“THERE IS ALREADY AN UNDECLARED EMERGENCY”
THE SAMAJWADI PARTY GIVES OLD ALLIES A SNUB EVEN AS DIFFERENCES EMERGE BETWEEN ITS CHIEF AKHILESH YADAV AND JAILED LEADER AZAM KHAN; THE BJP LEAVES SITTING MPs HIGH AND DRY
As convenor of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), Mallikarjun Kharge has the humongous task of getting the 26-party combine on the same page on seat-sharing arrangements and a common narrative to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP. The 81-year-old Congress president also has to galvanise the Grand Old Party to improve on its abysmal tally of 52 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Kharge took time off his hectic schedule to speak exclusively to Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa and Executive Editor Kaushik Deka on a range of key election issues. Excerpts: Q. How do you expect the Congress to perform in the 2024 Lok Sabha election? What are your prime challenges?
The people’s faith in the Congress and its allies is mast (amazing). We hope to cross the majority mark. However, we are facing a resource crunch. Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi is not providing us a level playing field. In a democracy, if you don’t give space to everyone, it will not be known which side has the public’s support. He bulldozes his opponents. From the Congress and other parties, 25 leaders have either joined the BJP or become allies. Modi and home minister Amit Shah had filed CBI and ED cases against them. After these leaders switched sides, they closed the cases against 23 of them. Modi keeps calling the Congress a corrupt party. He says he wants to end corruption. But he has the corrupt sit next to him. He says the corrupt will not be spared. But they get spared if they shake hands with him. He tries to create the impression that he is the only honest person, all others are corrupt. But the truth is, Modi’s government is the most corrupt of all.
Q. That is a serious allegation, where is the proof for this?
As per CAG [Comptroller and Auditor General] and media reports, scams amounting to Rs 8.5 lakh crore have happened under the Modi regime. If these charges are wrong, file defamation cases against the CAG and those who made them. The media knows this too, but they don’t expose it because journalists are also suffering. The government asks for proof, but how will there be proof when everyone is being targeted? They have their people everywhere—judiciary, vigilance, ED. They have captured all the democratic institutions. So where is the accountability? There is already an undeclared Emergency. Modi is behaving like an autocrat. He never holds any press conferences. We are worried about what will happen to our democracy and Constitution. There will be no freedom of speech, no free choice or movements.
MODI IS BEHAVING LIKE AN AUTOCRAT. WE ARE WORRIED ABOUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO OUR DEMOCRACY AND CONSTITUTION. THERE WILL BE NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH, NO FREE CHOICE...”
Q. But the BJP points to Indira Gandhi’s Congress government and the 1975 Emergency...
This propaganda has been happening for over four decades. Indira Gandhi admitted it was a mistake. The Modi government is doing worse, chief ministers are being arrested now. During the Emergency, only the agitators were arrested. Where is the governance now…there is only whipping. If you don’t follow orders, you are harassed.
Q. The BJP also charges the Congress-led UPA government of being extremely corrupt, says that is why they lost power in 2014…
The BJP levelled so many corruption charges against the UPA government. What happened to the so-called 2G scam and coal scam? Nothing was proved against us. Based on the CAG report, they made a mountain out of a molehill. The prime minister keeps abusing the Gandhi family. No member of the Gandhi family has been in power since 1989. They never misused any authority. Yet he keeps humiliating the family. Why? Because he is afraid of the Gandhi family. Sonia Gandhi rarely speaks. Yet, the people take her seriously. Modi barks every day. Nobody takes him seriously. He is on campaign mode all the time. Have you ever seen a prime minister who keeps campaigning for elections, right from zilla panchayat to Lok Sabha? He is always at rallies, never at his office. He never applies his mind, that’s why he takes wrong decisions. His motto is election, not development.
Q. Where do you see the Congress performance improving? In the past two elections, in nearly 200 seats where the Congress and the BJP went headto-head, the latter won over 90 per cent of the seats.
