Congress will fight Bihar Assembly polls alone: Digvijay Singh

Prashun Bhaumik |

Digvijay Singh is one of the most powerful and astute politicians in the Congress party today. The 63-year-old former MP chief minister who ruled the state for 10 years took a 10-year break from government for party work after he lost power in 2003. Today he looks after the key state of UP where the Congress is hoping to make a comeback. He spoke to Neerja Chowdhury on a range of issues.

 

Current: What is going to be the impact of the threat by Samajwadi Party and RJD to withdraw support to the UPA if the Women’s Reservation Bill is passed? What if the BSP follows suit? The government is going to be left with a wafer thin majority for the passage of other laws?

Digvijay Singh: The impact will be seen later. On the issue of Women’s Reservation, the stand these parties have taken is not only incorrect but constitutionally not feasible. How can you give reservation to OBC women and not to men? The whole effort is to sabotage the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Would it not make the Government very fragile?

No, I don’t think so, There are a number of unattached, indepen-dent MPs who can be spoken to.

But once again the Government will be at the mercy of ones and twos, a situation you had moved away from when you won 206 Lok Sabha seats?

There should not be a problem. The Narasimha  Rao government, which was in a   minority, ran  for a full five years.

Are you one of those who believe that the women’s bill will change politics dramatically?

Not really. The impact would not be too much. There is a division in the ranks of all political parties today. This has become obvious in the JD(U).

There is the problem of nursing constituencies because of rotation?

As in panchayats and local bodies, if a woman nurses her constituency, she can contest from that constituency again when it becomes open. She is not being debarred. Only men will be debarred.

The other apprehension is of the bahu-beti-biwi brigade coming in?

Initially yes. Later on women political activists may take over. Thora bahut dynasty rahega.

It is felt that this will turn the Muslims against the Congress?

Again, not all Muslims have taken this line. Why don’t you talk to Muslim women? May be there is a man-woman divide
here. No community votes en bloc, reservations or not.

Do you envisage new political alignments?

Today no one wants Parliament to be dissolved. No MP would like to lose his seat. No party
would like the government to fall. That is the best safeguard (for the government). Once the
issue of women’s reservation is settled, it will be over. Where is the quarrel then?

Parties like the SP, RJD, which are against the women’s bill, are making common cause with the Opposition (on prices)?

It will annoy some of these parties.  But what will they do on the plank of secularism and the fight against communalism? For example, on the Communal Violence Bill, which will be opposed by communal forces, what will these parties do? Will they stand in support of the bill or will they stand with those people perpetrating communal violence?

It is said that you would now be reaching out to friends who are so far invisible?

The political managers of the party must be taking that into consideration.

For example, Nitish Kumar has done a U turn on the Bill …

He has not done a U turn. When he brought in 50% reservation for women in panchayats in Bihar, what would have been his credi-bility if he had opposed this?

Can his support to the bill be seen as the first signal of the possibility of a post poll alliance between the Congress and his party?

In politics one cannot rule out any possibility.

 

Would the Congress go in for a pre-poll alliance in the forthcoming elections in Bihar or go it alone?

I am not handling Bihar, so I can’t comment. At the same time my understanding today is that the Congress will fight it alone in Bihar. As far as post-poll alliances are concerned, it is an open game and will depend on the results.

The state elections are due in UP in 2012, you are in charge of the state, and suddenly things are looking up for the Congress there. It is said that you were one of the authors of the party going it alone in UP in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls which paid the Congress dividends?

It is not correct that I was an author of the go-it-alone policy.
It was a consensus decision taken by the senior leadership. It was because of the attitude of the Samajwadi Party – they were just not prepared to give us additional ground – that the alliance did not take place. They did not see the ground reality. If the SP had agreed to give up 25-30 seats, the BSP would have been reduced to less than 10 seats, and the SP number would have gone up.

What is the party’s game plan for 2012?

We want to put our best foot forward and start the candidate-selection process as early as possible. We should get our strategy on the ground as early as possible. My gut feeling is that the people of UP want the Congress to form the next government. It is for the Congress to put its house in order.

What is going to be your thrust areas?

Since 1990, no new power plant has been established, no new industry has come to UP, the
administration has collapsed, corruption is all pervading, law and order has broken down, people are quite unhappy with
the government’s functioning. They are looking at the Congress to come back to power and bring back the old glory of UP.

What would be the social alliances you forge?

My hunch is that people are
fed up with caste based politics. People are again looking up to politics of development, good
governance, of secularism. Naa jaat par naa paath par, mohar lagegi haath par.

But at the ground level, you cannot ignore alliances?

Karenge. That will happen. There is no such thing as a vote bank. Everyone has his ideas and frame of mind. We are now moving beyond vote bank politics.

Your role in Azamgarh came in for a lot of flak within and without the party?

Let me be very clear. I did not ask for a re-enquiry of the Batla House encounter. I had gone there just to understand why young Muslim boys from Azamgarh and surrounding villages had suddenly taken to terrorism. Number two, (to find out) are these cases real or are framed.

I convinced families not to ask for the Batla House enquiry and instead to concentrate on the early disposal of all these cases. Twenty six boys arrested were all from in and around Azamgarh. Some of these boys have got more than
50 cases registered against them in four states and six different cities. All their families come from lower middle class. Most of the boys are educated some are engineers or doing masters in business administration.

So we had requested them to give up their demand for an enquiry and accept that all these cases should be tried in a special court for early disposal so that the guilty could be punished and innocent released, which I think is totally justified and went down well. Yes, my visit was opposed by the Ulema Council which was collecting funds from the families of the accused and had put up Muslim candidates in a number of constituencies in the last Lok Sabha elections and this had helped the BSP and the BJP. The Ulema Council showed black flags to me but now they stand exposed and the effigy of the president of the Ulema Council was burnt by Muslims in Azamgarh.

Did you achieve what you went for?

My aim was simple. To bring back communal harmony and instill a sense of confidence among minorities that justice will take place.

It is said that the Muslims are moving towards the Congress. Do you think the Muslims are still with the Samajwadi Party in UP?

I don’t know. I feel the Muslim community will take the appropriate political decision when the time comes. I can’t say whether they will be with the SP, BSP or the Congress. They are still leaving it (decision) open.

How do you see Rahul Gandhi having evolved?

There is no doubt that Rahulji wants to bring inner party democracy and he has taken that as a challenge. He has already completed elections in the Youth Congress and the NSUI in a number of states, where duly elected office bearers have taken charge. He is definitely concerned about poverty alleviation programmes, their implementation and conceptualizing them and he strikes a chord among the people.  He is a serious young man who understands issues. He is quite political and well read, and can argue and discuss practically every issue. I am totally supportive of what Rahul Gandhi is doing. He has got a great future

Is he serious about leading the Congress in 2014?

As far as the leadership issue is concerned, that is for the Congress president to decide. He does not talk about that. He is more concerned about issues.

What about the issue of elections in the CWC. What do senior leaders have to say about that?

As far as the CWC is concerned, this is again something the Congress party president can decide. What is most important is recognition of all those people who have done membership and take that into account. There is no problem with elections in the CWC.

You had taken political sanyas for 10 years.

Yes, that ends in 2013.

Will you consider coming into the Rajya Sabha. There is a seat falling vacant in Madhya Pradesh shortly?

No, no, no. If the party feels I should contest for the Lok Sabha in 2014, I will be glad (to do so).

So you are readying for the Big Fight?

Laughs.