A leading labour leader of the country, Rama Chandra Khuntia is a relentless crusader against tyranny, exploitation, oppression of the millions of working class communities who darken in labour, drudgery, sufferings and pain. He is widely known in the international sphere as a labour leader owing to his participation in various IlO forums and UN conventions in Geneva. Dr Khuntia is sow a permanent invitee to the Congress Working Committee (CWC), a coveted position which he holds after Dr HK Mahtab and Biju Patnaik. He was elected to the Odisha Assembly in 1985 and was the Government Deputy Chief Whip in the House from 1985 to 1990. He was a member the Rajya Sabha from 1998 to 2004 and again from 2008 to 2014. He is a secretary of the AICC from April 2004 till date and continues as INTUC national vice-president from 1993 besides being INTUC Odisha president from 1986 till date. He is vice-president of Indian National Building Construction Forest and Wood Workers Federation and Indian National Migrant Workers Federation. He played a pivotal role in the Parliament in promulgating the Building & Other Construction Welfare Act in 1996, which is now in operation in all the States. He is also an elected member of the Building and Wood Workers International, World Board in the executive committee from 1993. He was also vice-president BWI (Geneva) in 2002 and is again in 2010 till date and chairman of BWI for the Asia Pacific Regional Committee. In addition, Khuntia was the member of IlO and WHO Committee on Occupational Health from 1990 to 1995. He had put his efforts in the Parliament for changing the name of Orissa to Odisha and also raised his irrepressible voice for obtaining classical status for the Odia language. His importance and overwhelming presence in the Congress party is understood from the fact that he was secretary in-charge of West Bengal at a time when a personality of the stature of Pranab Mukherjee was WBPCC president. The heat and dust of mundane politics notwithstanding, Khuntia is also an author of books like “The Voice of Odisha in Parliament”, “The Voice of labour in Parliament”, “The Voice of Environment in Parliament”. He is known for his intellectual ability and finer perceptibility. In an interview to The Pioneer, Dr Khuntia spoke to Sugyan Choudhry at his INTUC office in Bhubaneswar.
What is your party’s prospects at the national level in the 2019 general electionsij
We are hopeful of inflicting a crossing defeat to Narendra Modi and his NDA Government. Rahul Gandhi has been authorised and entrusted with the formidable task of uniting the opposition parties to form an alliance to this effect. Rahul Gandhi is our party’s Prime Ministerial candidate and he has proved his efficiency in the last Gujarat and Karnataka elections. He has also proved his political maturity and dexterity by choosing HD Kumaraswamy as the Karnataka Chief Minister when the Congress has more members by its side. We are waiting for a “Mahagathbandhan” by Rahulji and then we shall be on our mission. When in 1977 Indira Gandhi was arrested in Haryana, people thought that Congress was gone. But after a lapse of only three years in 1980, the Congress obtained a thumping majority. Again in 2004 when AB Vajpayee was the PM, people thought that the Congress was gone, but Manmohan Singh became the PM when Sonia Gandhi became the party president. The Congress is like the eternal phoenix ready to emerge from its assess by springing surprises.
What’s your party’s prospects in Odisha, where there is the powerful presence of the BJD under Naveen Patnaikij
You see in 1990, the Congress was reduced to a small entity with 10 members in the Assembly. Hemananda Biswal was the leader of Opposition then. But in 1995, JB Patnaik emerged triumphant with an overwhelming number of Congress MlAs elected. The BJD and the BJP have failed to fulfil the aspirations of Odisha people. What has the BJD done during the last many yearsij BJD Ministers, MPs, MlAs are involved in chit fund and mining scams, and corruptions has become the way of life for them. The BJD remained in power for so long while the BJD and the BJD shared power for nine years. But the hopes of Odisha people were belied. We hope to reap rich bonanza owing to an anti-incumbency factor. We are sure to emerge triumphant in 2019.
Why does the Congress support the infiltrators in Assam at the cost of nationals security.ij What was the your party’s stand when Kashmir pundits were thrown out of their ancestral landsij
Who told you that the Congress supports the infiltratorsij If you take into account the past records from 2004 to 2014, nearly 86,000 Bangladeshi and other outsiders were extradited from India during the Congress rule. Nationals interest is the only interest for the Congress. In 1985, Rajiv Gandhi initiated the NRC programme and signed an accord with the ASU for identifying the genuine citizens in Assam. Knowing full well that the Congress would not come to power in Assam, Punjab and Mizoram, Rajiv Gandhi signed the accord for these States and consequently Prafulla Mahanta of ASU emerged at the Assam CM in 1996 while non-Congress leaders emerged as CMs in other two States, from where many outsiders where extradited. But the NDA Government has deported only about 8,000 outsiders. You can well infer how the Congress party is opposed to infiltrators. The only thing is that out of 40 lakh infiltrators in Assam, some genuine citizens have been eliminated from the NRC who should be given some more time and opportunity to prove their stand as genuine citizens of the country. That is the only Congress stand which holds national interests at the top.
Do you think that the various groups and their conflicts of interests in the Odisha Congress shall be over by 2019 ij
A senior leader has been chosen as the Odisha PCC chief. The decision of Rahul Gandhi is correct and final in this regard. Niranjan Patnaik shall be able to carry the different sections of the leaders with him under his leadership and the party will certainly rise to the occasion with a strong united command to face the acid test in 2019.
How far the Modi magic and Naveen’s popularity will work in Odishaij
Modiji is only known for his rabble-rousing rhetoric. All his assurances to bring back the black money stashed outside India, to deposit Rs 15 lakh in each Dhan Jan Yojana account and to provide employment to two crores of youths every year have ended in fiasco. Thus, the NDA will be nowhere near power in 2019. The BJP’s presence is not visible in Odisha. The BJD, which is said to be fighting against the BJP in the State, preferred to walk out from the Parliament during the no-confidence motion. This has proved again that there is a tacit understanding between BJP and BJD. The people of Odisha are left high and dry over the fact that the issues of Mahanadi, special category State status demand could not be debated by the BJD which ran with the hare to catch with the hound. Thus, the designs of both BJP and BJD have come out clearly to the Odisha people, who shall no longer be fooled by both. Moreover, there are great corruption charges over the Rafale deal to the tune of Rs 41,205 crore against the Modi Government. You can fool some people for some time, some people for all time but not all people for all time .