NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath has become the latest whipping boy from the Opposition, after he successfully led the Congress to an unexpected yet spectacular victory against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Assembly elections. In fact, attacks to link him with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi by top NDA leaders including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, appear to be a part of a larger plan so as to prevent him from becoming the Prime Ministerial face of the proposed coalition post the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Kamal Nath, who has nine times represented the Chhindwara Parliamentary constituency since 1980, is considered by many of his peers as a politician best equipped in the Congress to lead the government in an alliance with like-minded parties in the Mahagathbandhan, if in the event the BJP loses power next year. He is not only known for his super-efficiency and unmatched competence, so far as dealing with state and party matters is concerned, but stands out amongst the current crop of active Opposition politicians as a leader who has the capacity to both carry and satisfy his partymen and allies. His deft handling of matters was in full view when as the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the UPA government he served as an important bridge between the Treasury Benches and the Opposition.
The Congress is known to be a party, where many a time, the second round is played before the first one has commenced. With the political situation being extremely fluid with no clear cut answers on who could be the acceptable face from the grand old party, in case it gets to lead the proposed front, power politics has begun to eliminate possible claimants. It is well known that so far as the Gandhis are concerned, there is an all round reluctance in the Opposition ranks to accept them for the premier position. In order to strengthen their standing, sycophants are working overtime to convince Rahul that he was the most suitable PM the country could have.
However, the alliance partners made no secret of their disdain when DMK president, M.K. Stalin, during the statue unveiling of his father and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Karunanidhi, publicly announced support for Rahul Gandhi and proposed his name for Prime Ministership. Although H.D. Deve Gowda, more on account of political compulsions endorsed the suggestion, other top Opposition leaders, including many hopefuls, dismissed it as an individual view.
In a setting where there are several ambitious politicians, including Mamata Banerjee, Sharad Pawar, Chandrababu Naidu, Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav, wanting to occupy the august office, Rahul seemed to be a non-starter; this despite being the president of the oldest political party in the country. Mamata Banerjee made it clear that the primary aim of the Opposition should be to oust Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party from the Centre. Everything else could be for discussion on the table once the 2019 elections are over.
The uncertainty over the Congress playing a major role in determining the leader of the alliance would continue till much after the parliamentary polls. Before the NDA government initiated criminal proceedings against former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, he had been emerging as the preferred choice of the Congress high command. If political grapevine is to be believed, Chidambaram had positioned himself for the stellar post even during the UPA regime, forcing Pranab Mukherjee to declare himself as the Presidential nominee in 2012. After losing the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, he was brought into the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra by Sonia Gandhi, who overruled the claims of two other leaders—Shivraj Patil and Sushil Kumar Shinde—to accommodate him from the state.
Chidambaram’s troubles began when senior BJP leader, Subramanian Swamy launched a tirade against him, levelling serious corruption charges, while simultaneously accusing several of his own colleagues of shielding him. Swamy claimed that Chidambaram enjoyed support from powerful entities in the Modi administration, who were assisting him to circumvent the due process of law. The former Finance Minister’s matter is pending in court, but political circles have already begun speculating whether his supporters or admirers were responsible for attacks on Kamal Nath, who now could play a pivotal role in national politics.
Within the Congress, many leaders were surprised when an onslaught on Kamal Nath was launched on the day when Sajjan Kumar was convicted by the Delhi High Court for his alleged role in the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage. It was definitely more than a coincidence, since no such allegations were ever levelled against him while he was a Union Minister, or was the party in-charge of Delhi as the AICC General Secretary, during the first few years of Sheila Dikshit’s first term as Chief Minister. In the past, other than Sajjan Kumar, several other Congress leaders including H.K.L. Bhagat, Dharam Dass Shastri, Lalit Maken, Jagdish Tytler and Arjun Dass had been accused of instigating the carnage. Bhagat and Shastri passed away several years back, while Lalit Maken and Arjun Dass were gunned down 33 years ago by Sikh militant, Harjinder Singh Jinda. The government was unable to substantiate charges against Tytler, who however, was perceived by the Sikhs as also being involved.
Kamal Nath’s name first figured in this context when AAP MLA and long time activist lawyer H.S. Phoolka, citing the claim made by Sanjay Suri, an Indian Express journalist, before the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission, made the unsubstantiated allegation regarding his supposed complicity. The Commission had rejected the contention granting the benefit of doubt to Kamal Nath after it could not be corroborated by any other evidence. Consequently, no FIR was ever registered by successive governments, including the ones headed by the BJP. Based on the same uncorroborated information, the issue was once again brought up by Phoolka and others, just ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections in 2017, when Kamal Nath was appointed as the party in-charge of the state. He recused himself from the responsibility.
All through the last four and a half years, Kamal Nath, who was left in the political wilderness by his leadership, languished on the sidelines, and even after he was made the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee chief, no attempt was made to singe him with any allegations since leaders both in the Congress and the BJP were sure that he would not be able to wrest power from the immensely popular Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
However, now the power games have gotten underway since he is a contender for the top job as well; paradoxically, Dr Manmohan Singh’s name has been repeatedly coming up to occupy the Prime Minister’s office for yet another term. Whether that happens or not, would first depend on the herculean task the Opposition faces, of ousting Narendra Modi, who is a tireless campaigner and continues to remain the most popular political face in the country. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that there would be any let-up on attempts to drag Nath’s name in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.