Does Digvijay Singh battle for himself or Rahul?

Sheela Bhatt tries to make sense of the rising stature of Congress leader Digvijay Singh and his brand of politics.
There is no doubt that in public life, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh is becoming a formidable force. His attempts to rubbish Hindutva forces of different shades and wooing of the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh has put him in a different league in the current political landscape.

Rashid Kidwai, author of the newly-published book 24, Akbar Road, says, "Digvijay's transition from state to national politics is fascinating. It's a result of great determination, real politick and astute political posturing."

Singh's hardline politics on caste and communal issues has thrown up three major pointers.

Firstly, many Congressmen vouch with force that he is batting for himself and that he is not carrying any brief from party President Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi. But in the absence of any statement or signal distancing themselves from Singh's brazen statements it's difficult to believe those Congressmen, who are upset with his emergence.
Right now, the nation does not know if Singh's line is, also, the Gandhi family line.
Secondly, will Singh's unabashed alignment of Congress with Muslims in Uttar Pradesh bring votes? To get en-block Muslim votes in UP into the Congress's kitty is a difficult task and difficult to judge in view of volatile and complex ground situation in the state. Many Muslim leaders in UP claim that there is perceptible difference now.

But then in the Urdu press he is criticised too. One Urdu daily's editorial claimed, "Let Muslims live in peace. Digvijay should not create an exclusive Muslim bogey in 21st century India." The final word will be known only when the election results are announced but till then Digvijay is selling dreams to Muslims and Dalits. It's a gamble with high stakes.
The more interesting issue that has seized Congressmen is that on both above questions the Congress Working Committee members are divided. Rediff.com talked to few senior Congress leaders who, in off the record conversations, said that Singh is moving ahead daringly and dangerously.

Singh has formidable enemies and adversaries within the Congress that starts from Home Minister P Chidambaram. Although, Ambika Soni supports him many senior leaders, including A K Antony, Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Sonia Gandhi and other party office bearers have, reportedly, expressed doubts over Singh's strategy.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his office are also watching Singh's moves with anxiety.

A senior officer close to Dr Singh asked, "Why is he strengthening the Bharatiya Janata Party?"

No doubt, Digvijay Singh has given a 24/7 job to the BJP's spokesmen.
Singh lost the 2003 assembly election in Madhya Pradesh and the post of chief minister after 10 years of rule. His defeat was ignominious. He could see that in the state he didn't provide water, roads, power, education or health. The records of all criteria of living standards were pathetic.

In Madhya Pradesh, within the Congress, there were too many claimants for the state leadership and Singh had too many competitors and enemies. Singh's move to not fight the election was a most clever ploy to save himself.

After the Churhat lottery scam as Arjun Singh played new moves to remain relevant in the Congress's Delhi darbar, Digvijay has gone step ahead and is mixing Arjun's formula with former prime minister V P Singh's tricks. V P Singh countered the Mandir issue with Mandal politics.

In the jungle of Indian politics, he is following in footsteps of his guru, Arjun Singh and experimenting the political practices of his V P Singh, his distant relative.
Their agenda of inclusive growth was attractive, their ideals of justice for minority and downtrodden classes were lofty and their articulation was cerebral, even though, neither Arjun Singh nor V P Singh were anywhere near social reformers of the Gandhian era.
"India has never been same again since the day when Ayodhya was pitted against Mandal. The country remained divided and it has taken a long time for polity to shift the focus of nation from caste and communal instinct to development. Digvijay wants India to return to streets," explains a critic of the Congress leader.

If one sees the rage of the BJP workers in Madhya Pradesh against Digvijay Singh it gives ominous signs of the coming days.

It is significant to note that without rebelling like V P Singh, Digvijay is determined to play V P Singh. One is not sure how and how much he would succeed but it is a game that would affect the entire nation and not just Uttar Pradesh.

Like V P Singh, he is promising to bring together, once again, the Dalit-Muslim combination to the Congress' side. This deadly concoction gives an intoxicating high to Digvijay Singh.

He left Madhya Pradesh unceremoniously, but today he is bigger than any of the state leaders, including Kamal Nath and state party president Suresh Pachauri.

Eight years down the line, he is now famous as mentor of Rahul Gandhi. He is also infamous as man who will stoop to any level to hit out at his political rivals. He took a vow of not entering electoral politics but the man has exhibited more political ambitions than just fighting a humble election.

