Behind Ashok Gehlot bid to stand by Sachin Pilot over Mizoram bombing row: Polls, truce deal

However, a truce brokered between the two warring leaders recently by the All India Congress Committee (AICC) leadership in the run-up to the state Assembly elections, due in December, seems to be working so far, with Gehlot now, in a rare display of solidarity, rising to defend Pilot’s father, the late Rajesh Pilot, from the BJP’s onslaught.

“Congress leader Shri Rajesh Pilot was a brave pilot of the Indian Air Force (IAF). By insulting him, the BJP is insulting the sacrifice of the IAF. The whole country should condemn this,” CM Gehlot posted on X, earlier called Twitter, on Wednesday.

Gehlot was responding to a post by the BJP’s IT Cell chief Amit Malviya, who on August 13 had claimed that Pilot’s father Rajesh Pilot had bombed Mizoram’s capital Aizawl in March 1966.

“Rajesh Pilot and Suresh Kalmadi were flying the Indian Air Force planes that bombed Aizawl, the capital of Mizoram, on 5 March 1966. Later, both became MPs on Congress tickets and ministers in the government. It is clear that Indira Gandhi gave respect and a place in politics as a reward to those who carried out air raids on their own people in the North East,” Malviya ‘s post stated.

Sachin Pilot defended his father, taking on Malviya for posting “wrong facts”. “You have the wrong dates, wrong facts… Yes, as an IAF pilot, my late father did drop bombs. But that was on erstwhile East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak war and not as you claim, on Mizoram on the 5th of March 1966. He was commissioned into the IAF only on 29th October 1966! (Certificate attached) Jai Hind and a Happy Independence Day,” Pilot stated on Tuesday.

.@amitmalviya – You have the wrong dates, wrong facts…
Yes, as an Indian Air Force pilot, my late father did drop bombs. But that was on erstwhile East Pakistan during the 1971 Indo-Pak war and not as you claim, on Mizoram on the 5th of March 1966.
He was commissioned into the… https://t.co/JfexDbczfk pic.twitter.com/Lpe1GL1NLB

— Sachin Pilot (@SachinPilot) August 15, 2023

So the question is, why is Gehlot suddenly on the same page as his bête noire Pilot, whom he had termed a “gaddar” (traitor) just last year? The answer could be traced to the Congress high command’s multiple calls for peace between them – and to Gehlot’s bid to return to power by clinching the upcoming Assembly elections.

There was barely any sign that the Gehlot-Pilot feud would end, that too amicably, in the beginning of this year. In April, Pilot accused Gehlot of not taking action in alleged corruption cases dating back to the tenure of the previous BJP government. Later, he took out a yatra against his own government and warned of hitting the streets again if his demands – including those of restructuring of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission and the compensation for candidates affected by question paper leaks in government examinations – were not met. He also claimed that Gehlot’s leader was not Sonia Gandhi but Vasundhara Raje.

Gehlot too hit back, saying that Pilot’s demand for compensation for candidates affected by paper leaks showed “intellectual bankruptcy”.

But it all changed after the results of the Karnataka elections were announced, with the Congress displaying an impressive performance to defeat the BJP and form the government.

After the Karnataka victory, the Congress high command turned its attention to Rajasthan, which for a long time had been in the news for the Gehlot-Pilot tussle. A meeting was held in Delhi on May 29, where the two leaders met senior Congress leaders including Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge. The Congress announced after the meeting that the two leaders have agreed to fight the Rajasthan Assembly elections unitedly. For Congress, winning Rajasthan is crucial before the Lok Sabha elections next year.

Since then, there has been a pause, albeit tense, in the constant barrage of barbs exchanged between the duo and their loyalists.

While Pilot has refrained from speaking against the Congress government — earlier he would often take a contrarian stance from the Congress government and even took out a yatra on the corruption issue — Gehlot has spoken about “forgiving and forgetting”.

As of now, Pilot seems to have reconciled to the idea of waiting patiently, knowing that he may have missed the much-coveted chief minister’s chair in the current Congress government, but he has got age by his side.

Similarly, Gehlot is aware that the Congress’s impressive performance in several regions, including eastern Rajasthan, during the 2018 Assembly elections was driven by Pilot’s popularity. Having Pilot by his side will only increase his chances of repeating his government.

In such a scenario, Gehlot has only to gain by coming out in support of Pilot’s father and countering the BJP.