" I write entirely to find out what I am thinking, what I am looking at, what I see and what it means"--
- American author Joan Didion
Is it out of place to quote a writer when we talk about a politician? - Just apply the statement in the context of Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh and replace the word 'write' with "Say or Do" -- and things would fall in their place.
What made Digvijaya Singh, a former Guru of Rahul Gandhi, take such a stance vis-a-vis organisational lapses of the Congress party especially in a contrast situation to the BJP and the ideological and the manpower backing of the RSS.
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| Modi sitting on floor in front of Advani : Throwback image |
Around 2009 and even later - during UPA-2 - Digvijaya Singh kept guiding Rahul Gandhi. That the fallout was 'misguidance' is altogether a different chapter.
But he had the clout and the liberty. He showed the rare audacity of Muslim appeasing when he addressed a dreaded terrorist as 'Osama ji'. There was no corrective step from India's grand old party. It was the same period - Sickularism and racketeers ruled the roost.
There were multiple scams - including the hosting of Commonwealth Games. It was the era when PM Manmohan Singh had said the minorities have the first claim to the 'national resources' of India.
It was the era and the Digvijaya Singh was the chief brain - that pushed the distorted theorem of Saffron Terror. It was the period (UPA-I) when one Shankaracharya was arrested on the eve of Diwali.
It was the period, there was an official affidavit that Ram was a 'myth'. It was the period when Muslims realised their power of influence and side by side there were Christians pretending to enjoy the Tamasha.
Did Christians ever say arresting Shankaracharya on the eve of Diwali was wrong?
It was a India - that created and pushed a normal-moderate Hindu to become 'radical' and that in the ultimate led to the vote-getting powerful machine called Narendra Modi.
But the issue in debate in Digvijaya Singh and he has raked up the issue of BJP's organisational strength verses the weakness of Congress party.
The former Madhya Pradesh CM shared an old photo of PM Marendra Modi from the 1990s when he was just a normal karyakarta (party worker).
In the throwback image, a young Modi is seen sitting on the floor near BJP patriarch L K Advani, who is seated on a chair. The picture, which Singh called "impactful", was from an event in Gujarat.
"I found this picture on Quora. It is very impactful. How an RSS grassroots Swayamsevak and a Jana Sangh/BJP worker, who once sat on the floor at the feet of leaders, went on to become the Chief Minister of a state and the Prime Minister of the country.
This is the power of the organisation. Jai Siya Ram," the Rajya Sabha MP tweeted.
"Will Rahul Gandhi show courage and react to the shocking 'truth bomb' dropped by Digvijaya Singh, which has totally exposed how Congress's first family ruthlessly runs the party in a dictatorial manner and also how autocratic and undemocratic this Congress leadership is?" BJP spokesperson CR Kesavan tweeted.
As his remarks snowballed into a political controversy, Digvijaya Singh clarified that he remained firmly opposed to the ideology of the RSS, and his praise was limited strictly to its organisational strength.
Digvijaya Singh in the past made unceremonious remarks against the then CAG Vinod Rai.
In 2011 - he had stoked a controversy with his claim that Mumbai ATS chief Hemant Karkare had called him on the day of the Mumbai terror strikes (Nov 26/2008) saying that he feared for his safety from Hindu extremists.
The Congress leader said the ATS chief rang him up at 17.44 hours and the conversation continued for more than six minutes.
Hours later, Karkare was killed in the 26/11 terrorist attacks in Mumbai.
However, Hemant Karkare's wife wife Mrs Kavita Karkare on Jan 31, 2011 had said --
"Terrorists killed my husband, not any group, and this is a truth that cannot be challenged.''
But now the bigger issue why Digvijaya Singh had to release such a controversial snap and expose Congress 'organisational weakness'.
In fact - more than the 'organisational' weakness of strengths; Digvijaya Singh is showing -- how a junior respects senior leaders in the BJP or in the RSS.
Why say so ?
The coterie politics has taken over Congress party full steam.
Rahul is surrounded by a group of young people and who continue to show disrespect to senior and seasoned leaders. In 2016; after Assam elections; Himanta Biswa Sarma said while he had to Rahul to discuss politics; the Congress chief was busy feeding biscuits to his dogs.
A number of other key leaders including the likes of Jyotiraditya Scindia have also quit Congress.
After Bihar polls in November 2025; a prominent Muslim face from the state Shakeel Ahmed (a former Union Minister) also quit and he too blamed Rahul Gandhi for his exit.
There are talks about efforts being made by anther set of coterie-people to give bigger role to Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Should she become new Congress president as Rahul is already the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha ?
Priyanka's coterie reportedly is also young people and they also generally wish to brush aside party veterans. So it is possible, Digvijaya Singh had only flagged off a tussle between old timers and the younger leaders in the party.
A reference to these subtle games have been made by Late Ahmed Patel's daughter Mumtaz Patel.
"We cannot function the way we did 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. We are facing a different India," Mumtaz Patel said.
".. It is failure after failure due to power concentrated in the hands of a few who are totally disconnected with ground reality and are responsible for the misery and rout of the grand old party time and again... these same people will be rewarded again and again".
Thus - real pressure has been mounting on Rahul Gandhi.
According to rough estimates; he has lost over 90 local, state and parliamentary elections in last 10-12 years.
Moreover after 45-year-old Nitin Nabin was made BJP's working president and is set to take over as new national president; the Congress leaders' description of Rahul as a youth leader now sounds like a joke.
Born in 1970; Rahul is 55 plus.
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| Snap by Sanjeev Rastogi |
On the other hand; Saharanpur MP, Imran Masood (known for being part of Priyanka's coterie) recently said ---
"Is Priyanka Gandhi the Prime Minister? Make her the prime minister and see how she responds, just like Indira Gandhi did. She is Priyanka Gandhi, a Gandhi by name, the granddaughter of Indira Gandhi, who dealt Pakistan such a blow that its scars remain even today.
Make her the prime minister and see the retaliation. You would not dare to do that".
Needless to add; such remarks caused a stir in the Congress, which has been going out of the way since 2013 projecting Rahul Gandhi as the face taking on BJP's Narendra Modi.
ends
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