Just when the Congress is attempting to pin down the Modi government over the ongoing farmers’ protests and job losses, former East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit ’s controversial remarks on the Indian Army succeeded in pushing it on the defensive. It also provided the Bharatiya Janata Party fresh ammunition to attack the main opposition party on the issue of patriotism and nationalism.
Dikshit was quoted as saying, “Ours is not a mafia Army like Pakistani army which makes statements like goons on the street. It looks bad when our Army chief gives a statement like a sadak ka goonda.”
Dikshit made these comments with reference to Army Chief Bipin Rawat’s defence of an officer’s decision to use a civilian as a human shield against stone pelters in the Kashmir Valley.
The BJP lost no time in fielding its spokespersons and ministers to hit out at the Congress over the insult to the Indian army and demand an apology from its president Sonia Gandhi. Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman was at the forefront of the BJP attack: “We condemn it and demand that the Congress leadership, especially Sonia Gandhi, come out and disown the leaders who are continuously insulting the army. They must apologise.”
Realising that Dikshit’s statement had landed the party in an embarrassing situation, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi publicly pulled up Dikshit on Monday, stating, “”The army chief is the leader of the Indian Army, no political representative should feel the need to comment about him.”
At the same time, Dikshit offered an apology and withdrew his remarks.
Genuine mistake?
But the damage had already been done. The Congress was left squirming as sheepish leaders were at pains to point out that Dikshit had apologised, and that this was a genuine mistake on his part. However, many party leaders were not convinced with this explanation that believed that Dikshit had knowingly made these statements with the purpose of undermining the party. After all, this is not the first time that the former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit’s son has embarrassed the party and even taken potshots at Rahul Gandhi over the past three years.
At a time when there was a chorus in the Congress that Rahul Gandhi should take over as its president, Dikshit had declared that most party members regarded Sonia Gandhi as their leader and that she was needed to lead them at this critical juncture. “Sonia Gandhi can transfer presidentship of the party to anyone, bequeath the presidentship to anyone she wants, but she cannot bequeath her leadership to anybody she wants,” Dilkshit had said in an interview. This was seen as a clear vote of no confidence in Rahul Gandhi’s leadership capabilities.
At another point, while commenting on the party’s humiliating defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Dikshit had remarked in an interview that the Congress is a confused party, that it is directionless, is not sufficiently inclusive, has alienated its workers and that it needs someone new to energise and revive it.
Not just that but Dikshit had also spoken disapprovingly about former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s move to help out Reserve Bank governor Urjit Patel when he was questioned by a parliamentary committee on demonetisation in a parliamentary committee meeting. “I respect Dr Singh very highly, but I believe what he did was not fair,” Dikshit had remarked.
Party politics
Congress insiders put these periodic outbursts down to Dikshit’s growing frustration and that he feels marginalised and underutilised in the party. However, the former Congress MP has to share the blame for this. Dikshit was included in the party’s panel of spokespersons but he has declined to address the regular media briefings and has studiously kept away from the Congress headquarters on the plea that he is preoccupied with running his NGO.
Dikshit was apparently unhappy that he would have to work under his and his mother’s pet hate, Ajay Maken, who was given charge of the media department before his appointment as Delhi Congress chief. “Dikshit has been sulking for some time now because he has not been given any important role in the party while Maken has been continuously rewarded,” remarked a Congress functionary.
At the same time, Dikshit is also nursing a grievance over the treatment meted out to his mother Sheila Dikshit, who was named at the Congress party’s chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the last Uttar Pradesh assembly polls but was asked to pull out when the party finalised an alliance with the Samajwadi Party. Similarly, the mother-son duo were peeved that Maken had ignored them and their supporters in the recent Delhi corporation elections. The three-time Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit had subsequently declared that she was not invited to campaign in the election. Party insiders said when Sheila Dikshit drew Sonia Gandhi’s attention to the fact that Sandeep Dikshit was underutilised, the Congress president had pointed to the fact that he is on the panel of spokespersons.
Congress leaders tend to brush aside Dikshit’s statements on the ground that he is a political lightweight but there is no denying that the former Delhi MP is capable of damaging the party at a time when it needs everyone on board.
