Congress battles Jan Lokpal ghosts in Anna Hazare’s Hisar

The Congress is on wobbly grounds. An otherwise dull and listless by-election in Hisar, Haryana, has pitched the party against politicians as well as non-politicians.

Anna Hazare is no politician but he and his team members have decided to see to it that the Congress gets a drubbing in the October 13 by-election as it would serve their sole purpose of sending out a message to political parties that their version of the Jan Lokpal Bill should be passed at the earliest.

Also, they want to tell voters that any political party not serious about fighting corruption or passing a strong Lokpal Bill should be booted out. For Team Anna, it has become a fight with the Congress in Hisar. And for Congress, it has become a battle of prestige because it is clear that Team Anna is using the by-election as a pressure tactic to force the party to introduce their version of the bill in Parliament and ensure that it is passed.

The death of Bhajan Lal, who broke away from the Congress to form his own party, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), necessitated the election in Hisar. Congress has fielded Jai Parkash against Bhajan Lal’s son and HJC candidate Kuldeep Bishnoi and Indian National Lok Dal’s (INLD) Ajay Chautala, son of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Two of Hazare’s trusted lieutenants, Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia, started “officially” campaigning against the Congress from Saturday. On Sunday evening, Kejriwal, the local lad of Hisar, and Sisodia addressed a fair-sized gathering in the market square in the heart of the town.

Not to be seen to be worried, a senior Congress leader said Hisar was not of national importance. But Kejriwal pounced on the chance and tried to stoke the sentiments of the local people. “If the Hisar by-election is not important, I think it is an insult to the voters of Hisar,” he said. “The voters should see and figure out for themselves that the Congress is openly saying they do not want their votes. Now, why should anyone vote for the Congress?”

Hisar, which has been insignificant in national politics, is suddenly in the national limelight because of high-pitched rhetoric by Team Anna members and Congress leaders. While Team Anna wants to use the results of the Hisar by-election as a referendum on the Jan Lokpal Bill, the Congress is trying its best to downplay it.

The war of words between Team Anna and the Congress became intense on Sunday as senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted Anna Hazare as it presidential candidate. “Hazare always says he is not into politics but I have been told the BJP wants him as the presidential candidate in 2012,” he said. Not to be left behind Kejriwal lashed out at Singh saying the “Congress is into politics of corruption, power, dishonesty and betrayal”. “Some people say we are doing politics. We have been saying from the beginning that we are doing politics,” he said. “But we don’t do party or vote-bank politics, we do politics for the people.”

By evening, Kejriwal, however, started playing a cat-and-mouse game — “If the Congress passes the Jan Lokpal Bill tomorrow, we will immediately withdraw our campaign,” he said. About Sushma Swaraj saying earlier in the day that Team Anna’s campaign would benefit the BJP, Kejriwal said, “If the BJP had been in power and it did not pass the Jan Lokpal Bill we would have carried out a similar anti-BJP campaign.”

Both Sisodia and Kejriwal told the gathering that they could choose anyone except someone from the Congress. Team Anna’s masterstroke came in the form of a videotape of Hazare asking the people to vote against the Congress. At the end of the meeting, Kejriwal said, “Each one of your votes will act as a life breath for Anna. This government wants Anna to die. You can save his life with every vote of yours.”

(With agency inputs)