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Journalism of Courage
When Salman Khursheed assumed command of the politically dilapidated Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee two years ago, little did he know that the greatest challenges he would face would come from within the party. For the Congressmen, Khursheed was picked for the coveted post only because he was among Sonia Gandhi’s blue-eyed boys, not because he enjoyed a following in the state.
Though Khursheed had been an MP from Uttar Pradesh twice, he was never considered a man of the masses or of the cadre. In the backward Farrukhabad, the constituency he represented twice, Salman was known for making promises that never translated into reality.
Yet, it was Khursheed who was entrusted with shoring up the party’s shattered political base. When he assumed command of the UP Congress, the party had no MP in Parliament and was reeling under a split in the legislative assembly party led by Naresh Agarwal, reducing its strength to a poor 14.
“I had to start from scratch… I had to overcome the antipathy of both masses as well as the Congress workers. The upper caste electorate had rejected us because we had an electoral tie-up with the BSP, while party workers were also dissatisfied for being out of power for so long,” recalled Khursheed.
Among his first tasks was to create a crack team what would help in rejuvenating the party. A majority of cadre in the Pradesh Congress Committee and the All India Congress Committee were appointees of his predecessor, Jitendra Prasada, whom Khursheed could not trust blindly. However, in the process, he landed up with a bloated committee of nearly 250 office bearers. Khursheed’s problems were only beginning.
The announcement of the commitee’s make-up, which didn’t include any of Prasada’s supporters, sparked off a game of one-upmanship between Prasada and Khursheed. By doing this, Khursheed seemed to be following the traditional division within the UP Congress, on the basis of egos rather than on caste lines.
Khursheed did try to minimise groupism, but he could make little headway. “What should be the first assignment of a person assuming the reponsibility of party chief? He should immediately replace the district chiefs appointed by his predecessor to create a team of his own. But I changed only 13 district and chiefs of other wings out of a total of 127. The entire PCC and AICC were nominated by Prasada and were not elected, but I left it untouched,” Salman argued.
However, Prasada’s supporters in the party, including MLAs like Sarv Shakti Singh and MPs like Begum Noor Bano openly came out against Khursheed’s functioning. Letters and counter letters were dashed off to Sonia Gandhi by both camps. Things reached such a head that when 10 MPs were elected after an inglorious performance in the polls, party workers attributed their victory to their individual charisma, rather than Khursheed’s leadership.
Khursheed, on his part, continued to map the state, covering 81 districts in all. Yet, the Congress continued to perform badly and also faced cross-voting by party MLAs. Prasada continued to consolidate his parallel power centre, holding three rallies which Khursheed was not invited to.
“They should have sent out the invitation. Factionalism is harmful for any organisation and the Congress is no exception. But I will rate Khursheed as a successful chief for having increased the tally of MPs from zero to 10 and taken the vote share up from 8 per cent to 18,” commented Pramod Tiwari, Congress Legislature party leader.
But the Congress still has a long way to go before it can face the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections next year. “If we can present a unified face at this juncture, we will perform better,” hoped Khursheed. The party leadership has also formed a ten-member co-ordination committee to counter groupism. “We will have to shed personal differences and project ourselves as one. This, however, is next to impossible in the state unit where each leader is a self-styled president,” commented a senior partyman.
`The UPCC is no ashram of saints, but we need to work as one’
Do you agree that groupism will badly affect the Congress in its run-up to the assembly elections due next year?
We are trying to project that there are no personal differences among the UPCC leaders. I do not deny that each individual has ambitions, and the UPCC is not an ashram filled with saints who are above these considerations. But we need to forget about the chair and work for larger gains.
How will you present the UPCC as one when your own partymen are holding counter rallies?
The issue of inner-democracy issue should be restricted to party fora and not become a subject of discussion outside. The rallies should maintain decorum, but the UPCC should at least be informed before such rallies.
What can you say has been your contribution to the UPCC in the last two years?
I started from zero, and now, the number of MPs in Parliament is 10, while the vote share has gone up from 8 per cent to 18. Besides, I am the only president who has gone to districts where no other Congress president had gone before. But we still have to go a long way.
What is the Congress’ strategy for the coming electoral battle?
The process of toning up the organiasation is already underway. A number of agitations and programmes have been finalaised to involve the masses. We had some traditional links with the BSP, thus there should not be any surprise if those links are re-established in the form of an electoral tie-up. But at this point, there are no such plans.
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