Just ten years back, he was one among many Congress leaders and that too a 'state leader'. Today, he is the most sought after netaji after Sonia and Rahul within the media, at least.
Madhusudan Mistry, a leader from Gujarat, says: "What's wrong with what he is saying? Are Muslims not suffering? Can't a Congress leader talk about them?"
However, in the absence of any coherent and consistent political vision for the party in Uttar Pradesh, Singh has grabbed the space and sold the idea of picking up issues that create headlines.

In that kind of intoxicating affair he is successfully attracting eyeballs of television viewers. He has stirred the political scene of UP by sending Rahul to homes of Dalits. He is surely the hottest topic on the Internet.
The evidence is handy right on rediff.com where Singh's statement about Mumbai blast has attracted more than 5,000 responses from readers in the last five days. "I do not rule out anything. If they want evidence about Sangh's (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) involvement in terror activity, I have got evidence. But not in this case," Singh told media persons after the Mumbai blasts of July 13.
Singh, like Arjun Singh and V P Singh, belongs to the Thakur clan. It's hard to imagine that Digvijay's father was a leader of the Hindu Mahasabha. His family members were middle-level 'sardars' of the Gwalior royal famiy.

Unlike many Thakur leaders of Indian politics, he connects with the 'ordinary people'. A devout Hindu, he and his wife Ashadevi spend days together visiting various temples and saints of India. His son is now taking training under Montek Singh Ahluwalia in an international outfit.

Singh is media savvy and his best asset is his language and exploitation of his art of expressing political messages in nuances. He is comfortable in the language that North India understands. His supporters think his nuances are such that majority community will not get isolated while he is cajoling the minorities.

Sonia, Manmohan, Rahul, Pranab, Antony and Singh's arch rival within party and home minister Chidambaram do not have good articulation in Hindi. Singh is articulating Congress politics for northern India.

From his views on the Batla house police encounter in New Delhi to declaring support to Azamgadh's Muslim youth caught in terrorism-related cases, Singh speaks out and speaks out loudly. He gives provocative statements against the RSS.

A senior Congress leader claimed, "In Gujarat, Chief Minister Narendra Modi remains unbeatable because of the soft-Hindutva of Congress leaders in the state. Singh's politics is what the Congress needs."
Singh is playing overt politics of rhetoric by visiting places to send messages to Congress's potential constituencies.

While doing this in the semi final that the Uttar Pradesh elections next year promises to be, if he can click and create a magical win out of combination of Dalit-Muslim-poor farm labourers-Thakur votes, he will be on the path of V P Singh and Arjun Singh.
However, as of today it is a chimera, his critics vociferously argue.

Digvijay looks brazen because his party and the government has done little in last seven years in actual terms to help poor Muslims get a better education, jobs or healthcare inspite of the Sachar Committee report.

There is enough evidence to say that Maywati is weaker than last year but not down. Mulayam Singh Yadav is still, even by Congress's calculations, holding on to his Yadav-Muslim votes but with a sizable reduction.

Kamal Faruqui, national secretary of the Samajwadi Party and member of the All India Mulsim Personal Law Board, says, "Digivjay Singh will meet his Waterloo in Uttar Pradesh. He wants Dalit-Muslim votes in Uttar Pradesh but the SP will surely hold on to it's Muslim voters because they can see that in last seven years of UPA rule justice has been totally denied to Muslims."

Kidwai also thinks, "During his ten years of rule in MP and seven years as general secretary in New Delhi, Singh has not made any big difference to lives of Muslims. So, when he speaks for Muslims the action of his government doesn't match."

There is no way one can understand wisdom of Digvijay politics unless one sees beyond the UP election of 2012.

It is now widely believed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to continue as Congress's prime ministerial candidate beyond 2014. Rahul Gandhi is obvious candidate of the dynastic party but if, Gandhi is not in fray for various reasons then obviously the post of potential prime ministerial candidate for 2014 is up for grabs.

That leads to credible question: Is Digvijay batting for himself or for Rahul Gandhi?

Rediff.com talked to many senior Congress members. They seem divided. A senior leader who understands the Gandhi family politics well said that, "I can assure you that Digvijay is playing his own game for himself."

But there are others who think if there are signs that Digvijay's gamble can succeed in UP then why should the Gandhi family stop him? They will keep quiet and watch him mobilise crowds. As usual they would wait and watch. If Singh wins it will be credited to Rahul Gandhi and if he loses he will go unsung like Arjun Singh.
If he fails to deliver the Dalit-Muslim votes in the 2012 assembly elections in UP to the Gandhi family, then he will be thrown out on sidelines even before 2014.

Source Rediff.com: http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-analysis-does-digvijay-battle-for-himself-or-rahul-sheela-bhatt/20110721.htm

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