Nearly two-third of the states were once under the control of non-BJP parties. Wherever the Congress or BJP’s rivals won, he put pressure on the government. People have seen how our governments were broken in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Goa and Manipur. The Rajasthan government narrowly survived. Now, he is after us in Himachal Pradesh. He doesn’t release central funds, doesn’t provide assistance during natural disasters. The PM has built this fake perception that only he can deliver. He also had the backing of the RSS who thought Modi would complete their agenda. Just before the elections, he exploits emotional issues such as Pulwama or polarises voters on communal lines. Under these circumstances, people don’t vote based on ideology or performance record. Modi is not going to voters with his development record because there is none. He is saying: “If you want Ram, vote for me.” However, the Congress and our alliance partners are working hard. We are contesting elections unitedly in at least 80 per cent seats. I.N.D.I.A. will get a working majority in this election. The undercurrents will hit Modi hard this time.
Q. Political analysts say the Ram temple in Ayodhya could become a major issue this Lok Sabha election.
MODI KEEPS CALLING THE CONGRESS CORRUPT. HE SAYS HE WANTS TO END CORRUPTION. BUT HE HAS THE CORRUPT SIT NEXT TO HIM. HE SAYS THE CORRUPT WILL NOT BE SPARED. BUT THEY GET SPARED IF THEY SHAKE HANDS WITH HIM”
THE PM KEEPS ABUSING THE GANDHI FAMILY. NO MEMBER OF THE GANDHI FAMILY HAS BEEN IN POWER SINCE 1989. THEY NEVER MISUSED ANY AUTHORITY, YET MODI KEEPS HUMILIATING THE FAMILY. WHY? BECAUSE HE IS AFRAID OF THE GANDHI FAMILY”
Do you agree? Why didn’t the Congress party attend the idol consecration ceremony?
I’m a Dalit. I’m also a Hindu. The meaning of my name Mallikarjun is ‘Lord of the mountains’, which is another name for Lord Shiva. But I’m not allowed to worship inside a temple. In this country, Dalits are still not allowed to enter temples at many places. Can one invitation solve that problem? Dalits are still not allowed to drink water from the same source that upper caste people use. Marriage processions of Dalits are forcefully stopped. Dalit grooms are beaten if they ride horses. I have never played the caste card, but this is the truth. Dalits are not allowed to enter temples, forget about getting anywhere near the idol. It hurts our self-respect. The BJP says it has made persons from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes the country’s president. But do BJP leaders respect these individuals? When the foundation stone was laid for the new parliament (building), the then president Ram Nath Kovind was not invited. Modi did not let President Droupadi Murmu inaugurate the new parliament building. Even the Shankaracharyas did not attend the consecration [of the temple in Ayodhya]. What the BJP shows on the surface is not true. It has a hidden agenda—unlike the Congress, where there is space for everyone. Coming back to the impact of the Ram temple this election, I think religion is a matter of personal choice and people will not vote based on the mood created by one individual.
Q. The Congress has 25 guarantees to woo voters. How are they different from Modi’s guarantees?
We did not give any guarantee in 2004 and 2009. But we delivered. We introduced MGNREGA, we framed laws providing citizens the right to information, right to education and right to food. We did not do the big talk, we performed. We are honest about our guarantees. What were Modi’s guarantees? Twenty million jobs every year. Rs 15 lakh in every account. Farmer incomes will be doubled. Skill training for millions of people. Has he fulfilled any of these guarantees? The Congress governments in Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana have fulfilled the guarantees promised before the assembly elections. When our guarantees work, Modi simply copies it. He is fooling everyone—the youth, the poor, women and farmers. Whenever we question something, Modi points fingers at us. If we raise the issue of EVMs, he says EVMs existed even when the Congress was in power. The issue is not the technology, but its misuse. A knife can be used to chop vegetables or kill someone. The weapon is the same. Modi is using the same weapons, not for public welfare but to crush the Opposition.
Q. How do you respond to PM Modi’s narrative of delivering a Viksit Bharat?
How many big, employment-generating industries have been set up in the past 10 years? Have you created any fundamental institutions such as the AIIMS, IIM, IIT and IISc? You are just adding to the numbers. Have you enhanced the budget for scientific research? Did Modi send Rakesh Sharma to space? Even the Ram temple is not complete. Modi inaugurated it in a hurry just for electoral gains. Today, employment has gone down. Educated people are feeling that there is no future in India. That’s why nearly 1.4 million people have left the country, given up their citizenship.
