Gujarat Congress chief: ‘After Rahul ji’s call, we will act against pro-BJP leaders in state unit based on evidence’

Did you expect Rahul Gandhi to be so aggressive?

Rahul Gandhi ji speaks his mind. A day before (he made the remarks in Ahmedabad), he met all the (GPCC) workers including district Congress presidents, cell chairpersons, and even staff. I told them (workers) that they can talk about what they feel, including my faults…

There was feedback that some people were hobnobbing with the BJP while being in the Congress. The karyakartas (workers) spoke their mind… Everyone spoke about dadagiri (bullying) by the BJP.

Positively speaking, we need to reestablish the Gandhian model of the Congress governments when education and health services were considered the best and affordable.

Is there going to be any actual purging of leaders now?

There is no X-ray to see what is on someone’s heart or mind. Now, after Rahul ji has said it, we have to look at it more minutely. A district president shared an audio to show someone was hobnobbing with the BJP and said he wanted to remove him. I allowed him, except that it should not be because of groupism. So many of our big leaders quit Congress, people whom you would never have doubted. But where we get evidence, we will act, be it a small karyakarta or a big leader.

There is also talk about changing the PCC president …

That is the right of the party high command. I am a soldier of the party. When I was given the responsibility for Bihar, everyone would say it was a difficult state and that I had been punished. But as a party soldier, I do not have the right to choose my role.

When they told me about Gujarat (PCC post), I told (AICC general secretary KC) Venugopal ji that the age and time is gone. Six months later, the party high command said we did not have any option. Tomorrow, if the party says you must be relieved, I will work as a karyakarta.

But there is no indication till date. The high command has not said anything. Instead, they have put full faith in me.

What is the significance of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) holding a session in Gujarat next month?

It is going to be a hundred years since Mahatma Gandhi became the Congress president and this (Gujarat) is his birthplace. It is going to be the 150th birth anniversary and 75th death anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. 2025 will mark these three events.

Sardar Patel served the longest tenure as Gujarat Pradesh pramukh (head) for 25 years… I requested that we should hold the AICC session in Gujarat and the Congress Working Committee (CWC) agreed. I consider myself lucky and grateful.

What does Congress need to do to win against the BJP and form a government in Gujarat?

The elections I have won and lost since 1990 taught me a lot about what needs to be done to win against the BJP and Modi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi). Change is needed in every election. Things need to change and we are doing them.

What is the bigger issue for the Congress in Gujarat? Is it “conniving” with the BJP or internal factionalism?

The surveys that were conducted two-three months before the (Delhi) Assembly elections predicted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would form the government. The AAP’s own survey said it would form the government by a huge majority and they did not want to tie up with the Congress in Delhi. But the AAP lost.

We must work hard, make strategies. Eventually people are bigger in a democracy. In Gujarat the situation is very bad… If we can make people understand that…

*Why are the urban voters in Gujarat not attracted to the Congress?

Our weakness is that we have not been able to set up an organisational network in the urban areas. Our strength is that we can contest the elections in urban areas on our own symbol against all odds. It is not that we do not have workers, but the network till the booths and the wards, is missing.

Second, the BJP has not been able to cater to the needs of the urban voter. On the other hand, we have not been able to convince them about our positive (governance) model either. Somewhere we have not met expectations.

Today, the urban middle class is in trouble. We must show them the truth. It is not that the Congress cannot win from urban areas.

Imran Khedawala, the lone Muslim MLA in Gujarat, has said that non-Muslim MLAs do not stand up for the problems of the minorities. Why is that?

Be it demolitions in Dwarka, Porbandar or Ahmedabad’s Rabari colony… I visited these sites and have spoken up.

If there is injustice to minorities, those who are not from the minority community should speak. Why should only minorities speak? If there is injustice to Dalits, why should only (Dalit leader and MLA) Jignesh Mevani speak? Shaktisinh Gohil should speak first. If there is injustice to Hindus, a Congress Muslim leader should speak, that is secularism.

After the debacle in the 2022 Gujarat elections, what corrective measures were taken to revive the Congress?

Mukul Wasnik, one of AICC’s senior-most general secretaries, was appointed in charge of Gujarat. This is a major decision. He has been assigned only one state. This is part of the corrective measure. His experience can help the party.

Rahul Gandhi ji spent two days in Gujarat. The Congress has chosen Gujarat for the AICC session after 64 years…

The huge mobilisation after Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra did not translate into votes in Gujarat. Why?

In 2017, we won Ahmed bhai (late Ahmed Patel)’s election (to the Rajya Sabha). The message was that Modi and Shah (Amit Shah) can be defeated.

Then, Rahul Gandhi ji did a tour of Gujarat. We went to campaign with positive issues and the BJP’s failures – and we got results.

Every election teaches you something… To win 2027 (Assembly polls), we need to build on our strengths and work on our weaknesses.

But the gains in 2017 were largely credited to the Patidar agitation and the disaffection among Patidars…

Look at the constituencies where there were no Patidar voters. Especially the tribal belt… People voted for us. There was injustice to Patidars, and the agitation gave definite benefits to the Congress.

Several Congress leaders have quit and joined the BJP. Whose exit do you consider as the biggest loss?

No matter how big a hero a leader is, they become zero when their ideology changes. They can gain personally, but in the eyes of the public, he falls to zero. There is no damage to the party from the exits of such people. The maximum leaders quit in 2017 and the best result came in the election that followed.

What will attract someone to the Congress today?

The party gave a lot to big leaders and made heroes of them, but they either got bought or got scared. The smaller workers are committed ideologically… Gujaratis will bless this strength and we will form the government…

What do you think will change with the AICC session?

We will tell the youth about history… In the Haripura session (of 1938), which was presided over by Subhash Chandra Bose, he gave a blueprint on how to develop post-Independence. Jawaharlal Nehru formed the Planning Commission from this blueprint. The direction and vision will be shown (in the AICC sessions).