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The Rediff Special /Vazhappadi Ramamurthy
'The Congress is a party of sycophants... I am proud of it. That is the culture of our party'
Vazhappadi Ramamurthy quit the Narasimha Rao government on a matter of principle, left the Congress along with Arjun Singh and N D Tiwari and returned to the parent party last year. Always outspoken, Ramamurthy discusses Sonia Gandhi's entry into the party, this month's organisational poll and a likely general election, in this first person piece, exclusive to Rediff On The NeT.
On Sonia Gandhi's entry into the party:
I am delighted to hear that Sonia Gandhi has enrolled herself as a primary member of the party.
In 1991, our Tamil Nadu Congress unit under my leadership was
the only PCC in India which unanimously passed a resolution that
Soniaji should become the Congress president. We are consistent
in our demand. I have always been saying that only she can save
the party. When I met her recently, I requested her to take
over the party leadership. The Congress is faction-ridden
and directionless and I am sure that nobody except the Nehru family
can save the party from further deterioration. And in the Nehru
family, the only available leadership is from Sonia Gandhi.
Recently after my son's wedding, we went to Delhi
and my son and daughter-in-law got her blessings. My relationship with
Soniaji is a continuous one. Whether she comes to power
or not is redundant to me. My personal attachment to the family
is the most important thing in my life.
I am sorry to say that the media in this country
is highly coloured. Just because somebody from that family is
involved in Congress politics all the time, it does not mean that
they have dominated the party and party men. They are also contesting
elections. Rajiv Gandhi went to the polls six weeks after
he became leader and won by a huge margin. And you call it
family rule? We are democratic. You can say family rule is there
in Indonesia or somewhere else, but not in India.
You just wait and see what will happen in the general election
once Soniaji becomes leader. Compared to leaders of
other parties, Soniaji's leadership is far better than anybody
else's. You may say that she has no experience. What about
Deve Gowda? Did he have any experience? The same media gave Rajiv
Gandhi the title 'Mr Clean' when he did not have any experience.
I will not accept any of your arguments. Experience never counts
in Indian politics.
You may consider her a foreigner but as far as we Congressmen
and the Indian people are concerned, she is an Indian more than anybody
else. She has a family here, her husband was an Indian and she
has become an Indian citizen. How can you call her a foreigner?
I agree that there is a dearth of leadership
in the party. That is the truth. You can't brush aside the truth.
The leadership vacuum in the Congress has been there from 1991 onwards.
You know very well how Narasimha Rao spoiled the Congress.
You know how others are spoiling it now. So it is time that
she took over. We do not want to elect some young leader and conduct experiments.
Whether you like it or not, the reality is that
Sonia Gandhi is the party. The Congress is always known for
its sycophants. Right from the days of Mahatma Gandhi,
the Congress has been a party of sycophants. I am not
ashamed of saying that. In fact, I am proud of it. That is
the culture of our party.
I don't think Kesri does not want Sonia Gandhi
as the party president. He is a veteran Congressman. He
knows the party more than anybody else and he also knows the kind
of affection the party members have for the Nehru family.
So, I don't think he is afraid of anything. But I will tell you
one thing: if Soniaji decides to become the Congress president,
no power on this earth can prevent her.
Of course, we will have
elections but the choice will be unanimous. She will be a unanimous
choice of the millions of Congressmen in this country. Then the
party will be rejuvenated and it will be in a position to face
elections. If Rajiv Gandhi's children also want to join politics,
we welcome them. We are all honoured.
You can't blame the party and the Nehru family for
poverty. You can't bring about change in just
fifty years. You compare ourselves with Pakistan or the African
countries and then tell me. In the US, even after 200
years, they still have people who are homeless and dying of starvation.
The Congress party elections:
The allegations about the irregularities in the party polls
is true. The Election Commission has given three
adjournments after the party elections were postponed, and ultimately
the AICC had to advance the date of the elections by a month to
June 15. But Congressmen, particularly those in Tamil Nadu,
feel that they are cheated because the last date of enrollment
was March 31. The AICC should have conducted
the elections with the particulars that were there till then,
but for reasons known only to them they postponed the elections.
Naturally the Election Commission has come down heavily
on them.
Moreover, the Election Commission itself
has said the elections have to be conducted according
to the party constitution, but unfortunately it was not followed
at all by the AICC. The calendar which the AICC prepared and the
PCCs are asked to adopt is like this:
May 11: Publication of the
electoral rolls at the district level.
May 12: Publication of the
electoral rolls at the state level.
May 13: if I find any irregularities,
I can appeal to the AICC.
