Senior Congress leader and the former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh is regarded as a loyalist but, when the need arises, he can be outspoken. In a candid interview with Smita Gupta, he advocates a merger or an understanding with the Trinamool Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the YSR Congress to consolidate the secular vote.
In the wake of a string of electoral defeats, Mr. Singh on Wednesday gave a call to all those who had left the Grand Old Party to come together to “fight communal forces”. This could be either a “merger” or an “understanding,” he clarified.
In the interview to The Hindu , he said: “Only the Congress can keep communal forces out and therefore if you want to fight the communal forces, all the people who have left the Congress for one reason or the other should come together.”
He was responding to a question on the buzz in the party that Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee and Jagan Reddy should be invited back to the Congress.
He clarified that when he had spoken of the need for a “major surgery” in the party, he was not questioning the leadership of the Gandhis. “I am not VP Singh ji .”
Excerpts from the interview:
‘ We’ve done enough introspection; now we have to reinvent’
In its quest for a Congress-mukt Bharat, the BJP’s main focus is an attack on dynasty and corruption. How will the Congress counter this?
The BJP has always been good at creating false perceptions: the test case was Bofors. They created a hype of huge corruption around Rajiv Gandhi’s family. In spite of being in power for a number of years, they weren’t able to find an iota of evidence against the family…. Take Robert Vadra: they have been [alleging] for the last five, six, seven years ….. But where has Mr. Robert Vadra violated the law? …..We have to counter it in our way and the Congress has to stand together to fight these forces.
Dynasty?
The dynasty thing has been going on from Indira Gandhi’s time, even before that.
But Indira Gandhi was a strong leader, so perhaps it didn’t matter that much.
You are saying dynasty didn’t matter because the leader was strong. Yes [the leadership] is comparatively weak now. But in 1977, the leadership was weak. The media had written off Indira Gandhi ... especially after they had put her in jail … the Gandhis were written off, so was the Congress. Even after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, the Nehru-Gandhi family was written off; Ms. Sonia Gandhi herself was not in politics. But after she became active in politics, the Congress recovered. We won in 2004 and 2009. … in a democracy, there’s no such thing as dynastic politics. Every family, no matter how strong it may be, has to get the people’s mandate..
What happens when the dynasty stops getting the mandate?
Then the party has to take a decision.
That stage hasn’t come yet?
No, I don’t think so. Don’t forget that it is the Nehru-Gandhi family that keeps the party together.
People in your party are already talking of bringing back old Congress leaders who had left the party, people like Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee and Jagan Reddy to strengthen it. Is that a possibility? If it is, what would you offer these people.
Only the Congress party can really keep communal forces out and therefore if you want to fight the communal forces then all the people who have left the Congress for one reason or other should come together.
You mean a merger..
Somewhat
Somewhat?
Either a merger or an understanding.
After the election results, you tweeted on the need for major surgery. Then you amended that to say Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are the surgeons, defeating the purpose of what you were seeking to convey with your tweet?
We’ve done enough introspection; now we have to reinvent … rejuvenate the party. Nobody is questioning the leadership of Sonia Gandhi or of Rahul Gandhi, least of all, myself. People immediately thought I will revolt (laughs). I am not V.P. Singh ji .
You have called for a “major overhaul” in campaign strategy and social media, and also “fresh faces and fresh ideas.” Could you elaborate on that?
[These] are the macro issues: how it is to be done has to be decided by the party, not individually.
Those discussions ended in early 2015. It’s mid-2016 now.
This is exactly what was discussed in the Antony Committee and we were given a gist on which we also discussed with Mr. Rahul Gandhi… After that, the background paper was also discussed at the state level.
There is a growing sense in the Congress that Rahul Gandhi is not up to the job of leading it, look at the way he handled Himanta Biswa Sharma in Assam, Kalikho Pul in Arunachal, and Vijay Bahuguna in Uttarakhand.
I don’t know who you have spoken to.
You yourself have said that driving out Himanta Biswa Sharma cost the party heavily in Assam.
Why blame Mr. Rahul Gandhi for that? It was (Himanta’s ) personal ambition which took him out.
When will Rahul Gandhi take over as president: everyone says he’ll choose his timing, but surely he, too, owes something to the party.
Rahul Gandhi will not decide. It will be taken by the Congress president.
Ms. Gandhi came into the Congress for two reasons – one for her son, and the other to unite the party.
No, the second thing comes first. She came into the Congress party when it was disintegrating and she bound it together.
And she did a great job but...
There you are … you rightly pointed to the need for a succession plan and Rahul Gandhi is part of the succession management.
Will Priyanka Gandhi be asked to step in not just to oversee Rae Bareli and Amethi, but into a leadership role?
It’s a decision she has to take. We will all be very happy to have her play an important role. But this decision can’t be imposed on her – it must come from her.
