‘Reducing a state to Union Territory no way of respecting democracy’

Senior Congressman and former union minister Salman Khurshid has caused a flutter saying that former Congress chief, Rahul Gandhi, “walking away” from the party’s responsibilities at a time when there are three Assembly elections can cost the party dearly. He was speaking at an event at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Delhi on Tuesday. Edited excerpts of an interview with Amrita Madhukalya:

You have been quoted as saying that Rahul Gandhi leaving the party during a crucial time has caused a flutter. But you say you have been misquoted. Can you please tell us what did you say at the event on Tuesday?

I will not say anything more about it; I said what I had to. If people don’t understand, I just pity them. I’m very sorry for people who do not understand what I said. If I have said anything wrong, just point it out to me. If it is wrong, I will correct it.

The idea that the party’s prospects in the election-bound states have dimmed with Rahul Gandhi away from action is not entirely untrue.

Who knows, he may come back. And we will all be there; I am going to campaign and so will a bunch of senior party leaders. It doesn’t matter if it is a tough election. We will fight vigorously. Some timely steps have been taken and whatever [steps are] necessary will be taken, too. I’m not sure why people are concerned about how we will fight. That’s our concern.

At the same event, you spoke about Article 370, an issue the party is yet to see common ground across its ranks.

I had said that Article 370 has to be understood in the context of a pact we have with the people of Jammu and Kashmir...but be that as it may, Article 370 is another issue. Federalism is a greater issue and it requires that sentiments of the people are taken into consideration in a democratic way, reducing a state to a Union Territory is no way of respecting democracy. But ultimately, the people are the judges... And whatever our convictions are about Kashmir, secularism, state of the economy or national defence, the convictions that we have must be placed before the people of India and I’m sure the people of India will endorse our positions.

What does the party plan to stem the high rate of attrition that has happened in the last few days?

That is what I had flagged when I spoke at yesterday’s event: Time is short and we need to do something immediately...people who had left are people who got most from the Congress and it is such a sad and pitiable thing. There are many people like me who will not leave the Congress no matter how adverse our circumstances are. I do believe that in the end, we will succeed and those who have left will fail.

There seems to be no action from the party leadership on these people leaving.

The situations are such that we cannot take punitive action; we need to sit down and convince our people. The party needs to strategise a way to stop the attrition. And even after that, if those who got a lot from the party, want to leave, then they should.

There are two ways to look at the possible outcome of the Maharashtra elections. One is that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena alliance will do better than in 2014 (the two parties came together after those polls) and overwhelm the opposition, especially Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance, and increase its majority in the state assembly. The second possibility is that the Congressncp alliance (the two fought the 2014 election separately) actually recovers some lost ground and its performance, compared to the 2014 state and the 2019 national elections in the state.

The BJP and Shiv Sena won 232 of 288 assembly segments in the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 185 in the 2014 assembly election, and 226 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress and NCP won 42 assembly segments in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, 83 in the 2014 assembly election, and 45 in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

What eventually happens in the upcoming assembly election will depend a lot on the political outcome in 58 assembly constituencies (ACS) in the sub-region of Western Maharashtra. This region has traditionally been a Congress bastion and shifted towards Sharad Pawar when he formed the NCP in 1999. This dominance came under severe challenge in the 2014 elections.

Until the 2009 elections, this region used to be a bastion of sorts of the Congress and NCP.