Even if I were to fly, I wouldn't be
able to reach there and appeal. According to the party rules, two months
should be given for appeal, scrutiny etc. So, this is a clear violation of the rules. Their excuse
is that the Election Commission has not given them enough time.
Does that mean that I should be strangulated?
Thangabalu took over as ad hoc committee president
at the end of February. They started enrollment
from that day onwards. Now the PCC claims they have more
than 2.8 million members. The funny thing is that in the last election
when we fought in alliance with the AIADMK, we scored only 1.8
million votes. It means 1 million Congressmen did not vote for the
Congress! In Coimbatore we are a big zero, but Thangabalu claims
we have 350,000 members!
Our suspicion is that they have just
paid money to the bank and are cooking up membership books. They
have not verified how many membership books are received and how
many are utilised. They are just using the census and voter's
lists to fill in the books. You can find the names
of the TMC, DMK and the AIADMK people in our books.
We have 56,000 polling booths. They claim
they have conducted elections in all the 56,000 booths in one day.
Tell me, how can it be possible? It is nothing but a mockery of
democracy. It is a farce and they are cheating genuine members
of the party.
I am telling you again, all this is a farce.
They want to appoint somebody, they want to get it on the papers
and they want to declare it. They are using the name of elections
as an excuse, that's all. That is why all of us including one
of the senior-most leaders, Maragatham Chandrasekhar, have criticised
them. We are conducting elections after 25 years. And you call
this an election?
We do not want this kind of election. How can you say this is a democratic party?
On Bofors:
Bofors is not a new issue. V P Singh became prime minister
because of the Bofors card. In 1989, he said, if you elect
me as prime minister, I will bring everything to light
in 15 days. 1,500 days are over and still nothing has been lit.
Whenever the family wants to come closer to politics, this is
the bogey played by vested interests like Narasimha Rao, Deve
Gowda and now Gujral. We know all this.
When he was prime minister, Rajiv
Gandhi categorically said in Parliament that neither he nor
his family members were involved in the Bofors affair.
What more do you want? Now you are going by information leaked by the
CBI. I am 1000% sure that Rajiv Gandhi's name is not there. I also know it will
not affect the Congress in any way.
On I K Gujral versus Moopanar:
What I am saying does not
have anything to do with my personal equation with Moopanar.
When you have to choose between Moopanar and Gujral, Gujral is
the best choice.
I know Moopanar well. The Indian prime
minister should be a leading light. We should not become a laughing
stock in front of the world. Even Deve Gowda had some previous experience as
chief minister of a state.
Moopanar does not only not have any experience, he has never had a
clear idea on any issue. He does not answer clearly on anything.
I know him in and out. He is the best man for making peace,
that's all.
I don't agree with the view that he has shunned positions
throughout his career. In politics, if anybody says he is not
interested in power and is not aspiring for power, he is
a hypocrite. Politics means achieving political power. If Moopanar
does not aspire for power, why has he become a Rajya Sabha
member, not once but thrice? It is he who says that he was
offered Cabinet posts. Is there any prime minister who can clarify
that?
The United Front Government:
This khitchdi of 14 parties
will not continue for long. It is full of contradictions and it
is directionless. It is like somebody coming for a vacation to
occupy the prime minister's office. I am sure this will not
continue. I expect a general election before next May. The
next election will be a fight between the Congress and the BJP,
and definitely the Congress will prevail.
We should not be blamed for supporting them.
We will support the UF, but not at the cost of the Congress
party. That does not mean that we have given power to the CPI-M
to hold us by our throats. It does not mean the Janata Dal can say
whatever they want against us.
It is true that Congressmen in the states are unhappy.
You have to accept the reality. In Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra,
Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, everywhere, they
are unhappy. But at the state level, we are given freedom to attack
them. I don't think it is contradictory. We have only 145 people
so we cannot form the ministry on our own but we cannot destabilise
the system. We cannot allow communal forces to come to
power.
General Elections:
As far as the Congress is concerned, we are ever ready for
elections. In fact, we are more prepared than
any other party. We do not have to withdraw support for the UF
to fall. They themselves will collapse. Eradicating corruption was one
of their Common Minimum Programmes, then why are they scared of
Laloo Prasad Yadav? Why didn't they discuss the charges against him
at the last UF steering committee
meeting? This is hypocrisy.
When Antulay was charged, Indira Gandhi asked him to step down the very next day.
Gujral has no guts to say that to Laloo Yadav. The
United Front steering committee has no guts. They are scared that
the fragile alliance of 14 parties might collapse any time.
As told to Shobha Warrier
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