Anita Katyal | Rahul Angers Congress Seniors; Lalu Shrugs Off 'Anti-EBC' Tag

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent remark, that a langda ghoda (lame horse) should be retired, has generated a widespread and angry discussion among the party’s senior leaders who believe this comment was clearly aimed at them. Addressing a meeting of party workers in Bhopal over two weeks ago, Rahul Gandhi had said there are three types of horses — race ka ghoda, shaadi ghoda and langda ghoda. Of these, the lame horse needs to be retired.

Madhya Pradesh Congress leaders were convinced that Rahul Gandhi was targeting former chief minister Kamal Nath but his comment has had a ripple effect. Furious senior leaders across different states are conferring with each other about how they should respond to this veiled attack against them. Efforts are on to rally together members of the old guard on the same lines as the infamous G-23 bloc which had dashed off a letter to then party president Sonia Gandhi seeking an organisational overhaul, internal elections and an active leadership.

These current efforts are unlikely to succeed given how the G-23 grouping was defanged by the Congress top brass but the anger among the seniors is palpable. Questions are being raised in private conversations about Rahul Gandhi’s own leadership capabilities, especially his track record in electoral politics. “If Rahul Gandhi believes he is a race ka ghoda, he should tell us how many races he has won,” it is being asked.

Though Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav has not been keeping well for some time now, his ailment has not dulled his political instincts. Take the case of the recent appointment of Mangani Lal Mandal as the president of the party’s Bihar unit. Mr Mandal is a veteran Socialist leader but, more importantly, he belongs to the Extreme Backward Class (EBC). By picking an EBC leader for this key post, the RJD leader has sent out a message to both the electorate as well as to his political opponents. First, Mr Mandal’s elevation as state party chief is aimed at blunting the attack launched against Mr Yadav by the Janata Dal (United) and other NDA allies for insulting Babasaheb Ambedkar. Pointing to the viral video of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s June 11 birthday celebrations, they said, it showed Ambedkar’s photo lying at the RJD leader’s feet.

While demanding an apology from him, NDA leaders accused Lalu Prasad Yadav of being “anti-dalit and anti-EBC”. This campaign was picking up speed but Lalu nixed it. Second, the choice of the new state president is part of the RJD’s outreach to the EBCs ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections as the party is making a conscious effort to expand its social base beyond Yadavs and Muslims.

As controversy swirls around the Bihar government’s decision to accommodate relatives of leaders of the ruling alliance to various state commissions and other official posts, Cabinet minister Ashok Choudhary has hit the spotlight. He is among the leaders whose son-in-law Sayan Kunal has been appointed as a member of the Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts. Mr Choudhary courted controversy when he defended his son-in-law’s appointment, saying he is not a Janata Dal (United) nominee but is from the RSS quota. Expectedly, Opposition parties were quick to launch a scathing attack against Mr Choudhary while questioning the role of a purportedly apolitical body in government appointments.

However, Mr Choudhary is expected to escape unscathed from this political storm as he has all his bases covered. Not only is he a member of the Janata Dal (U) but is well known for his proximity to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. His daughter Shambhavi Choudhary is a Lok Sabha MP, having won on a Lok Janshakti Party ticket. And now comes news about his son-in-law’s RSS connection. It doesn’t get better than this.

The chatterati in Delhi are still debating whether the multi-party delegations which travelled across the globe to highlight Pakistan’s role in orchestrating terror attacks against India, succeeded in convincing world leaders. But there is, at least, a consensus on one issue. Everyone agrees that this move managed to create confusion in the ranks of the Opposition parties whose MPs were among the delegates. There was an inherent contradiction in this exercise. These MPs who visited world capitals went as representatives of the Indian government and, therefore, had to necessarily convey the official line. But this was often at variance with the stand taken back home by a member’s party which was pressing for details about Operation Sindoor, the intelligence lapse in Pahalgam and the Modi government’s rush to declare that normalcy had returned to Jammu and Kashmir.

Though these issues have been overtaken by developments in West Asia, questions about Pahalgam will resurface in next month’s monsoon session of Parliament. It is to be seen how far the Opposition will go in taking on the Modi government and whether their “delegation members” will join in. We have to wait for some time to get our answers.