Q. Why is the caste census such an important issue for the Congress now? Why didn’t the UPA government release the findings of the 2011 Socio-Economic and Caste Census?
A caste census is important because the government can frame accurate welfare policies based on this. We were in power only for three years after the data of the 2011 caste census came. The government needed time to consolidate and analyse the data. But the Modi government has been in power for the last 10 years. Why hasn’t it released the data?
Q. Don’t you think I.N.D.I.A. wasted time ironing out internal squabbles? Nitish Kumar exited, NCP is broken, Mamata Banerjee is fighting solo in West Bengal…. There was a delay in reaching seat-sharing agreements too.
There was no delay. As for Nitish Kumar, his intent wasn’t honest. Ours is an ideological alliance. It’s not just to grab
I’M A DALIT, ALSO A HINDU. BUT I’M NOT ALLOWED TO WORSHIP INSIDE A TEMPLE. IN INDIA, DALITS ARE STILL NOT ALLOWED TO ENTER MANY TEMPLES. CAN ONE [AYODHYA] INVITATION SOLVE THAT PROBLEM? ”
power. We don’t compromise ideology for power, Nitish does. It’s hypocrisy to talk about secularism and then join hands with the BJP. Nitish wanted to retain his support among the extremely backward classes (EBCs). He was uncomfortable with the RJD’s growing popularity among them. Leaders come and go but people are moving towards I.N.D.I.A.
Q. In West Bengal, the Congress-TMC alliance did not materialise because of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s personal issues with CM Mamata Banerjee. As Congress president, why didn’t you rein him in, in the larger interests of the party?
We tried, but it did not work out. We are still trying. There is still time left for nominations. Wherever possible, we will try to make adjustments.
Q. PM Modi has converted the Lok Sabha polls into a presidential-style election. Critics say a primary weakness of the Opposition is that it has failed to project a strong face against Modi.
We are contesting the election as an alliance. Once we reach a position to form the government, we will decide who becomes prime minister. It has happened in the past too, during Morarji Desai, V.P. Singh and Deve Gowda’s time.
Q. But most pollsters say people vote based on the leadership. Don’t you think not having a PM face is a handicap?
From my experience of over 50 years in politics, I can say that people vote on ideology.
Q. What is the ideological battle you are fighting?
Our ideology is simple—the poor must progress. Under Modi, the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer. There is massive unemployment, inflation is high. The last two elections were won on the strength of their propaganda. But people can now see through the falsehoods in it. The BJP keeps asking: what happened in the last 70 years? If nothing had happened in the last 70 years, we would not have seen so much progress in the country today. Did India get Independence only in 2014? Modi first started with the RSS agenda—save Hinduism. Slowly he kept that agenda aside and made everything about Modi. It’s now all about saving Modi, Modi’s guarantees. The PM only talks about himself. He doesn’t talk about the party, its principles. This reflects his arrogance. People will teach him a lesson.
Q. You talk about ideology. But the Congress, which demanded a probe against Arvind Kejriwal in the liquor policy case, has now joined hands with him. How do you explain this contradiction?
We are fighting for a cause, not an individual. We are not against investigation into corruption, but it should follow the laws of the land. We are fighting against the systematic dismantling of democratic norms by the Modi government. Anyone can be a beneficiary of this fight. We are asking Modi to follow the Constitution and provide good governance. But he is taking the law into his hands and putting opponents in jail. He is destroying the basic principles of the Constitution.
Q. The Congress has been raising the issue of electoral bonds. But your party has also taken donations through these bonds.
The Congress is not in power. We cannot coerce people to donate. They are contributing to us on their own goodwill. But how did the BJP collect funds? By giving contracts in exchange. By granting favours. By arresting people.
