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Journalism of Courage
Launching a scathing attack on Ashok Gehlot on Sunday, Sachin Pilot accused the Rajasthan Chief Minister of sitting on corruption cases against the previous Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government and announced a daylong protest to demand action on these cases. In a statement, the Congress high command underlined the importance of a unified state unit and said the party would seek a mandate in Rajasthan later this year based on the “landmark achievements” of the Gehlot government and the “collective efforts of our organisation”. The statement did not mention either Pilot or his allegations.
Addressing a press conference at his residence in Jaipur, the former Deputy CM played video clips of Gehlot’s statements on “BJP’s corruption”, saying he was quite “worried” about the lack of action in these cases. Pilot said he finds the lack of action “vichitra (bizarre)” and added that he had written two letters to Gehlot last year but did not receive any response. Pilot also repeatedly insinuated that to “break this perception” of detractors that there is collusion between Gehlot and Raje, the former needs to act decisively in the corruption cases.
To demand action in the corruption cases, Pilot announced a day-long dharna at Jaipur’s Shaheed Smarak on April 11 to coincide with the birth anniversary of social reformer Jyotirao Phule. “Corruption is an issue that touches the public and is a big step towards reforming society. Hence, the inspiration to sit on a protest on his (Jyotirao Phule’s) Jayanti. I have informed the district administration,” he said.
Though neither Gehlot nor Raje reacted to the allegations, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said in a statement, “The Congress government in Rajasthan with Shri Ashok Gehlot as CM has implemented a large number of schemes and taken many new initiatives that have impacted the people profoundly. This has given the state a leadership position in governance in our country. The Bharat Jodo Yatra in Rajasthan was an outstanding success made possible by the dedication and determination of the party organisation in the state. Later in the year, the Congress will seek a renewed mandate from the people on the strength of these landmark achievements and the collective efforts of our organisation.”
Cabinet Minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said, “Even if a common person raises the issue of corruption under the BJP government, then we should get it investigated. And if Sachin Pilot has raised this issue, what crime has he committed? I don’t think it is wrong.”
The minister added, “Sachin Pilot is an asset to the party. If he is raising questions, then those should be respected. He has the right to raise issues. Anyone can raise an issue in a democratic party. And even I am ready to fight on the issue of BJP’s corruption.”
A Congress leader who did not wish to be named said, “Pilot has specifically questioned the government, not the party, so the government should respond to the allegations.”
While Raje also didn’t react to Pilot’s allegations, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rajendra Rathore said that “rather than levelling baseless allegations against the previous BJP government, Pilot should have also demanded an impartial investigation into the corruption in four years and four months of the Congress government”.
The LoP said the “internal discord between the CM and the former deputy CM is so much that now he’s going to sit on a dharna against his own government”. Calling MLAs and local Congress leaders “mini CMs”, Rathore said that “every mini CM in each Vidhan Sabha should be investigated so that people get to know the reality of corruption in the state”.
Terming Pilot’s allegations as fictitious, BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Rajyavardhan Rathore said, “He should have first listed the actual incidents and then he could have added some fiction. In the last four years, so many families have been destroyed. There have been 18,380 rape cases since 2019.”
Pilot’s call for action
At the press conference, Pilot told reporters that after the BJP won the 2013 Assembly elections with a huge mandate of 163 seats, he was made the state president and “we constantly opposed the government on the basis of its policies”. “But the main attack on the government’s credibility was regarding corruption,” he added.
The Tonk MLA said the Congress’s sustained campaign against the BJP’s corruption was instrumental in the public bringing down the BJP “from 163 seats to 70-71 MLAs” and electing a Congress government in 2018.
“We had promised the people that we would effectively and impartially get all the corruption cases against the previous BJP government that had come to light, investigated, and the guilty punished. So we should have acted in a transparent and effective manner to uphold our no-corruption policy. We had assured the people … but it hasn’t been done,” he said, adding that the government should still act “in a transparent and a time-bound manner”.
Playing a compilation of old videos of Ashok Gehlot in which he can be seen speaking on various corruption cases of the BJP, Pilot said he too had then spoken on these cases, perhaps more than even the CM. “When there was the mining scam of Rs 45,000 crore, we had demanded a CBI inquiry. It’s been four-and-a-half years, yet the investigation hasn’t been handed over to the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation). During the Lalit Modi case, all of us went to the Governor, the President and the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India), and demanded various agencies to investigate it,” he said.
Pilot added, “If it comes out at the end of an impartial investigation that there was no corruption, we’ll accept that Gehlot ji and I were wrong. But when there is no inquiry, how can people trust our word?”
Pilot emphasised that when the state goes into elections again later this year the public will trust their word only if the Congress keeps its promises. He said he doesn’t believe in acting out of vendetta or malice, “but it is true that our credibility can only sustain when we are true to our word”.
“I was quite worried about it and about a year ago, I wrote to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, explaining in detail the situation and told him that it’s been three-and-a-half years of our government and it’s time to keep our word. The allegations we — Gehlot ji and I — had levelled against the land mafia, liquor mafia, mining mafia, and in the Lalit Modi case, these are all in the public domain. I had requested him and said we have to demonstrate that there is no difference in our words and actions.”
Pilot claimed he did not get a reply to the letters written to Gehlot on March 28 and November 2 last year. The letters, shared by Pilot with the media on Sunday, contained media reports, Gehlot’s tweets, and interviews on the allegations against the BJP and Raje. Pilot said he had also marked a copy of these letters to the party high command so that they too could take note. “I keep saying that I have given several suggestions for the Congress leadership in Rajasthan. This is one of them,” he said.
Pilot contrasted the lack of action on corruption in Rajasthan with the actions of central investigation agencies. “They (the BJP at the Centre) are misusing the central agencies and 95% of raids or notices by the ED (Enforcement Directorate) are against Opposition leaders. On the one hand, the Central government is misusing the agencies and targeting the Congress leadership by manufacturing fake cases against them. On the other hand, in Rajasthan where we have a government and have agencies, we are neither doing their sadupyog or upyog (good use or even use). This is a vichitra (bizarre) case and I was quite worried about it. Since it’s been more than a year, I wanted it to be in the public domain today because the Congress workers and the public shouldn’t feel that we say one thing and do another.”
Pilot said, “Our detractors can also try and spread this misconception (and ask) whether there is some collusion. Because in the previous Congress government too, (2008-13) when we levelled allegations of Rs 22,000 crore and constituted the Mathur Commission. The courts said there were some legal flaws in it and dismissed it. They can ask why, despite being in power again and again, (we are unable to prove our allegations) … We have to break this perception effectively, because just six to seven months are left for the state elections.”
Following a political crisis in the party in September — when legislators allied to Gehlot boycotted a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting to stall any attempt to make Pilot the CM — the party sent show-cause notices to Gehlot loyalists Shanti Dhariwal, Mahesh Joshi, and Dharmendra Rathore. But despite the Pilot camp’s insistence, no action was against the three and leadership issues remain pending. Ahead of the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s entry into Rajasthan in December, the fight between the two camps threatened to spill over in public yet again but the high command stepped in to ensure the march went off smoothly. Before the Yatra entered Rajasthan, the two, along with party leader K C Venugopal, addressed a press conference jointly to imply that all is well.
But, with the central leadership content with maintaining the status quo, the truce was over soon afterwards and, in January, Pilot addressed a series of public rallies in which he targeted the Gehlot government. After acquittals in the 2008 Jaipur bomb blast case last month, Pilot again lashed out at the state government and called for “self-introspection” on the part of the state Home Department and Law Department.
