Nowadays Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is seen to be concentrating on Dalits. Rahul has recently said that Mayawati has usurped the Dalit leadership and has not allowed any other Dalit leader to emerge.
He has given the responsibility of the Dalit cell to former IAS officer K Raju. Raju has taken voluntary retirement, but prior to that he was member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council. Raju has prepared a blueprint for reworking the Congress’s engagement with Dalits, once the party’s mainstay. Ruchi Gupta of the Majdoor Shakti Sangathan and Jaideep Kalia, former IAS officer, have been made its member. Dalit activist Prasad Sirivella, Christopher Tilak of Youth Congress and Chandreshan, grandson of veteran Dalit leader B Shankaranand, have also been included into this committee.
Rahul has also promised to take up the tribal cause, especially in Odisha. The projects which were being opposed by tribals have been abandoned. Apart from this, the Forest Right Bill has been passed. likewise, the Congress-led UPA Government is now planning to bring the Anti-Communal and Targeted Violence Bill for minorities. This is likely to be introduced in the next session of Parliament.
DEBATE over MUSlIM VOTES
Before the 2014 lok Sabha elections, a big debate has started over the Muslim vote-bank in the country. Many Muslim leaders are also participating in this debate. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is in the centre of this debate, which was started by Maulana Mahmood Madani who said that the Congress should not expect Muslim votes merely by projecting the fear of the Gujarat Chief Minister. Thereafter, a number of Muslim leaders came forward with their viewpoints.
These leaders have not supported Modi but demanded to have a debate before outrightly rejecting him. One such leader is Maulana Syed Kalbe Jawad Naqvi, a prominent Shia leader of Uttar Pradesh, who believes that if Modi changes himself, then he could be considered. Also, Sunni leaders like Maulana Abur Irfan Firangi Mahali from Uttar Pradesh and Maulana Mohammed Wali Rahmani from Bihar have also said that there is a need to have debate on Modi.
Amid all this, prominent economist Gurcharan Das has made a comparison of socio-economic condition between Muslims of Gujarat and other parts of the country. Interestingly, in the last 10 years, the rate of development of Muslims in Gujarat is among top-five States of the country. If the BJP fares well in the recent Assembly elections, then this debate will move further.
Cong’s POlARISATION POlITICS
Mani Shankar Aiyar, who represents the left ideology in the Congress, has indirectly revealed the party strategy. At Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s 196th birth anniversary celebrations in Dubai, he said that it was the minority community which decides who would get majority in India. Congress sources say that this thinking is not just of Aiyar, but of the majority in the party. The dominant view is that the Congress will be benefited most if communal polarisation happens on the name of Modi.
This explains why the Congress is so eager to introduce the Anti-Communal and Targeted Violence Bill in the Winter Session of Parliament. The party is keen to project itself as a well-wisher of the minority community. Many Congress leaders also feel that with the elevation of Modi as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, the traditional upper caste, Dalit and Muslim voters will return to the party.
Where’s the humourIJ
Recently, melody queen lata Mangeshkar caused a controversy when she said that she wanted to see Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of India. This has caused a lot of heartburn, particularly among Congress leaders and left-leaning intellectuals. Similarly, supercop KPS Gill has recently exonerated Modi of abetting the 2002 post-Godhra Gujarat violence. On this, Congress leader Digvijay Singh reacted sharply, saying Gill had no authority to say who was right and who was wrong.
There have been anti-Modi statements as well. Not very long ago, veteran Kannada writer UR Ananthamurthy had said that he would prefer to move out of the country if Modi ever became Prime Minister. Then, there was Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who questioned Modi’s development model and had said that he would never like to see him lead the country. like lata Mangeshkar and KPS Gill, Ananthamurthy and Sen faced a lot of criticism for airing their views. One wonders why political parties — and their supporters — don’t take these personalities in good humour.
RAHUl’S NEW TASK
Rahul Gandhi has taken over the Congress in the true sense. He is not only campaigning for the party, but also trying hard to curb the infighting among State leaders. Even before taking over the office of the vice-president, he met State leaders and advised them to remain united. He has sorted out infighting among party leaders in Chhattisgarh and also solved the controversy created after the ticket distribution in Madhya Pradesh. Rahul has also been successful in sorting out internal strife in Delhi and Rajasthan.
Politics over Manna Dey
Though West Bengal and Karnataka have often been distant politically, it is politics which is bringing the two together. It has started with the death of legendary singer Manna Dey. The West Bengal Government wanted his last rites to be done in his home State. But his family members didn’t agree to it, alleging the West Bengal Government had overlooked Manna Dey when he was alive and thus decided to perform his last rites in Bangalore. The story, however, was far from over. Manna Dey’s treatment was quite costly, with the bill reaching the Rs 42 lakh mark. His family members could pay only Rs 14 lakh and requested Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to bail them out. But the Chief Minister didn’t pay any attention to their request. Some West Bengal leaders then brought the matter to Sonia Gandhi’s attention, who instructed Siddaramaiah to pay the bill. All’s well that ends well.