Column

It took the humiliation of a shoe flung at its home minister to make the Congress open its eyes and read the writing on the wall. The party has now removed Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar from its candidates list for Delhi but only after the Akali Dal managed to light enough fires in Punjab to divert public attention from mounting complaints of nepotism, corruption and misrule against the Prakash Singh Badal government. Nothing like emotion to drown reason and level out anti-incumbency.

After pulling off a stunning coup in 2004 to pip the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to
the post, the grand old party (GOP) of Indian politics seems to have lost its way in 2009. There is no explanation for the fumbles and stumbles that have resulted in the Congress dropping pole position in the five weeks since the Election Commission flagged off the race for the 15th Lok Sabha. As contenders gear up for the first phase of polling on April 16, even the most ardent supporter of the Congress will readily acknowledge that the GOP has lost its winning edge and is struggling to maintain a slender lead.

It could be the result of a strategy gone wrong. Or, as some are beginning to believe, it could be that the Congress never had a strategy in the first place. Certainly, the Tytler episode smacks of an ineptitude and sloppiness not expected of a party that has dominated the political landscape from the days of the freedom struggle.

The Nanavati Commission inquiring into the 1984 anti-Sikh riots submitted its report in 2005. It suggested that there was “credible evidence” of Tytler’s role in the violence and that the cases against Sajjan Kumar be re-examined.Although the Commission in thesame breath also admitted that it could not say with any degree of certainty that he was guilty, Tytler resigned from the Union cabinet. After all, politics is about public perception and sentiments, not just legal technicalities.

The Congress inexplicably went to sleep after that. The question is not whether there is enough evidence to prosecute and punish Tytler and Kumar but whether the party has a clear view on what to do with the two surviving symbols of the terrible blot of 1984. In the four years since the Nanavati Commission report was submitted, the Congress
has not cared to formulate a strategy, either to stand by the “tainted” leaders or to ease
them out. To suddenly wake up and give Tytler a clean chit by handing him a ticket in
the midst of the election process is poor timing. And then to buckle under pressure
and dump both is bad politics.

Curiously, the decision to field the two “tainted” leaders was a diktat from the
so-called high command, which overruled strong objections from the Delhi unit. The reasoning used was the winnability factor of the two individuals.This argument flies in the face of the results of the recent assembly elections in Delhi in which a strong pro-Congress mood in the Capital gave the Sheila Dikshit government a third successive term. With the BJP still reeling from the shock of that defeat, the Congress was in an unassailable position. Surely, it could have found alternative candidates with respectable public records to replace two controversial figures before being forced to do so anyway by a wave of protests in Delhi and Punjab?

The manner in which events have unfolded is a sad comment on the state of the Congress as it moves into battle. Rather than setting the agenda for the elections, the party seems to be sinking into reactive mode with tic-tac-toe responses to every twist and turn of a rapidly changing scenario.

Cut to Bihar where the initial euphoria at the prospect of a Congress revival after snapping ties with Lalu Yadav’s RJD has given way to bewilderment over the choice of nominees. There’s Sadhu Yadav, the man who was the most hated symbol of Lalu’s goonda raj. And there’s Pappu Yadav, one of Bihar’s most dreaded dons and a party-hopper.

To give itself a fig leaf of respectability, the Congress has refrained from giving him a
ticket (he’s in jail anyway) but it has fielded his wife from Sipol and announced support to his mother who is contesting from Purnea. Congress old-timers are understandably
upset. Surely a party trying to revive its defunct organisation in the Hindi heartland should have desisted from picking up others’ discards.

The voters may spring a surprise yet and ignore these fumbles as mere blips. But it’s
increasingly difficult to shake off the impression that the Congress is missing the
woods for the trees in the heat and dust of an Indian election.