AFATA POSTER NIKLA HERO Right to reject own ordinance!!!!!!! SANJAY K. JHA Rahul Gandhi speaks at the Delhi Press Club after stepping in while Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken was defending the ordinance. Before leaving, Rahul said: “What our government has done is wrong.” (AP picture) New Delhi, Sept. 27: Rahul Gandhi this afternoon strode into the Press Club and delivered India’s “the-mouse-that-roared” moment. “It is complete nonsense, It should be torn up and thrown away,” Rahul said, referring to the ordinance that seeks to protect convicted lawmakers. The unscheduled appearance and unequivocal condemnation of an unpopular measure spoiled the lunches of several ministers who went into hiding or sought time to figure out what hit them. It also ruined sleep in faraway Washington where Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was billeted, triggered calls for his resignation and launched countless conspiracy theories ranging from a “fixed” match to a “coup” in the Congress. The outburst from a politician whose inherent circumspection has made him “The Unknown” of Indian politics appeared to have etched the contours of what was till now an imperceptible struggle between the old order and the new. But it delighted the party rank and file who believe nothing could bring greater electoral ruin than the perception that the Congress was helping criminals. That Rahul spoke out soon after the Supreme Court allowed the negative vote — which will be a barometer of the disenchantment with the political class — was not lost on the irreverent Twitter world either. “Rahul Gandhi becomes the first Indian to exercise the right to reject! Not the way SC meant it, of course,” one tweet said. Many Congress workers, who happened to be in Delhi to seek tickets for elections in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, were unanimous in their opinion that the party vice-president had salvaged some moral ground by taking the audacious risk of going against the government. “I am getting congratulatory messages from all over the country, there is joy among the workers. A few cynical views are also there as they want to know if Rahul was not part of the system that brought this ordinance,” a Rahul aide said. That is the question several ministers in the shaken government are asking. The Prime Minister, whose aides were jolted out of bed in New York around 4.30am by reporters soon after Rahul spoke at 1.50pm in Delhi, issued a statement saying “the issues raised will be considered on my return to India after due deliberations in the cabinet”. The statement was made public in India in the evening after an interaction between the Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi. The ordinance is now expected to be either withdrawn by the cabinet or the President may return it, following which the cabinet will not refer it back. But the tremors have spread beyond the ordinance. The main question was whether Rahul had undermined the authority of the Prime Minister. Letter to PM Aware of the potency of whispers to feed the maw of conspiracy theories, the Congress tonight released a letter Rahul had written to the Prime Minister, apparently at 1pm (3.30am in Washington) or around 50 minutes before he spoke out at the Press Club. The letter appeared to lay stress on two factors: Rahul was not holding the cabinet alone responsible and he has “nothing but the greatest admiration” for Singh’s leadership. Rahul’s letter read: “I realise that what I feel about the ordinance is not in harmony with the cabinet decision and the core group’s view. I also know it would be exploited by our political opponents. You know that I have the highest respect for you and I look up to you for your wisdom. I have nothing but the greatest admiration for the manner in which you are providing leadership in extremely difficult circumstances. I hope you will understand the strength of my own conviction about this very controversial issue.” The Prime Minister’s statement said that Rahul had written to him. “The ordinance cleared by the cabinet pertaining to the Representation of the People Act has been a matter of much public debate. The Congress vice-president has also written to me on the issue and also made a statement. The government is seized of all these developments,” the statement said. Govt ‘did wrong’ At the Press Club, virtually storming a media conference by Congress communications chief Ajay Maken who was stoutly defending the ordinance, Rahul blamed the party, the government and the larger political culture. “The argument given in my organisation is that we need to do this because of political considerations. Everybody is doing this. The Congress does this, the BJP does this, the Janata Dal does this, Samajwadi does it. It is time to stop this nonsense, political parties, mine and all others.