Ever since Sachin Pilot became the president of Rajasthan Congress, and especially after his party lost power at the Centre, he is rarely seen in the national capital. Rajasthan is a key battleground State where the Congress hopes to wrest back power in the 2018 Assembly elections. On a visit to Delhi this month, with a portrait of his father Rajesh Pilot dominating the office and another large photograph of his father walking with Rajiv Gandhi looking down from another wall, he spoke about the challenges he and his party face. Excerpts:
What are the Congress party’s prospects and what is your strategy in next year’s Assembly elections in Rajasthan?
In the last four years, from 21 seats out of 200 in the last State elections (in 2013) and 26% behind the BJP in Parliament — and I must give credit to all the party workers and leaders — we have been able to establish a vibrant alternative in Rajasthan. The Congress has been working consistently not just on winning the bigger elections but also the smaller elections — mandis, panchayats or corporations, the cooperative sector, agricultural banks — for these set the tone and tenor of how the political landscape will evolve.
On the other hand, Vasundharaji (Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje) went on her Swaraj Sankalp Yatra and made massive promises, 90% of which are only on paper. People are beginning to ask questions. She spoke of 15 lakh jobs, the official records show it’s only in the thousands. She said she would make agriculture remunerative for the farmers, instead there have been 80 suicides in the last two years.
Are you saying there were no suicides in the past?
Earlier when there was crop failure, the state would intervene, have a loan waiver, give some financial help. People had the faith that ‘if we are in trouble, the government will save our lives’. Because there is a disconnect between the ruling dispensation in Jaipur and the farming community, we have come to this. Ten lakh farmers are waiting for compensation from last year’s crop damage caused by hailstorms. This is as per the official records, and this has been stated by the Minister in the Assembly.
We have been raising the issues of agrarian distress, corruption, unemployment, and of the complete handing over of state institutions to private hands. I am not against private investment, but in the garb of PPP (public-private partnership) you can’t give away valuable resources and assets of the government of the State to private hands without any transparent MOUs.
The BJP has effectively used the issue of corruption against the Congress, but the Congress has not succeeded in countering it either in Rajasthan or anywhere else.
I can’t talk about Delhi, but in Rajasthan the people know the facts. One lakh bighas of land were given illegally to 600 people in one day. This was brought to light. We asked for a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe, we went to the CVC (Central Vigilance Commission). The government cancelled those mines and handed over the inquiry to the Lok Ayukta — the Chief Minister’s office does not come under its purview. Even before the Lok Ayukta report has come in, the concerned secretary’s suspension has been revoked. There are many instances where the Rajasthan government has accepted that there are malpractices, corruption. Through our messaging, face-to-face interactions, people know this.
There is no clarity still on whether you or Ashok Gehlot will be the Congress’s face for next year’s elections.
We all have different responsibilities. It’s not about one or two people, but a collective leadership. In Rajasthan, we have a big pool of leaders, all of whom have given decades of service to the Congress. The time has come for us to give back to the party, make sure we win the State. Who will head the government when the Congress forms the government is a speculative question. The decision will be taken by the State MLAs and the AICC (All India Congress Committee).
You will go to the elections without a chief ministerial nominee?
As a practice we don’t do that (announce a nominee), except maybe the odd State here or there. But the BJP, which announced its chief ministerial faces in Madhya Pradesh, in Chhattisgarh where it is in power, and in Karnataka where it is not... why has it not done that in Rajasthan?
Will Rahul Gandhi be the Congress president by the end of October?
I don’t want to prejudge the election results, but all indications are that he will be.
Or is there a chance that Sonia Gandhi will continue?
You are speculating now. Mrs. Gandhi has been Congress president for 19 years and she has her own space not just in Congress politics but in national politics too. She will continue to guide the party and be a force against growing divisive forces.
There is much talk in the party about the clash between the old guard and the Young Turks, talk of growing frustration.
I don’t want to sermonise, but the word frustration really shouldn’t be there. It’s not about A, B or C any more. In the Opposition, there should be only one goal — how to become the voice of the people so that we can take on the BJP in 2019. This is a fictitious argument, about young and old. The talk that you mentioned has been played up much more than it actually exists. Much has been written in the media, but we all work together. I became an MP at 26, a Minister at 30, and State party president at 36. I have been an MP for 10 years, fought three elections. So if someone says I should get more from the party, that’s nonsense.
