Rahul Gandhi draws line for Gujarat Congress: ‘Those conniving with BJP have to go’

“Even if we have to remove 20 to 30 people, we will do it,” Gandhi said. “If you are working for the BJP from within Congress, you will be sent out so that you can work for them openly. You will realise that you have no value there (in the BJP). Forget about winning and losing (elections), senior leaders should have the blood of the Congress running through their veins. The control of the organisation should be with such leaders. The moment we do this, the people of Gujarat will want to storm into the party and we will have to open our doors to them. We do not have to talk about the elections, this is not a two-three year project but a 50-year project.”

Encouraging his party workers, Gandhi reminded them that the combined Opposition had a “40% vote share in Gujarat”. He added, “It is not a small Opposition. In any part of Gujarat, we would have two people, of whom, one will support the BJP and the other the Congress. But in our mind, we think that Congress has no strength. If our vote increases by 5%, that will be enough. In Telangana, we increased our vote share by 22%, we need only 5% here. But we will not be able to get this 5% without sieving through these two groups.”

In the Gujarat Congress, the response to Gandhi’s remarks ranged from seeking strict action against those working against the party’s interests to motivating such workers and leaders to again get back to working for the party to the belief that the Lok Sabha LoP’s comments could prove detrimental.

The views in the party

Former Mahila Congress state president Jenny Thummar told The Indian Express she was against penalising party members whom Gandhi accused of working for the BJP. “When a party is out of power for 30 years, this is a natural process. From one source or the other, Congress members connect with the BJP. We, as a party, have to motivate them, we have to sit them down and talk to them.”

She added, “The bigger question before us as a party also is when will new people come? And why will they come to the Congress?”

State Congress working president Jignesh Mevani said he hoped Gandhi’s directives at the meeting would be “implemented”. “We should show what the Opposition can do. Even if you stay in the Opposition, you can have an impact on thousands of lives and make a substantial difference. I am ready to lead from the front and I have the ideology as well,” the Vadgam MLA told The Indian Express.

Tribal leader Arjun Rathwa, who contested the 2022 Gujarat Assembly polls from the Chhota Udepur seat on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket before quitting to join the Congress in 2023, found Gandhi’s hard talk “much needed” and Gandhi’s message to identify and remove those working against the party’s interests would help infuse new blood in the Congress.

State working president and former MLA Lalit Kagathara said Congress workers who had been active despite the BJP’s decades-long rule “need to be appreciated, and Rahul Gandhi did appreciate”.

Fellow Congress state working president Kadir Pirzada said much of the work of setting the house in order would have to be done before the All India Congress Committee (AICC) session in Ahmedabad on April 8 and 9. This will be the first AICC session in Gujarat since 1961.

A few leaders, who did not wish to be named, however, cautioned that Gandhi’s comments could backfire.

“The Congress is in a do-or-die spot. Those who have not yet jumped ship are the ones who know there is nothing in the BJP for them but they have their personal interests because of business, real estate or trading communities, and the BJP being in power … It would be extremely difficult to contain the kind of infighting that will now be seen as everyone will try to pull down their rivals by making complaints. What has been said from the stage is good as a pep talk… but for a party on the decline right from the top, you cannot resort to a my-way-or-the-highway approach,” said a Congress functionary.

Another party leader said friction was visible between leaders from Saurashtra and sitting state unit office-bearers during an internal meeting. “In the internal meeting, the presidents of the city and district units made several complaints. There were people who also complained against the top brass as well as the AICC leaders… While Gandhi has made strong statements, the problem is the leadership at the top is indecisive … There are times when the AICC stops communicating and pays no heed to any complaints from the state executive. When you need to change from the ground level, it has to be done by example,” said the leader.