AS FOR ELECTORAL BONDS, THE BJP’S MEANS OF FUNDS COLLECTION IS DACOITY, WE HAVE TO BEG FOR FUNDS
AMIT SHAH PUNISHES ANYONE WHO MAKES EVEN A SMALL MISTAKE. IN UTTAR PRADESH, CM YOGI ADITYANATH USES THE BULLDOZER
Threatening contractors. Sending ED notices. It’s the policy of ‘Chanda do, Dhanda lo (Give donations, take business)’. The BJP is misusing its position as the ruling party. That’s the fundamental difference. It’s illegal. That’s how they collected such huge amounts. The BJP’s means of fund collection is dacoity, we had to beg for funds.
Q. Will Rahul Gandhi’s two yatras help the Congress gain seats this election?
There has been a massive impact. Rahul met millions of people from all walks of life during the yatras. He went to Manipur and stood by the people there. Modi has not set foot in Manipur till date while he had time to make dozens of trips abroad. The BJP-RSS only know how to set up the nafrat ki dukan (the shop of hatred). We go to people to talk about our ideology, to showcase our work, and not to make polarising speeches. The BJP-RSS is asking for a two-third majority because they want to frame a new Constitution. MPs and leaders of the party are already saying this. Is talking against the Constitution not anti-national? Modi deliberately asks his subordinates to make such statements so that he can assess the public sentiment.
Q. The BJP keeps calling the Congress a party of dynasts, that they cannot look beyond the Gandhi family and that parivarvaad prevails.
Could anyone force people to accept Indira Gandhi? Jawaharlal Nehru was not even alive when she became prime minister. Did he name her as his successor? Similarly, Rajiv Gandhi became prime minister after Indira had been assassinated. He was not named by her. It was the public mood. Since 1989, has any member of the Gandhi family taken any position in government? Sonia Gandhi sacrificed the opportunity to become prime minister in 2004 because she believed the country needed the service of an accomplished economist to pull it out of the financial crisis. She did not accept the PM’s chair even when the party returned with a bigger mandate in 2009. After the 2002 Gujarat riots, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to sack Modi as Gujarat chief minister. The then home minister L.K. Advani saved him. And today, see how Modi sidestepped Advani, just like the demon who, after being blessed with a boon by Lord Shiva, tried to kill his benefactor. The Gandhi family kept quiet even when Indira Gandhi was killed. They kept faith in the legal process. After Rajiv was assassinated, the Gandhi family did not spout venom about the killers. Priyanka Gandhi even went and met one of the accused in prison. It shows how much compassion the family has. In the BJP, Amit Shah punishes anyone who makes even a small mistake. In Uttar Pradesh, CM Yogi Adityanath uses the bulldozer.
Q. Rahul Gandhi wanted all senior leaders to contest the Lok Sabha polls, but barring a few, most of them have declined. Even you are not contesting. Is this a sign that you have accepted defeat?
If age had been on my side, I would have contested. About other leaders, we can’t force anyone to contest polls. ■
NITISH KUMAR’S INTENT WASN’T HONEST. OURS IS AN IDEOLOGICAL ALLIANCE. IT’S NOT JUST TO GRAB POWER. IT’S HYPOCRISY TO TALK ABOUT SECULARISM AND THEN JOIN HANDS WITH THE BJP”
WE ARE FIGHTING FOR A CAUSE, NOT AN INDIVIDUAL [KEJRIWAL]. INVESTIGATIONS SHOULD FOLLOW THE LAWS OF THE LAND. WE ARE FIGHTING AGAINST THE SYSTEMATIC DISMANTLING OF DEMOCRATIC NORMS BY THE MODI GOVT ”
IFa physicist were to determine the ‘state’ of politics, solid would definitely not make the cut. For, given the weak bonds between political actors, politics more closely resembles the fluid state, conforming to the constraints of evershifting dynamics just like liquids take the shape of their containers—and gases even escape them. With just days to go for the Lok Sabha election, this Brownian motion of atoms and molecules is on full display in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party (SP) has given a jolt to its former allies Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) and Dalit-centric Azad Samaj Party (ASP) by keeping them out of the seat-sharing discussions. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), too, has cold-shouldered its sitting MPs Varun Gandhi and General V.K. Singh (retd) among others, choosing fresh faces.
