Opinion | Will Kamal Nath as Madhya Pradesh CM hurt Congress’ 2019 prospects?

Kamlendra Kanwar

Madhya Pradesh’s chief minister-in-waiting Kamal Nath — who will be succeeding Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Shivraj Singh Chouhan who served three eventful terms as chief minister — will begin his innings with a controversial past that could haunt him and the Congress in time to come.

Nath doubtlessly has a wealth of experience having been elected a Member of Parliament nine times since his entry into politics in 1980; but he is tainted by his alleged role in the 1984 massacre of Sikhs in the wake of Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

On the eve of his selection when it seemed certain that Nath had stolen a march over the other strong contender Jyotiraditya Scindia, through informal consultations of party observers with newly-elected legislators, pressure was brought to bear on Congress President Rahul Gandhi to think hard whether Nath’s selection would dent the party’s image and therefore its prospects in Punjab and Delhi where Sikhs are in substantial numbers.

In characteristic style, the BJP chipped in, calling upon Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to quit if Nath is foisted by Rahul as CM. Bravado and posturing apart, there is little cheer for the beleaguered BJP though there is hope of future dividends if Nath’s style of governance falters.

With elections to Lok Sabha less than six months away, it is indeed quite conceivable that Sikhs across the country, especially in Punjab and Delhi, could be angered by his selection. However, Rahul did not want to look as though he was dilly-dallying and stuck to his guns. In any event, it would be uncharacteristic for Congressmen to be seen defying his diktat in the open.

It was not as though in the intervening 34 years since the riots the police had pressed any charges against Nath, but the veteran Congressman was stumped because of the fact that he had spent two crucial hours outside Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in New Delhi at a time when two Sikhs were lynched by a mob outside the gurudwara baying for blood for the killing of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh security guards.

Sure enough, Nath acknowledged that he was on the scene; further it was inferred that as a party MP, he was leading the murderous mob. Time and again there were demands for Nath being brought within the ambit of investigation and while the Congress weathered those, the taint had stuck.

Even as memories were fading, a book by senior journalist Manoj Mitta and prominent lawyer HS Phoolka, released in 2007, added fuel to the Nath controversy when it pointed out that then police commissioner Subhash Tandon and additional commissioner Gautam Kaul corroborated the presence of Nath at the scene.

In June 2016, Nath was compelled to resign as party in-charge for Punjab after his appointment to the key post provoked controversy. The Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party called for his ouster.

There can be little doubt that Nath’s detractors and the BJP in particular would raise their pitch against Nath’s appointment to a crescendo in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. However, while the Delhi electorate is groping on whether to jettison Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab seems to be firmly in Singh’s grip as of now.

There is another dimension to Nath’s communal fulminations. It has to do with his address to a group of Muslims in his Chhindwara constituency where he pleaded with them to vote en bloc for the Congress if they wanted the party to win the assembly elections. Evidently, that would not have gone down well with many, but the anti-establishment mood catapulted the party to power.

How Kamal Nath’s indiscretions would be viewed in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections by the majority community could prove tricky for him and the Congress. A lot would, of course, depend on how he governs and how much he honours the promises that the party made, especially those to farmers and the urban youth.

Kamlendra Kanwar is a senior journalist. Views are personal.

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