November 26, 2020 4:00:58 am
Veteran Congressional Leader Ahmed Patel
Sonia Gandhi described Ahmed Patel as an “irreplaceable companion” but surprisingly Rahul, who was often not on the same page as him, summed up the loss of Ahmed bhai, as he was widely known, more concisely. Rahul recognized him as “one of the pillars of Congress,” which is not exactly a euphemism for a dynasty that assumes that without the first family the party is a hollow shell.
In fact, the 71-year-old Patel, who passed away early Wednesday fighting multiple organ failure post-Covid, was the man to turn to when Congress ran into trouble.
Which it meant quite often.
Either by the modalities of linking up with Shiv Sena for a grand alliance in Maharashtra or crushing Sachin Pilot’s anger against Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in Rajasthan or allying with Pranab Mukherjee to ensure that Sonia was named party chairperson in 1997 despite Sitaram Kesri’s refusal to resign gracefully, Ahmed Bhai was available to fix the problem.
Party colleague Jairam Ramesh once described him as a 24 x 7 politician who had come to the rescue of Congress more than once at the last minute. He recalled how, well after midnight, he called a prime minister who was determined to leave the party the next morning along with his supporters. After a good 50 minutes of taunting, cajoling and coddling the veteran party leader, he saved the party government in a northern Indian state. As Ramesh pointed out, not many in Congress were able to pull off such feats, mixing power with persuasion to good effect.
File photo of Congress Speaker Sonia Gandhi speaking with party leader Ahmed Patel as they await the arrival of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. (AP)
Ahmed Bhai’s strength was his lack of personal ambition or a private agenda, attributes that made him love Sonia, who retained him as political secretary during her long tenure as party chair. He became the eyes and ears of their leader guiding her through choppy waters like a rookie politician. He never joined the government, when Congressional Prime Ministers PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh were in the saddle, but he was still the eternal back room manager.
A phone call from Ahmed Bhai carried more weight than any minister’s. He was a soft-spoken political operator who exuded old-world courtesy and charm. Avoiding the center of attention, he listened politely to all parties, but nothing escaped his eagle eye.
Since the party chief barely made himself available for a personal audience, the congressmen used him as a sounding board to get things done. No one in the clique surrounding Rahul Gandhi today has such attributes. As a result, the party leadership has lost touch with ground-level realities.
Patel passed away after suffering multiple organ failures due to deteriorating health as a result of Covid-19.
Ahmed Bhai’s death could not have come at a worse time for his party. Congress recently suffered a humiliating defeat in Bihar’s assembly elections, despite the fact that its alliance partner, RJD of Tejaswi Yadav, had generously allocated 70 seats. Potential allies in the upcoming elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are unlikely to be so complacent.
Twenty-three senior congressional leaders recently signed a letter demanding introspection, accountability and elections. A step that would normally be interpreted as a rebel in a hierarchical party. But in his current weakened state, Ahmed Bhai successfully negotiated with the ginger group to reach a compromise acceptable to all. Many of the dissenters were his personal friends. Ahmed Bhai had numerous contacts across the political division, which often worked to the advantage of his party.
He worked loyally for three generations of the Gandhi family. The son of a wealthy farmer from Bharuch, Gujarat, he got his start in politics as the leader of the Youth Congress and won a parliamentary seat in his home district in 1977, when his party took a beating in most of northern India. He was a parliamentarian eight times, three times from the Lok Sabha.
But after Congress lost its control in Gujarat, the BJP did everything it could to reduce its influence. So much so that in his 1980 Lok Sabha campaign, the BJP workers dropped the name Babubhai, the name he later called himself, and inserted Ahmed on their election posters to give the campaign a communal touch.
In this Oct. 12, 2012, file photo, Congress Speaker Sonia Gandhi with her political advisor Ahmed Patel at an election campaign event in Rajkot. (PTI)
In his last Rajya Sabha election of Gujarat, even though Amit Shah tried his best and got six members of the House of Deputies to defect, he succeeded for a hair with a nail-biting finish.
I met Ahmed Bhai in the early 1980s. Rajiv Gandhi, as Prime Minister, had appointed him as one of his three parliamentary secretaries, along with Oscar Fernandes and Arun Singh. The media referred to them as Amar, Akbar and Antony, after a popular movie of the time.
Rajiv had put him in charge of the various trusts and family foundations because he valued his discretion and loyalty. I complained to a mutual friend, the late Murli Deora, that Ahmed Bhai did not help me at all in providing information. Over the years, as we got to know each other better, I looked at him first as a friend and not as a political contact.
I found, in his quiet way, that he could be very direct and frank as long as you respected his trust. In the Central Hall of Parliament, journalists crowded around him as he entered, as he was always ready to share information, but up to a point, without betraying his party or the Gandhis.
Labeling it Chanakya, as some have done, would be a misnomer. It is true that he worked behind the scenes and had enviable contacts in all walks of life, including the business world, which he used to the benefit of his party. His job may have required him to resolve disputes and arbitrate on conflicting demands from centers of power in Congress, but he carried out his difficult task without cruelty or ill will.
Rahul Gandhi, when he first took office as party chairman, sidelined Ahmed Bhai, but then began to realize his worth. He appointed him treasurer of the party.
Ahmed Bhai, a very caring person, kept in touch during the pandemic by solicitously asking about my and my husband’s health. Unfortunately, it was he and his family who tested positive.
When I sent him a message of concern, he assured me that he was fine. Unpretentious as ever, he and his family checked into a little-known hospital in Ghaziabad run by a friend. It was only when his health deteriorated that he was transferred to a super specialty hospital in Gurgaon.
His party colleagues used to say: “There have been many PCs (Presidents of Congress), but only one AP.” For a party more embattled than ever, whose national footprint is fading, the AP leaves behind more than one pair of shoes, each one hard to fill.
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