But the SP’s actions seemed rather more counter-intuitive, diminishing rather than expanding resources in times of scarcity. Its declaration of a candidate from the prize Nagina seat in mid-March effectively ended the possibility of an alliance with the ASP, led by Chandrashekhar Azad. Azad, who is also the Bhim Army chief, had already entered the fray in Nagina (which is reserved for Scheduled Castes), and the SP was expected to extend support to him and Azad, in turn, would campaign for the I.N.D.I.A. bloc elsewhere. This was seen as an idea with potential, given the ambiguous distance UP’s other behemoth, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), kept from I.N.D.I.A.
Azad’s close aides say the SP’s move to field Manoj Kumar from Nagina came as a shocker. In December 2022, the SP had contested the Khatauli and Rampur assembly bypolls in alliance with the Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the ASP—and wrested Khatauli from the BJP. The sizeable Dalit votes their common candidate (of the RLD) won were attributed to the ASP. Thus, when the BSP decided to stay away from I.N.D.I.A., the ASP was seen as the SP’s natural fall-back option to woo Dalit votes in the crucial western UP belt. But sources in the SP claim party chief Akhilesh Yadav, was not ready to yield to “pressure tactics” by any smaller party after the exit of the RLD from the Opposition alliance as well as scathing statements of Apna Dal (K) leader Pallavi Patel.
Her displeasure had peaked in February, when Akhilesh chose to back former bureaucrat Alok Ranjan and
actress Jaya Bachchan for the Rajya Sabha election. She accused the senior ally of ignoring its PDA—pichhda (backward), Dalit, alpsankhyak (minority)— base. Pallavi, who had won the 2022 assembly election on the SP symbol, was keen to contest the Lok Sabha poll under the I.N.D.I.A. flag. For a while, things seemed on track. After the snub, Pallavi on March 31 announced her party’s alliance with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) in UP. In short, an alliance on the rebound, conceived out of pique, to cut into the I.N.D.I.A. bloc votes.
The sour vibes are not just at the inter-party level— even within the SP, the raita has been spilling a bit between Akhilesh and old vanguard Azam Khan, which led to confusion and embarrassment for the SP in finalising candidates for Moradabad and Rampur. Azam, currently lodged in jail, had apparently asked Akhilesh to fight from Rampur—a constituency Azam had made synonymous with himself. He also wanted sitting MP S.T. Hasan dropped from Moradabad next door. But the SP chief chose to repose faith in Hasan. On the last day for nominations, March 27, Azam’s close confidante Ruchi Vira sprang a surprise by claiming to be the party candidate. Hasan had no option but to withdraw. More drama unfolded in Rampur, where ignoring Azam’s wishes yet again, Akhilesh fielded a Delhi-based imam, Mohibullah Nadvi. No one was left in doubt that a ping-pong battle was going on when another Azam campwallah, Asim Raza, threw his Karakul hat into the ring, though his papers got cancelled later.
THE BJP SNUB
In the BJP, meanwhile, there were quite a few sitting MPs, or at least their supporters, in for a rude shock. Among the rejects were big names like Union minister of state and former army chief V.K. Singh (Ghaziabad), Gandhi family scion Varun (Pilibhit) and former minister Santosh Gangwar (Bareilly).
After the BJP’s apparent snub to V.K. Singh, several outfits from his Thakur community called the move unfair—even though the two-time MP had recused himself hours before sitting Ghaziabad MLA Atul Garg was named in his stead. Garg has been facing resentment in his constituency, with instances of him being hooted out of meetings at housing societies surfacing lately.
Varun, on the other hand, had been in the doghouse since he became vocal on issues like unemployment, inflation and poverty. The BJP retained his mother, Maneka Gandhi, from Sultanpur, but tossed Pilibhit to Congress import Jitin Prasada, now a minister in the Yogi cabinet. The SP candidate, Bhagwat Saran Gangwar, claims irate Varun supporters have sworn fealty to him. Raita is indeed a fluid substance. ■
SOURCES IN THE SP CLAIM THAT AKHILESH YADAV IS NOT READY TO YIELD TO ‘PRESSURE TACTICS’ BY ANY SMALLER PARTY AFTER THE RLD’S EXIT