In 1984, BJP finds a line of attack against Kamal Nath but Congress disengages

At a press conference on May 21, a day after the CBI chargesheet, state BJP chief V D Sharma said, “Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath ji, your hands are stained with anti-Sikh riots blood. These are the allegations you face. Very soon the allegations against you will be decided. CBI and all other agencies are working. Kamal Nath ji, the citizens of Madhya Pradesh want to know about the conspiracy you hatched during the anti-Sikh riots.”

State minister Vishvas Sarang also held a press conference to demand that the Congress drop Nath as Madhya Pradesh Congress president. “He should come out in public and tell whether he was involved in the riots … The Congress has always done politics of division in the country,” Sarang said.

He added, “My demand to the Congress leadership is that Kamal Nath, who is accused of the Sikh genocide, should be removed from the post of state Congress president. Otherwise, it will be clear that the Congress wants to contest elections under the leadership of the murderer of Sikhs. Why is the Congress party silent in this matter today?”

The state BJP has also begun a social media campaign titled “Kaun hai Kamal Nath”, saying that the “stains of the anti-Sikh riots” were on a “tainted Kamal Nath”.

BJP insiders told The Indian Express said that their “line of attack was a strategy to counter Kamal Nath’s attempt to portray himself as a Hanuman bhakt”. Nath’s moves, they said, could be viewed as the Congress’s attempt to “neutralise their (BJP’s) Hindutva card”.

They claimed that the populist measures Nath has recently been announcing — including a monthly aid of Rs 1,500 to women and LPG cylinders at a subsidised price, loan waiver for over 27 lakh farmers, and electricity at a cheap rate of Rs 100 for 100 units — were taken out of the BJP’s playbook.

BJP spokesperson Hitesh Bajpai said, “The BJP finished Ram temple as an agenda as the party helped build it. Road, water, and electricity are no longer an issue in Madhya Pradesh … We have delivered all of this. Now you cannot seek votes on these issues. Kamal Nath is copying our model and using it against us. Our strategy is this: when he tries to portray himself as a Hanuman Bhakt, we will portray him as a Sikh-riots accused and break that image.”

Senior leaders from the party said they wanted to turn the coming Assembly election into a fight between current CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan — with his image as a “son of a farmer”, “incorruptible”, and “efficient administrator” — and Kamal Nath’s image of “wealth, corruption cases (his nephew Ratul Puri is under investigation in multiple ED cases in Delhi), and his role in the Sikh riots”.

BJP spokesperson Ashish Agarwal said, “His role in the anti-Sikh riots is something we will keep bringing up now. We want to tell the people of Madhya Pradesh if this is the person they would want to vote for. The CBI chargesheet has been filed. One by one, those who were shielded by the Congress have been made the accused…now it’s Kamal Nath’s turn,”

Another BJP leader said the party was invoking the 1984 riots to tell young voters about the “stain” on Nath’s image. “It’s not just the sole attack we are relying on. The stain of the anti-Sikh riots on Kamal Nath is something we will keep bringing up to whip up momentum since every election a new generation of young voters comes. It is our job to keep repeating this message so that the young voters know about the stain and he is weakened politically. We want to ensure he can never take a moral high ground.”

Following the attacks, Nath responded to the accusations. Addressing a press conference in Anuppur district on Monday, he said the “BJP has run out of issues to talk about”.

“No one has been able to raise a finger against me in my 45-year stint in politics. The riots happened in 1984. There was no FIR registered against me in 1985, 1986 or 1989. Then the BJP appointed an inquiry commission. Some people approached it out of politics. But the commission said I was innocent. No one raised their fingers then, no FIR was registered for so many years. V.D. Sharma is saying all this to hide his own misdeeds,” he said.

The Congress dismissed the attacks as “diversionary tactics”. Madhya Pradesh MP Piyush Babele said, “They brought up this issue in the previous election as well. The public rejected them in the 2018 Assembly elections as well. If this was such a big issue, then why did the Congress manage to make governments in Punjab? Our strategy is to keep talking about hyper-local issues and not fall into their trap. Kamal Nath ji gave an answer now we won’t engage on this issue.”