‘Cong should look inward, reclaim Oppn’s credibility … Somewhere, its messaging has gone wrong’: Former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar
"Success of democracy in India is the guarantee that democracy will be alive in the rest of the world," says Shyam Saran at launch of Kumar's new book Guardians of the Republic.
Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Sharan, Justice Madan Lokur, author and former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar, The Indian Express's Contributing Editor Neerja Chowdhury, and Om Books International's publisher Ajay Mago at the book launch at the India International Centre in New Delhi on Friday. (Express Photo) 
There can be no effective political Opposition in India without the Congress, but the party may have “lost the plot” and must “look inward for weaknesses rather than finding fault” with its opponents, former Union Minister Ashwani Kumar said Friday. At the launch of his new book, Guardians of the Republic (Om Books International), he underlined that an Opposition’s strength in a democracy rests on its ability to embrace complexity, critique what is wrong, applaud what is right, and “walk its talk.”
Kumar’s remarks came during a conversation with author and The Indian Express Contributing Editor Neerja Chowdhury, and framed an evening that dwelt on the strains showing up in India’s democratic life and on what might reinforce its guardrails.
He dedicated the book to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in the presence of Gursharan Kaur and Upinder Singh; former Vice-President Hamid Ansari; Ghulam Nabi Azad; B S Hooda; former Supreme Court Judge Madan Lokur; and former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan, among other dignitaries.
“Rahul Gandhi’s heart is in the right place. He’s an idealist,” said Kumar. “He speaks for the poor, and I like that. But, somewhere, the messaging of the Congress Party has gone wrong…I cannot comment, and I am no one to pass judgment. They have to discover,” he said.
On the Opposition’s “vote chori” campaign and the allegation that elections were being “stolen,” Kumar argued for consistency. While declining to comment on the merits, he said that if the entire Opposition is raising the issue, it needs to be addressed — but parties “can’t have it both ways.”
“A party that chooses to accept a favourable verdict and form the government, like the Congress has in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana, loses its moral validity when it questions the elections it loses. You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “The people of this country are very wise…(they) tend to see what is right and what is wrong…I’m not for a moment saying that those who are saying elections are stolen are wrong. I’m only choosing to advise them that if you want to take a moral high ground, take the moral high ground by walking the talk….otherwise, you have no credentials.”
He extended the argument to the use of EVMs: “You are entitled to…say we will not fight elections. But if you fight elections on the basis of the EVMs, and if your party gets elected, and you form government, and then the next year, you lose, the EVMs are wrong. The entire basis of the challenge gets sullied.”
Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran described Guardians of the Republic as reflecting Kumar’s “multidimensional personality,” noting its sweep of essays across domains.
While flagging the “strained, almost hateful” tenor of public discourse, he added a hopeful chord: “If democracy is to survive in this world, I think that can only happen if it survives here in India. I think the success of democracy in India is the guarantee that democracy will be alive in the rest of the world…I think the greatest guarantee of democracy here in this country is its very diversity, its very plurality. It is not possible to my mind to put a monochromatic frame over this very, very diverse, a very colourful nation.”
Earlier, Justice Lokur said Kumar’s theme of dignitarian politics was very relevant. In that context, he underlined the perils of media trials. “Persons are convicted by the media, on a statement made by some person somewhere, and the debate goes on and on and on. It’s an invasion of his privacy, his dignity and his reputation.”
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