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The Milind Deora interview | Congress doesn't change its economic policies, whether in or outside power

From Rahul Gandhi's UC Berkeley address to  BJP's flip-flop on economic reforms, Congress leader Milind Deora spoke about range of issues. In a candid interview with Kartikeya Sharma, he said that Congress doesn't have luxury of building party block by block, it must have coalition as short-term goal. He added that the Congress must tell a compelling story to the aspirational class that they are a better alternative.

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From Rahul Gandhi's UC Berkeley address to  BJP's flip-flop on economic reforms, Congress leader Milind Deora spoke about a range of issues. In a candid interview with Kartikeya Sharma, he said that Congress doesn't have the luxury of building party block by block, it must have coalition as a short-term goal. He added that the Congress must tell a compelling story to the aspirational class that they are a better alternative.

Q: What was the purpose of Rahul Gandhi’s trip to the US?
A: I addressed UC Berkeley two years ago and I realized that India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Lal Nehru addressed the university in 1949 which was then the epicenter of liberal politics globally. I suggested to them the possibility of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi addressing them and they got very excited. I subsequently got the programme approved by Rahul Gandhi. He liked the idea and from there on I started to work around it. Then we decided to meet more people and companies including universities. We also decided to meet politicians in Washington. The objective was to meet a cross section of people in the United States and I connected to people I had been in touch with.
 
Q: Lot of people back home said that the trip portrays that Rahul Gandhi isn’t a left of centre politician?
A: If you are in Silicon-valley you have to meet companies like Tesla. If that comes out as not left of centre then it is an interpretation. It is important to know that these companies also want to have a relationship with India as many Indians work in this sector and for this reason, they were very happy to meet the delegation. I’m glad it went well. None of the optics were planned. People also connected it with Rahul’s imminent elevation but that wasn’t the case. So, nothing was planned for an effect. I’m glad it had a positive effect but optics weren’t pre-planned.
 
Q: Where does Congress stand ideologically? Has it turned left of centre?
A:  Congress socially is an inclusive party but economically we have evolved over a time. 70 years ago, we were left of centre party and did not have a good relationship with the US. We were then left of centre party and left of centre country. At the time of independence, some said that we were more right of centre party than left. Everything is very relative to the West. As time, progressed Congress took many initiatives economically.
 
Q: What about today?
A: We don’t have a hard and fast rule about left or right. There are issues on which you need to be extreme left and on some issues, you need to be extreme right. We know the right balance. We were right in the sense of economic reforms and pushed GST but on the other hand created left of centre schemes like MNREGA. We need a healthy balance of both. It is relative. BJP in opposition was more left of centre than us.
 
 
Q: On one hand Congress aligns with left and on other hand we see Rahul Gandhi visiting temples. What is the message that is being sent?
A: To say that Congress or Rahul Gandhi has changed ideologically is not a fair point. Congress has demonstrated a consistent economic ideology. BJP was anti-GST then but today it has turned pro GST. They were anti Aadhar and now they are pro Aadhar. Same was the case with land law. We have exhibited consistency. We have exhibited the same position on issues whether either in power or out of it.
 
Q: There was a Congress under Indira Gandhi. There was a Congress under Rajiv Gandhi. What is Rahul Gandhi’s Congress?
A: Rahul Gandhi’s economic view, in my opinion, is a mix of economic reforms which unleashes private enterprise, innovation, growth and private opportunities along with strong social security net backed by technology like Aadhar which eliminates wastage. I have never heard him say something purely socialist. I have not heard him say like remove all the regulations. So, it is a healthy mix of both. Congress is an economically centrist party. Some in Congress think that it should be leftish and some say it should be capitalist but I say that Congress should remain centrist.
 
Q: Congress has been tagged post 2014 as an anti-majority party? Your views on it?
A: Someone is anti-minority and if you don’t tow their lines then they will call you anti-majority. We are inclusive. We aren’t anti anyone. We respect all social communities.
 
 
Q: Currently if you look at the narrative it is caste configuration versus Hindutva?
A: There is a challenge when there is a populist movement which is not inclusive and against a minority group. It is harder to sell unity than fear. It makes our work harder. Communalisation leads to polarization and then radicalization which creates national security situation. Even Democrats face the same problem. They are also grappling with Trump. How to deal with him. These trends are also visible in Europe.
 
Q: Urban constituencies don’t look predisposed towards BJP?
A: I don’t think that there is an urban-rural divide but I think we need to do more to connect with aspirational classes of India. It can be both urban or rural India. This government attracted aspirational segments as they felt that BJP would do away with its communal politics. Today aspirational India feels dissatisfied with the social politics of BJP. In fact, there is an erosion of this constituency. They are concerned as the economy is not reviving and on top of it they are disgusted with their social politics. But it is for us to tell a compelling narrative and to assure people that we have a better economic agenda. We are still working on it and trying to flesh it out.  We have not reached the point of fully convincing the people but we are reaching there.
 
 
Q: Do regional alliances work for Congress organizationally?
A: It works on state to state basis. In UP if we would have had a rainbow coalition then it would have worked. Alliances are important but also doesn’t hold true in every state.
 
Q: Doesn’t it worry you that BJP is expanding organizationally and Congress is vanishing organizationally across the state? Your electoral alliances have damaged Congress organizationally?
A: This is a debate which political parties have internally. UP for longest time use to say that fight alone and then the view came that have an alliance. It is my view that it all depends on alliance partner, states and long-term and short-term view. Today Congress needs to stitch together a larger rainbow coalition and I insist that it is my personal view. Congressmen may object to that as less will get to contest the elections. Today is the time when Congress doesn’t have the luxury of time to build the party block by block, booth by booth. We should do that in long run and have the aspiration to fight elections alone as BJP is doing today. That should be the long-term goal. The short and medium-term goal is that we need to stitch a coalition.

 

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