New Delhi: As the voting for the Delhi's assembly election came to end on Saturday, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said that his party is facing a tough time and is suffering due to leadership issues in its Delhi unit. "But, the party has made a comeback in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls," said Dikshit.
Q. The Congress campaign is harping on the development done during the tenure of your mother and three-term former Delhi chief minister late Sheila Dikshit but surprisingly you are not seen actively involved in the crucial elections. Your comments!
A. I have not got along with most Delhi Congress leaders and with the AICC leadership in charge of Delhi. There is no point talking about those issues at this point. But there are leadership issues. Therefore, I have been inactive for the past five-six years. When Sheila ji became state unit chief, I was helping her for a while. Since then I have been doing political work for the Congress in the background.
Q.The Congress could not win a single assembly seat in the 2015 Delhi polls. Surprisingly, the party does not appear to be in a fighting mode this time as well. How do you see the party’s chances this time?
A. Not having an MLA and not doing well in the municipal corporation elections was a setback. We were facing a tough time but it was promising in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls were we came second on five seats and two other if candidates had been announced early we would have done well. Then passing away of Sheila ji was a big loss. We have two substantial challenges. We do not have the same kind of resources that AAP and BJP have. The media is compromised. AAP’s is a very average government and I have heard their campaign. It is false propaganda. It is being portrayed that people are voting for the first time on development issues. Both chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia have been saying that they have turned around government schools. But during Sheila ji's time too the same schools did better. Now there is a drop in many DTC buses and the green cover is dwindling. Kejriwal’s 25 percent pollution drop argument is crap.
Q. But why is the Congress campaign lackluster?
A. We are not available on posters and media. Sheila ji’s government never had funds for full-page advertisements but Kejriwal is giving full-page ads to newspapers every second day and this affects the media. They have misused government funds. We can counter this propaganda through the promise of the golden era of Congress and continuing with subsidies started by Kejriwal but doing it better. We are trying to get to people through our worker network. But people who have not seen the Congress era and have heard only AAP propaganda is a challenge. Those in the 18-35 years group were not conscious of the stupendous change since 1998 that the Sheila government brought in Delhi.
Q. Congress has not projected a CM face. Why?
A. We have never projected a CM. Congress follows an older system of parliamentary democracy and does not believe in the presidential style polls. Even when Sheila ji won in 2003 and 2008 she was not projected as CM.
Q. So who is the Congress fighting with, the AAP or the BJP and is Kejriwal playing the soft Hindutva card?
A. See, Kejriwal is a rogue. To me, he is a wolf in the sheep’s clothing. He is an RSS person masquerading as something else. He is power-hungry. He is a BJP project. During the anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare, he was sitting in the lap of BJP leaders like late Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj. Now he says that he reads the Bhagwat Gita and recites Hanuman Chalisa. I am not saying these religious texts don’t guide you, but you are quoting them to prove that you are as much a Hindu as the BJP is. I want a person who is a good leader to be the chief minister. But are you (Kejriwal) the leader the Indian Constitution envisages. In that sense, Kejriwal is a rogue.
Q. Is the Citizenship Amendment Act an issue in the Delhi polls?
A. I don’t think so but it is a national issue. Congress is the only party standing against the CAA. The Delhi CM spoke against CAA but did not say if he would implement NRC or not. Further, he said in an interview he would have got the Shaheen Bagh protests cleared in 2 hours if he had police under him. But he did not spell out how. I would like to compliment the centre as it did not disrupt the protesters. Kejriwal seems to be speaking the same language as BJP’s Pravesh Verma.
Q. What are the challenges Congress faces nationally?
A. We committed to a broader social-democratic setup. But we need to redefine that. Most people know what the Congress stands for but they only want the party to be seen standing up those values. The problem arises when Congress tries to change its image. All of PM Modi’s popular programmes are UPA programmes. But this government has more money at its disposal. Not a single programme of PM can be attributed to Modi. The BJP has only built the Hindutva narrative and its brand of nationalism. There is nothing in their Hindu Rashtra concept. At best it is disenfranchising the Muslims. It is only a slogan. Congress has never been aggressive but now needs to be more forceful and articulate of what it stands for. And preset the time tested ideas in a new language.
Also Read: Delhi will vote for Congress for its major developmental work in past: DPCC chief
