Kamal Nath Fiasco Is One in a Series of Daft Decisions by Congress

Placing Kamal Nath, under a cloud for his alleged role in anti-Sikh riots, as Congress’ Punjab minder, was insane.

Notwithstanding the battering in recently-held elections to four states, the Congress high command is not quite taking highly thoughtful decisions. Certainly not in the case of Punjab which goes to polls early next year.

The big question is: why did it not occur to the high command, especially at a time when Rahul Gandhi is due to be elevated to take full charge of the party as its president, that positioning senior leader Kamal Nath as Punjab in-charge would be suicidal for the Congress? The move reflected a lack of political foresight, if not prudence.

Irrespective of Kamal Nath’s and other party leaders’ denials that he was involved in leading mobs in Delhi during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, making the seasoned MP from Chhindwara the minder for Punjab was not just a blunder. It is unclear who in the Congress leadership took the decision whose fallout, in the form of protests and insinuations from rival parties such as the Akali Dal, the BJP and the AAP, forced Kamal Nath to hastily resign from the post.

The Quintessential Loyalist

Nath is a loyalist and, unlike many others in the party, has unquestioningly and unwaveringly stuck with the Gandhis and the party. But that did not come in the way of Congress’ former Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, M S Gill, to outspokenly describe as “heartless” Nath’s appointment as Punjab in-charge.

In his letter to Sonia, Nath has taken much pain to explain that neither the Nanavati Commission of Inquiry nor a subsequent debate in Parliament could point fingers at him for his alleged role in the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.

The allegations against Nath suggest that he led mobs outside Rakabganj gurudwara, though the MP has defended himself in the past by claiming that his presence at the spot in October 1984 was primarily aimed at protecting Sikhs from the murderous mob.

Popular Perception

Nath has claimed in his resignation letter that never in his long political career has any stigma “attached to my name.” And yet, the popular perception is that Nath, alongside other party colleagues such as Sajjan Kumar, Jagdish Tytler, Lalit Maken and H K L Bhagat, played some role, howsoever minor, in stoking violence in the days following Indira Gandhi’s assassination. 

The fact that Nath’s resignation letter was accepted without much ado is reflective of the Congress leadership’s sudden realisation, forced by the protests against his appointment as general secretary in charge of Punjab, that retaining him in the post, with elections to the state assembly scheduled early next year, could cost the party dearly.

Testing Time

The Congress is certainly not in a comfortable position in Punjab, even though there are signs that there is considerable anti-incumbency against the Akali Dal-BJP government led by Parkash Singh Badal. The AAP’s decision to contest all seats and its aggressive campaigning across Punjab is an additional headache for the Congress’s state unit chief Captain Amarinder Singh.

It is in view of these two factors that the party high command availed the services of election strategist Prashant Kishor who, on his part, has expressed displeasure at the manner in which Nath’s predecessor Shakeel Ahmed, sought to block and question his moves aimed at strengthening the organisational capacity in the state.

Who Takes the Blame?

The Nath fiasco has certainly put the spotlight on the Gandhis and the Congress Working Committee. While the Gandhis have always been shielded by the CWC and sundry party MPs from accepting blame for all electoral and other leadership-related misfortunes, the botch-up over Nath has been the most daft in recent times. How could this little detail, no matter how small, escape the attention of the leadership? The Kamal Nath appointment reflects a political destituteness in the Congress, especially when it is in crying need for effective leadership that is capable of accomplishing electoral victories.

We may never know whether the Gandhis or the CWC took the decision on Kamal Nath. We may also never know whether the decision was arrived at after consultations with Kishor. But the damage has been done, especially when the AAP, which, after coming to power in Delhi had threatened to reopen anti-Sikh riots cases, has now been handed an issue that it will exploit fully.

Nath has claimed in his resignation letter that the “canard (that he was involved in the anti-Sikh riots) is therefore nothing but a cheap political ploy to gain traction ahead of the elections.” In India, electoral campaigns are like open season. Most parties wait for cock-ups among rivals to capitalise on. While the Congress has committed many since its crushing defeat in 2014, should we now await the next?

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