'A few may quit, but Congress cadre strong' | Economic Times

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress veteran Mallikarjun Kharge speaks to Anubhuti Vishnoi on the infighting in his party in several states, Opposition unity and the government’s new monetisation policy. Excerpts:What is being done about the crises in the three Congress-ruled states?In Punjab, this issue has been there for a while, since Sidhu wanted a role in the Congress. Rahul Gandhi called in all stakeholders and said that with elections around, everyone must work together. I was myself on a special panel and we emphasised the same. Later, Sidhu was made state president. All this was done by Rahul Gandhi to keep the party together. Our AICC in-charge has already said that we will contest polls under the Captain’s leadership and Sidhu will work with us.In Chhattisgarh, there is unity. On Friday, all party leadeers said they will work together.As far as Rajasthan is concerned, our government is ‘mazboot.’ A big Banyan tree can’t be uprooted just like that. A few leaves and twigs may fall here and there, but such attempts won’t succeed.BJP wants to create trouble, but we are determined to unitedly fight the elections.Does this infighting not point to a leadership crisis?You see these differences are in the Congress because democratic views are allowed in our party.To meet and put forth your views is common in a democratic party like ours, unlike in BJP. Congress listens to all and then takes a decision.Such differences of opinion were seen in the Congress even in Gandhiji’s time. In the Tripuri session of the Congress in 1939, Subhash Chandra Bose defeated Gandhiji’s candidate Pattabhai Sitaramaiyya and there was much difference of opinion.The Congress did not break up even then, and won’t break up now. It is kept together by its strong cadre and our leaders.Also, this is not ‘infighting’. In many cases there are threats, intimidation by government agencies, cases being filed, demoralisation tactics being used besides luring of candidates to break the party.What about the G 23 ?I do not want to comment on this matter at all as it is misrepresented and misread. The High Command is supreme, and the party is working smoothly.Isn’t the shrinking presence of the Congress and the exit of people like Sushmita Dev, Prasada and Scindia worrying?Some leaders may be going but our workers are not going anywhere. The cadre is strong, and our roots are deep. We are a national party with a presence from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and Saurashtra to West Bengal. Those who believe in our ideology stay with us despite all kinds of pressure.Also, if we didn’t have presence, why do you think the BJP is worried about the Congress party and Rahul Gandhi? We formed governments in so many states, but the BJP has undemocratically brought them down in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh. Even in Gujarat, the Congress gave them a tough fight.There is criticism that the Congress fails to take up people-centric issues in Parliament and outside…We are agitating every day from taluka to district to the national capital, but we do not get visibility or publicity. The BJP’s publicity drive on the other hand is massive. Rahul Gandhi himself has spoken out on every major issue, from the farmers protest to fuel price hike and covid-19, and also met the press on it. He also met floor leaders of all parties to take a unified stand on larger national issues in Parliament. Sonia Gandhi wrote several times to PM on important matters and Dr Manmohan Singh has given suggestions on several fronts.What about the recent attempt at opposition unity? Is TMC on board?TMC was very much there. All will be there. In this Parliament session, we came together on issues of inflation, fuel price hike, farmer laws, Pegasus snooping, covid and fought it inside and outside Parliament.There are many other common concerns we intend to take up in the future sessions, especially as everyone has understood that while the BJP talks so much about ‘cooperative federalism,’ they are neither federal in nature, nor cooperative.Why would a responsible opposition disrupt parliamentary proceedings?Running of the House is the responsibility of the government. As a responsible opposition party, we support good work. If their policies are against public interest and values of nation building, naturally we must raise our voice.We sought time under Rule 267 of the Rajya Sabha to discuss the Pegasus matter, which threatens the freedom and privacy of every citizen.The suspension of the MPs, the way 40-50 marshals were brought into the House without any provocation, it means that it was all pre-planned by the government to prevent the opposition from taking up Pegasus or any other matter once their bill was passed.This is like lodging a FIR even without an incident happening.Your comments on the monetisation plan?Please see the full context. They have lost revenue due to their own mistakes and are now looking to sell government assets to build new infrastructure and make money - instead of attempting to improve public assets that employ huge number of people and give reservation benefits.It seems that they are doing such things instead, for the benefit of their one or two friends alone.Some of them are cornering roads, others are cornering airports, ports and hotels. They have become ‘ameeron ke agent.’At a recent industry event, a minister went after the likes of Tatas, Wipro, Godrej; industrial houses that have contributed so much to the country and have, in fact, always worked in national interest.We are not saying there should be favourable treatment to any industrialist. In fact, if they have done anything wrong, act against them under the law but to call them anti-national is wrong.That is why so many high net worth individuals (HNIs) are also leaving the country. They are withdrawing their investments due to their unstable policies and such an atmosphere.