The Hindu : AICC's manoeuvres in Rajasthan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 28, 2003

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

AICC's manoeuvres in Rajasthan

BY SANCTIONING THE appointment of two Deputy Chief Ministers in Rajasthan, the Congress high command seems to have "settled" the trouble brewing in the party's State unit. The Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, who was under pressure during the past few weeks might sense some reprieve in that the high command's decision to undertake some window dressing at this stage should clearly be a signal that the AICC establishment does not favour a change of guard in the State at least for now. There were doubts over Mr. Gehlot continuing as Chief Minister (in the immediate aftermath of the Gujarat poll verdict that went against the Congress) and the spurt in dissident activities did appear serious. The Congress high command's decision to post Sushil Kumar Shinde as Chief Minister in Maharashtra (in place of Vilasrao Deshmukh) and the fact that Mr. Gehlot had to make at least a couple of trips to Delhi to meet the Congress president (it is another matter that Mr. Gehlot chose to describe the visits as "courtesy calls") did reflect some kind of support from the high command to the dissidents within the Rajasthan unit. The decision now that Mr. Gehlot shall have two Deputy Chief Ministers seems to confirm that the campaign against the Chief Minister from within the State unit was supported (if not orchestrated) by influential sections in the AICC establishment. There could be no other rationale behind imposing such changes on the State Government when Mr. Gehlot was allowed a free run in Rajasthan ever since he was chosen as Chief Minister in October 1998 by Sonia Gandhi.

Be that as it may, the changes effected in Rajasthan could be seen as an attempt by the Congress to strike a balance in the social sense of the term. While Mr. Gehlot's appointment in 1998 marked a bold attempt by the party to have a member of the Backward Castes as Chief Minister (unlike the Congress' legacy in Uttar Pradesh or in Bihar), the fact that one of the two Deputy Chief Ministers named now — Kamla Beniwal — is a Jat is clearly a response by the high command to woo the Jats, a social group that had moved out of the Congress fold as early as the late 1960s (after Charan Singh left the party then) and turned out to be the BJP's largest support base in the past couple of decades. Such a consolidation of the Jats behind the anti-Congress platforms is no longer a fact of the political discourse in the region and the Congress leadership could not have lost the opportunity to enlist at least a section of them into the party fold in the present scenario. Similarly, the tribal groups, considered for long a stable support base of the Congress, are also beginning to turn restive in recent times and this indeed is the significance of having a Deputy Chief Minister — Banwari Lal Bairwa — from among them. But then, all these changes, brought about as they have been when just a few months are left for the State Assembly elections, could lead to problems of a different kind. The sense of insecurity that is bound to have afflicted the Chief Minister and also the impression that Mr. Gehlot has now been put on notice (which is bound to be created among his own followers in the State unit as well as among those on the other side) is unlikely to subside.

Add to this the somewhat casual attitude displayed by Mr. Gehlot towards the hapless victims of the drought conditions that prevailed in the State recently (his refrain, as reported, that the villagers relish eating grass when it was reported that the drought conditions were forcing villagers to eat grass to keep themselves alive). Such insensitivity has led to a serious erosion of the party's support base not just in Rajasthan but also in several other parts of the country. The changes effected by the Congress high command in Rajasthan cannot but be seen as mere window dressing for these very reasons. It remains to be seen whether the attempts to rejuvenate the party (and the Government) will serve the purpose.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

Stories in this Section

Gains from disinvestment

AICC's manoeuvres in Rajasthan

Liberties at risk

A new role for NGOs

What is driving Blair to war?

Congress and terrorism: clear break with the old line

Privatisation not the answer