The Politically Correct Jat
Chaudhary Jayant Singh is fast emerging as one of the more mature voices from the Hindi heartland. With Western Uttar Pradesh all set to go to the polls, he has come under the scanner for this is where his party is the strongest. There has been the usual bickering between the RLD and its alliance partner the Samajwadi Party over ticket distributions, but both Akhilesh and Jayant have played down these differences. Some have even referred to Jayant as a “SP ka Karyakarta” and he has responded calmly evoking coalition dharma. When some try to pit his Jat vote bank against Akhilesh’s Muslim voters, Jayant maintains that he doesn’t believe in narrow caste politics and has never advocated this line in his speeches. In fact if you catch him on the campaign field, then he has a very mischievous sense of humour with a strong Jat streak that goes down well with the voters. It is clear that is the late Chaudhary Charan Singh’s legacy that he wants to invoke as he reaches out to the farmers of western Uttar Pradesh. It is also equally clear that the BJP wants to invoke his father, the late Chaudhary Ajit Singh who didn’t mind tying up with the BJP. Hence, Amit Shah’s invite to Jayant, which was turned down with a politically adept polite reply, with the RLD leader asking the Home Minister to instead invite the families of the 700 farmers who lost their lives during the farmers’ protests. If he can bring in the numbers then watch out for young Chaudhary Sahib.
Surname Guarantee Act
Why did R.P.N. Singh quit the Congress? The Congress wasted no time in making personal attacks against him including a whispered campaign that he wanted to destabilise the Hemant Soren-led government in Jharkhand, which is backed by the Congress (R.P.N. was given charge of the state). And so on. But so far, R.P.N. Singh has not said anything more than his statement that the current Congress is not the party he joined three decades ago. He has (wisely) decided not to engage in a verbal spat with his former colleagues.
Instead of lashing out against him, perhaps the Congress leadership needs to deliberate as to why their own key trusted people are leaving the Gandhis, one after the other. Even Rajiv Gandhi had his own circle of friends from outside the Congress (most from his alma mater, The Doon School, which is also where R.P.N., Jyotiraditya Scindia, Jitin Prasada and even Captain Amarinder are from). When they turned against Rajiv the charge of “backstabbing” went uncontested, as all Arun Singh, Arun Nehru and Co had done was to enjoy the perks of power. Also, they joined the Congress mid-career and had no real stakes in its future (the one exception being Mani Shankar Aiyar, who still remains a diehard Rajiv Gandhi loyalist). R.P.N., Scindia, Jitin, and even others such as Sushmita Dev, Priyanka Chaturvedi gave up alternate careers to join politics. (Ditto for Sachin Pilot, Milind Deora and Manish Tewari who are still with the Congress). They had real stakes in the party and most undertook organisational responsibilities. With the exception of Priyanka Chaturvedi, the others are all dynasts. Yes, their surnames gave them privilege, but it flowed from the same Surname Guarantee Act that empowers the Gandhis. Should they have stuck around a little longer? Should Rahul feel betrayed? The answer to both is not a simple yes or no. But then, that’s what politics is all about: balancing that area between a Yes and a No.
Advantage Channi vs Sidhu
Rahul Gandhi may have announced that the Congress will go in for a CM candidate in Punjab and Sachin Pilot reiterated this during his Chandigarh visit the following day—however, this is easier said than done. It would be political suicide for the Congress to not go with the sitting CM Charanjit Singh Channi for many reasons. The first of course is that the party made a big deal when it appointed Channi as the state’s first Dalit-Sikh CM taking the wind out of the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign that had for long been promising to appoint one when it came to power. Second is the way Channi handled the PM’s allegations of deliberately creating a security failure during Modi’s Punjab visit. The elan with which he took on the entire BJP machinery (and their havans and social media posts) showed that the Punjab CM was no novice but quite adept in realpolitik. As for Navjot Singh Sidhu, his USP is that he is a crowd puller in campaign rallies plus being a Jat Sikh. But his temperamental politics aside, he lacks the maturity to hold the team together. It is quite clear that the race is tipped in Channi’s favour, which makes one wonder why Sidhu is pushing the Congress high command to name the CM candidate.
Is Raj Babbar Next?
Is Raj Babbar the next to leave the Congress? That is the buzz in Lucknow, though unlike R.P.N. Singh and Jitin Prasada, he is said to be heading towards the Samajwadi Party. Well, for one the BJP would have made short shift of his easy-going ways. One of the complaints against him as PCC chief was that he never woke up before noon and was not very accessible to party workers. The SP on the other hand, is used to handling the Bollywood types.