Jyotiraditya’s father (late Madhavrao Scindia) and decades later worked as a Minister of State in the Manmohan Singh government of which Jyotiraditya was also a member. The point is we were patient. Had Jyotiraditya stayed back, he would have become Madhya Pradesh, chief minister. But he got impatient and left.
Q. If that is the case, why was veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad targeted during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting called on August 24 to discuss the issues flagged by the dissenters?
See, writing the letter was not the concern of anyone. The timing and the way it was pushed and leaked to the media had upset the CWC members and had disappointed them. They were wondering why this happened? Azad is a veteran and seasoned politician. In fact, three leaders including Azad, Ahmed Patel and Ambika Soni have a special place in the party. We have always respected them. During a meeting, if they are standing, we do not sit on a chair. Azad was considered to be the troubleshooter for the party. If we did anything wrong, Azad would correct it. The same goes for Ahmed Patel. When the dissent letter leaked and Azad’s name figured prominently as one of the key persons behind the episode, we wondered, why him?
Azad could have just met Sonia Gandhi or called her. His word would have counted. Instead, all kinds of negative reports were doing the rounds about the party and it pained us. That sentiment was reflected in the CWC meeting. It was not as if Azad had attempted a coup of sorts but the CWC members expressed their concern over the manner the letter was leaked. This actually prolonged the discussion. But in the end Sonia Gandhi assured all of us that our sentiments would be addressed.
Q. Are their concerns in the party over Rahul Gandhi coming back as Congress president?
The CWC discussed if Rahul is reluctant to take over then an All India Congress Committee session should be called to address all these issues. We want Rahul to take over at the earliest. It was also the unanimous view in the CWC. Even the extended CWC held in August 2019 had urged Rahul to take back his resignation. Congress workers have full faith in his leadership. Rahul took over when there were a lot of challenges and all of us feel that. Today, the Parliamentary system and Constitutional democracy are being challenged in the country. Rahul is giving a befitting reply to the working style of PM Modi and his government. He has emerged as the Congress leader and he has occupied the space of the leader of the opposition. In these circumstances, I think Congress needs a young leader and India needs a young opposition leader. He has travelled all over the country and met people. He has gained experience. Times are now changing. People have started raising issues related to bread and butter. It is time Rahul should take over as Congress president.
Q. What about the fact that CWC elections have not been held for over two decades?
It is not a matter to be debated in public but in party forums. The CWC should again meet and leaders should be consulted if elections for various party posts down to the district-level should be held. Azad is not saying anything new, these are old Congress ideas. In fact, it was Rahul who opened up the Youth Congress and started internal elections in the youth wing. If Rahul takes over, he will certainly prefer internal party elections. But today, the challenges being faced by the country demand our undivided attention. We all agree in principle that there should be internal elections, but we will decide the timing for it.
Q. So, have the issues raised by the dissenters been sorted out?
The issues raised in the dissent letter were discussed in the extended CWC threadbare. I think Soniaji's concluding remarks have ended the matter. Azad is equally concerned for the Congress party as I am. And I think no one had a wrong intention in flagging the issues. An AICC session will be held in another six months. If something else comes up, I can’t say but it should see Rahul back as Congress president. Till then, we want to play a constructive opposition and are ready to take up public issues like joblessness, intolerance and a tanked economy to corner the Modi government.
Q. But why is the Congress not able to play an aggressive opposition?
Unfortunately for the past two years we are seeing an unnatural political scenario which does not suit the Congress’ way of working. The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh have succeeded in dividing the country’s polity on communal lines. We saw that in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls. We had hoped that in UP we will come back in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and had similar hopes in Uttarakhand. But PM Modi started raising the “Kabristan-Shamshan” type of remarks during the poll campaign, which polarized the elections. As a result we lost. After the Gujarat assembly polls the same year, we were on a sound footing as the issue of joblessness and economic downturn dominated the public discourse. But then the unfortunate 2019 Pulwama terror attack happened. The PM and the media played up the subsequent Balakot strikes by IAF on terror hideouts across the border. Sadly, the Congress was painted as pro-Pakistan. This was an unfortunate thing. The traditional Indian ethos has been equality of all religions but the BJP succeeded in dividing the polity on communal lines. That is an unfamiliar pitch on which we find ourselves and that is the reason why we lost the 2019 national elections.
Q. Has the style of functioning of Congress presidents changed over the past decades?
Work ethics in the Congress party has remained the same right from Indira Gandhi’s time. It has not changed through the successive presidency of Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narasimha Rao, Sitaram Kesri, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Rahul worked under Sonia over the past 12 years in different capacities. Today there is no problem with our working style and internal mechanisms. But what has changed over the past years is the political environment of the country. It has got polluted and is not suitable for Congress.
Q. Do you hope things will change?
Things will change when people will start thinking about their bread and butter issues, lack of jobs and a sliding economy. They will again start appreciating the work done by the Congress. The divisive atmosphere in the country was jointly created by RSS head Mohan Bhagwat and PM Modi. Congress has an answer to that. But the Congress will play on its own pitch and no one can defeat it there.