… “If you want to fight corruption in the country, whether it is Congress party or BJP, we cannot continue making these small compromises. Because if we make these small compromises, then we compromise everywhere,” he said. Rahul wanted to leave after this but returned as questions about the BJP — which had supported the move to get around the immediate disqualification laid down by the Supreme Court but is opposing the ordinance route — were raised. Rahul said: “I am not interested in what Opposition leaders are saying. What our government has done is wrong.” He left without taking questions. Cry for PM’s scalp The Opposition smelt blood, saying the Congress has orchestrated a stunt to wriggle out of a crisis as the President has misgivings on the ordinance. Others wondered aloud whether Rahul was challenging the Prime Minister’s authority when he was abroad. Some leaders felt that the process and the language used by Rahul could have been avoided as it gave an impression that the sanctity of the cabinet system was being undermined by a senior leader of the ruling party. Several Congress leaders privately echoed the BJP’s demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Singh and law minister Kapil Sibal. “If the PM has any self-respect left, then he should call it a day. Super cop, who calls the shots, has arrived on the scene,” BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said. The Prime Minister’s former media adviser, Sanjay Baru, too, felt that Singh should step down after Rahul’s “insulting” remark. Baru said he was not opposed to Rahul’s criticism of the ordinance but the “manner” in which he chose to reject it. The Congress sources, while agreeing that Rahul’s statement has caused acute embarrassment for the government, insisted that they did not see any possibility of the Prime Minister resigning. They said the Prime Minister would be upset because of the propriety question but he himself was not very keen on the ordinance. Sonia’s clearance Asked if the ordinance could have been brought without Sonia Gandhi’s approval, the Rahul aide who had spoken of the congratulatory messages said: “That’s not possible.” Party sources have been dropping hints over the past few days that Rahul was opposed to the ordinance after feedback from some young citizens but Sonia overruled him and allowed the government to go ahead. The Congress core committee — which was mentioned in Rahul’s letter to Singh — that okayed the move to bring in the ordinance was attended by Sonia, Singh, P. Chidambaram, Sushil Kumar Shinde, A.K. Antony and Ahmed Patel. The cabinet had earlier cleared a bill to overturn the Supreme Court order and it was listed in both Houses of Parliament for consideration. After the clearance to the ordinance, the list of leaders who defended it were Sibal, Chidambaram, Jairam Ramesh, Manish Tewari — all senior ministers — in addition to spokespersons Maken, P.C. Chacko and Raj Babbar. The compulsion Sources claimed that the Congress leadership decided to take the ordinance route under pressure from RJD leader Lalu Prasad who faces the verdict in the fodder case on Monday. The RJD rubbished such suggestions but the party vent its anger: “The entire UPA government seems to be a pygmy before Rahul Gandhi,” RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui told PTI in Patna. Many Congress leaders saw in Lalu Prasad a useful ally to combat Narendra Modi in Bihar. They presumed that the support of the majority of the parties and the wider legal implications would convince everybody to digest the abnormal step. But the scene changed as the BJP did a somersault, primarily to occupy the high moral ground on a question that seemed to agitate many voters, especially the youths. Asked what President Pranab Mukherjee, who has not signed the ordinance so far and is consulting legal experts, would do, an official said: “We are waiting for the government’s next move as certain developments have taken place. The President may like to wait till the Prime Minister returns.” Rahul’s reasons Questions are now being asked in the party whether Rahul had to resort to public denouncement because the Congress president and the government did not listen to him. Was it an explosive push to facilitate a general shift in the party that was in slow transition? Senior leaders insisted they were not aware of Rahul’s plan and denied suggestions that the outburst was stage-managed. “A few close aides of Rahul might have known that he was feeling suffocated and might erupt any moment. His views were not taken seriously. There were several occasions when he felt helpless. Assessing the public mood and the widespread criticism of the ordinance in the media, he might have thought enough is enough,” a source said. Yesterday, young minister Milind Deora had spoken out against the ordinance. Rahul, who too believed the ordinance would send a damaging message, was under pressure from his younger colleagues who thought public opinion was turning hostile. The division in the Congress ranks is clear — a minister described Rahul’s action as “breaking ranks”. The party indeed showed the hidden cracks. But till the 2014 elections get over, there is nobody in the party who can rise against Rahul. But there is no denying that the fault-lines could deepen and the struggle would intensify.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Sep 2013 18:04:39 +0000
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