Updated: November 16, 2020 7:03:57 am
Kapil Sibal said that ‘the Congress party knows all the answers. But they are not willing to acknowledge those answers. ‘ (Archive)
Congressional Leader Kapil Sibal talks to Manoj CG about Bihar’s verdict, Congress’s performance in recent by-elections, and more.
Congress fared poorly in Bihar, even compared to the left, as well as the recent by-elections in all states. How do you see the results?
The people of the country, not only in Bihar but wherever by-elections were held, obviously do not see Congress as an effective alternative. This is a conclusion. After all, the alternative in Bihar was the RJD. We lost all the by-elections in Gujarat. Even in the Lok Sabha elections we had not won a single seat there. In some Uttar Pradesh constituencies, congressional candidates in by-elections obtained less than 2% of the votes cast. Three of our candidates in Gujarat lost their deposits. So the writing is on the wall. A colleague of mine who is part of the CWC made a statement the other day that “I hope Congress will do some introspection.”
Read | Bihar Polls: Tariq Anwar Says Delay in Finalizing Seat Swap Hurts Us, RJD Leader Criticizes Rahul Gandhi
If Congress hasn’t been introspection for six years, what hope do we have now for introspection? We know what happens to Congress. Organizationally, we know what is wrong. I think we have all the answers. The Congress party itself knows all the answers. But they are unwilling to acknowledge those answers. If they don’t recognize those answers, the graph will continue to decline. That is the unfortunate state of affairs that Congress is in and that is what worries us.
If the leadership in Congress knows the answers, why do you think there is a reluctance to address the issues?
There is reluctance because the CAQ is a designated body. Democratic processes must be adopted and embraced even in the constitution of the CWC, which is reflected in the provisions of the constitution of Congress itself. He does not expect nominated members to begin questioning and raising concerns about the reasons for Congress’s continued decline in post-election elections.
You and 22 other senior leaders had written to the President of Congress giving him a series of suggestions. Have you heard from leadership?
Since there has been no dialogue and there seems to be no effort for dialogue on the part of the leaders and since there is no forum to express my opinions, I am forced to express them publicly. I am a congressman and will continue to be a congressman and I hope and pray that Congress provides the alternative to a power structure that has subverted all the values that the nation stands for.
Not being an effective alternative… that’s a really bad situation for a party.
This is terrible news. For a long time, we have not been an effective alternative in Bihar anyway. We have not been an alternative in Uttar Pradesh for over 25 years. These are big states. And even in Gujarat, where we are the alternative in the absence of a third force … we lost all the Lok Sabha seats and in the current by-elections we have not been able to score anything … So obviously the people of Gujarat don’t consider us an effective alternative… In Madhya Pradesh, in the 28 by-elections only eight of our candidates won.
So where we were an alternative, the people of that state have not placed their trust in Congress in the way we hoped. So the time for introspection is over. We know the answers. Congress must be brave and willing to acknowledge them.
Do you think that democratic elections for the CWC and for the office of president of Congress is the answer to the problems facing the party?
First of all, we Congressmen must recognize that we are in decline. Since the communication revolution took place, elections have turned into a presidential contest. Congress needs to discover itself. In this form of presidential election we must find answers and then decide what we have to do. If we are unable to recognize our shortcomings, even the electoral process will not lead to the desired results. The culture of nominations must disappear. Elections by nominations will not lead to the desired results. Some of us put our pen to paper and said what should be done in Congress on the road ahead. Instead of listening to us, they turned their backs on us. The results are visible to all.
Read also | Kapil Sibal: ‘Not a request, concern is shown in the letter addressed at the CWC meeting’
Not that listening to us would have produced dramatic results. The results will only come with time, with credibility, with changes in discourse and with some acceptance of our ideological positions. So even if they had listened to us, we wouldn’t have had great results. But at least we would be on track to rejuvenate Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
We are all ideologically committed to Congress. We are as good congressmen as the others. Our credentials as members of Congress cannot be doubted. We do not doubt the credentials of others. What we are saying is that every organization needs a conversation. That means listening to others. If you stop listening to others, you won’t have a conversation. And in the absence of a conversation we cannot be successful in carrying out our agendas. In the absence of a serious – and I am not saying introspection because that time is up – in the absence of seriously recognizing what the problem is, we will not be able to find any solution.
You mentioned that the elections have turned into a presidential contest. Can you elaborate?
The nature of the campaigns has changed. There is also a structural problem … in the sense that the media is controlled by the ruling party. Therefore, we need to discover a new mechanism to reach people. What is that mechanism? That needs to be thought about. We have social media platforms where Congress is doing quite well. But again, that is not producing results on the ground. So what do we have to do to produce results on the ground?
In August, 23 top congressional leaders had written to the party president with a series of suggestions.
First we have to have a conversation; with experienced minds, experienced hands, with people who understand the political realities of India, people who know what and how to articulate in the media, people who know how to make people listen to them … We need alliances, we need to reach the people . We can no longer wait for people to come to us. We are not the kind of force we used to be. We need to reach out to others through those who have experience in this business. But to do that we have to have a conversation.
So back to that question, what should we do because of the communications revolution? We have to do several things at various levels: organizationally, articulating in the media in whatever form, introducing the people that people want to hear, providing active and thoughtful leadership that can be articulated with a lot of circumspection.
We must ask ourselves what we are doing wrong and then correct ourselves. To be in a correction course, we must have a conversation with those who are married to the Congress party and have enough experience to contribute. It is not difficult to do, but it requires reaching both inside and outside.
Are the leaders of Congress taking it as usual? One more defeat …
I do not know. I’m only talking about myself. I haven’t heard the leaders say anything to me. Then I do not know. I only hear voices surrounding the leadership. That’s all I know. We have yet to hear from the Congress party their views on our recent performance in Bihar and in the by-elections. They may think that everything is fine and that I should continue as usual.
In Bihar, AIMIM won five seats. The Muslim vote also appears to be leaving Congress.
At some point, that party will turn into a spoiler. I don’t want to comment on other parties. The fact is, even when we do run candidates, we must do so in consultation with our alliance partners to find out who to run, and our votes are not polarized.
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