Congress Crisis In Delhi

This column had previously pointed out Congress’ poor candidate selection in Delhi, with tickets given to former Jawaharlal Nehru University activist Kanhaiya Kumar and BJP discard Udit Raj. The discontent within the party’s state unit spilt over with the resignation of the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee chief Arvinder Singh Lovely, who criticised the alliance with AAP as well as the choice of candidates. The lack of cohesion in the alliance is hardly a surprise. Senior Congress leaders have strongly criticised the AAP government for the corruption charges it faces. Congress’ endorsement of AAP at a recent I.N.D.I.A. bloc rally in Delhi was pretty much the last straw. The candidacy of Kanhaiya Kumar, in particular, has not gone down well as Congress leaders find his style, more suited to Left sloganeering in JNU, quite alien. They are also uncomfortable with his endorsement of the Delhi government’s record in office. The alliance with AAP is proving to be a blunder. Congress’ central leadership failed to grasp that AAP’s graph has fallen steeply and by hitching its fortunes to Arvind Kejriwal’s outfit, the party has forgone a chance to regain a vote it had lost. Congress’ fortunes have been at an ebb since 2013 when it was voted out of office in Delhi. Calculating that an alliance with AAP may offer a better bet against BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress brass sealed a 4-3 seat-sharing deal. Voters disappointed with AAP will either see BJP as the alternative or, if this does not work for them, look elsewhere. With troubles in Congress bubbling over, the party is practically out of the fray in the three seats it is contesting, almost a month before voting is scheduled. The lack of public support for Kejirwal after his arrest by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) should have rung alarm bells at Congress headquarters. As it is, the alliance in Delhi was not extended to Punjab where the party unit vehemently opposed any truck with AAP. With the poll pact in Delhi on the rocks, BJP is well-poised to repeat its sweep of all seven seats in the capital.

Hooda Versus the Rest

The ‘Hooda versus Everyone Else’ feud in the Haryana unit of Congress is an unending soap. For more than two decades now, former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been ranged against former Union minister Selja Kumari and other leaders like Kiran Chaudhary, Birender Singh, and Randeep Surjewala. The tussle is unending and while Hooda and son Deepender have the upper hand, the infighting has cost the party dearly. The Hoodas are indispensable for the Congress brass when it comes to organising crowds for party rallies in the capital but other factions are nonetheless part of a balancing game the central leadership plays. This time though, Chaudhary and Birender Singh have lost out. Chaudhary’s daughter Shruti did not get a ticket from the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat and Birender’s son Brijendra, who had recently returned to Congress from BJP, was not nominated from Hisar. Both leaders have made no secret of their displeasure. The tickets have gone to Hooda’s nominees who, to be fair, may also be better prospects. Only Selja has been given the ticket from Sirsa, which is not surprising as she is seen to be close to the Gandhi family and is a former state chief. Meanwhile, the wait for a candidate for the Gurugram seat finally ended with the party naming Raj Babbar, another Hooda choice.

Bjp’s Timely Wisdom

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP leadership considered alliances with its erstwhile partners SAD and BJD, but did not finalise any arrangement in the face of the strong reservations of its leaders from Punjab and Odisha. In the case of Punjab, the break was more recent as SAD left NDA in 2020 over the agitation by the state’s farm unions against the farm laws. The renewed attempts by Left-aligned unions to revive the stir earlier this year failed but revealed the gap between BJP and SAD. The Akalis have supported the farm unions seeing this as a popular position. The problem is that there is no uptick in the SAD graph and the party needs BJP’s Hindu vote in cities and towns. SAD’s decision to field a former terrorist from Khadoor Sahib where pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh has thrown in his hat confirmed the state BJP’s misgivings. Similarly in Odisha, BJP leaders are reporting an upswing for the party. Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan took on BJD over a recent video of Naveen Patnaik, saying the chief minister’s aides should have paid attention to his clothing and avoided a shabby-looking lungi. It does seem that BJP did well to go by what its state leaders were saying rather than succumbing to the temptation of additional seats, which might have proved to be a misplaced quest.

Busybody NGO

In dismissing the plea for a return to ballot paper for voting, the Supreme Court made some richly deserved observations about the Association for Democratic Reforms, the NGO that has repeatedly moved the courts against the use of EVMs. The court pointed out that the real intention behind petitions opposing the use of EVMs appears to be to try and discredit the voting system at a time when the Lok Sabha polls are unfolding. In his order, Justice Dipankar Datta (part of the two-judge bench) called out the petitioner for being a busybody and referred to a trend of vested interests seeking to discredit, diminish, and weaken India’s achievements. The use of EVMs and the quick and reliable results they deliver are undoubtedly one such achievement. A section of activists and political parties has spared no effort to call into question the process by which EVMs work and allege that results can be manipulated without being able to offer a shred of evidence in support of such insinuations. The next time such a motivated plea is submitted, the courts will do well to impose costs on petitioners for wasting time.

Jaishankar on Point

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s interesting observation on “negative” reports on India’s democracy in Western media has set off a few ripples. He noted that it was not that the Western media did not know what was really happening in India but that it considers itself to be a player in India’s domestic politics. The remarks are bang on target as the editorial bosses of many of these media outlets have no interest in understanding the functioning of India’s democracy and issues that voters consider. With the willing assistance of their Indian collaborators, these publications routinely churn out one-sided reports. The minister might be wrong on one point though. At least some of the correspondents stationed in India are truly clueless about the country’s politics and society. India’s complexities are always challenging although a short drive outside the capital to meet people in villages, fields, and town squares can be a profitable exercise. But it does require some effort and, of course, a desire to learn.

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