Decline of Congress in Maharashtra

special report Mamta Sen

URL : http://www.covert.co.in/mamta.htm
Sleeping CM ensures Congress collapse
in coming Maharashtra election

By Mamta Sen

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh might pat himself on the back for completing four years in office this month, but he will also have to take credit for hastening the collapse of the Congress in the state. Torn apart by factionalism, the Congress is unable to hold constructive political programmes to contain its cadres and woo voters. Load-shedding, farmers’ suicides, terrorist attacks, mass arrests of innocent Muslims and the rise of atrocities against Dalits are just some of the problems confronting the Congress. It is unable to tackle all this because of sheer inertia and incompetence at the top and infighting below.
The party also finds itself on the back foot on the “sons of the soil” issue raised by MNS chief Raj Thackeray and the Shiv Sena. Recently, the Congress convened a press interaction to counter this propaganda, but apart from MP Eknath Gaikwad, other senior leaders did not turn up. The list included Narayan Rane, Bahu Jagtap and Chandrakant Handore. MLA Ashok Bhau Jadhav said that he had not been told about the interaction: “I would have come if I had known. We are not taken into confidence when such programmes are organised. They could have made one phone call at least.”
Congressmen, on condition of anonymity, insist that many among them are supportive of Raj Thackeray’s position. But MPCC spokesperson Anant Gadgil disagrees. “A true Congressman can never differentiate among people. There is no such split within the party,” he said.
The links between the Congress and the MNS are well-established, and while it is officially critical of Raj Thackeray, the latter is a welcome invitee in Congress homes. Congress leader Kripashankar Singh invited both Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray to his residence for Ganapati darshan, sending out a wrong signal to the migrant voters of the party. When asked about this, Singh said he had invited the Thackerays because of his personal relations with them. “North Indian migrant workers should also forge personal relationships,” he said.
MPCC general secretary Madhu Chavan pointed out that the party is suffering because of its inability to enthuse the Dalit and Muslim voters. In the recent municipal corporation elections, Muslims are said to have favoured the MNS-BJP and the NCP over the Congress. The Dalits voted for Mayawati and allowed the BSP to open its account in the civic polls. “There is only one Muslim graduate legislator in the party who has defected from the Samajwadi Party. The Congress today does not have any capable Dalit leader from the younger generation,” say many Congressmen.
The NCP, however, is doing a more credible job in managing the communities and retaining its vote base. In what is generally recognised as a masterstroke, the NCP appointed advocate and party national general secretary Majeed Memon to oppose Raj Thackeray’s bail application. This immediately catapulted Memon and the NCP to star status among non-Maharashtrians. At the same time, NCP chief Sharad Pawar mooted a proposal for economic reservations to the tune of Rs 15,000 crores for the dominant Maratha community in the state. The Congress is still vacillating, but the Shiv Sena has come out and welcomed this move. In other words, the NCP has managed to address both the otherwise polarised communities.
The image of Vilasrao Deshmukh has taken a beating in Mumbai. He has also acquired the reputation of being a “voracious sleeper” and has been photographed sleeping at major public functions. Local television channels have telecast snapshots of the Chief Minister sleeping through meetings on terrorism and other important issues. His leadership is now under question, and the party appears to be running, as a Youth Congress leader said, “on remote control, except that no one really knows in whose hands the remote is”