You may have an exceptional career graph. But let us take the case of a general secretary who does not know whether he will be replaced tomorrow. What will he deliver?
Everyone who is truly loyal to the Congress, as long as he or she holds a position, must discharge that responsibility with full honesty and commitment. Now is not the time to think of promotions or demotions, but to give everything to the party because the situation today is much worse than it has been before. We have had BJP and non-Congress governments before, but what is happening today is much worse. There is a certain level of strangulation, a disregard for systems and institutions that we have worked so hard to create. I think what people expect from a government is that it should be fair and just and transparent, have a two-way communication, and be sensitive to the hopes and aspirations of the people. All the propaganda people are absorbing through radio, TV, the Internet, and the newspapers, but what about the main issues in this country?
We have had the worst economic report in the last three years, the GDP is tanking, exports are falling, job losses, agrarian distress. And the entire discussion has moved on from the RBI report (on demonetisation) just a couple of days back to the Cabinet reshuffle. It’s important, but it’s hogged three days of prime time as opposed to the real issue of job losses in the IT, manufacturing, export sectors. How successful was the money ban? Now we have even the RBI saying it was a flawed policy. Somebody has to be able to ask questions of the government. But the environment is such that the people asking questions are raided. There is a new policy: defame, denounce and destroy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been able to change the goalposts whenever something his government has done has failed. But you have to grant that Mr. Modi is a 24x7 politician. You don’t see that energy in the Opposition. Is Rahul Gandhi an effective counter to Mr. Modi?
It is true that all of us in the Congress, in the Opposition, need to act much more decisively and swiftly. So far it has been a tough journey... when parties with people from such different backgrounds come together. And yes, the BJP also plays spoilsport — look what they did in Bihar. When you break the Opposition like that, yes, unity suffers. As the largest Opposition party, it is incumbent on the Congress to get a credible line-up of Opposition leaders and then pose a challenge, which is what we are going to do.
You still haven’t answered whether Mr. Gandhi is an effective counter to Mr. Modi.
This comparison is drawn all the time and it’s fair to do that. But the Congress is a set of ideas and we are going to go into elections with a clear objective of replacing the BJP. The media can make comparisons, but we are going into elections as a party. Mr. Gandhi has said many times that he as vice president and Mrs. Gandhi as president reflect the Congress’s background, commitment, and how it can take on the BJP. We will do it effectively.
Every Opposition party has understood that there is need for a strong, united, viable opposition to challenge the BJP. Within the NDA, what happened to the JD(U) after it joined? They were left out of the Cabinet expansion. The Shiv Sena is not happy, so all is not rosy within the NDA. We will mount a formidable challenge in 2019.
Whenever the Congress takes up the issue of corruption, the BJP changes the subject to its communal agenda. The BJP is very deft at changing the narrative. Why is the Congress not able to do that?
Issues define the narrative, not political parties. People may not voice these things clearly, but I can tell you that on the ground there is a huge resentment among the Dalits, the farmers, about prices not coming down, gas prices going up, the impact of GST on small grocery shops. There is a certain level of disenchantment already there.
Are you saying that this economic downturn could be a turning point?
Absolutely.
Why didn’t it work against the BJP in U.P., after demonetisation?
It was too early in U.P. And two, Mr. Modi positioned the money ban as a rich versus poor agenda which is not the case. The stated objective was to deal with Naxalism, terrorism, black money — all that was set apart. People have understood the real agenda. If you look at the score card of real achievements — Startup India, Stand-up India, Digital India — in all the slogans now it is 2022, not 2019.
You are a second-generation politician and the BJP is always talking about dynastic politics in the Congress.
I don’t have to counter it. Look at the Chief Minister of Rajasthan: her mother was a prominent BJP politician, her sister is a minister in the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP talks of hereditary politics but Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh’s son is an MP. The story is the same with the previous Himachal Chief Minister. I can go on and on.
