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Cong must rethink on fighting polls in 7-8 states for Oppn unity to work: Sushmita Dev
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IANS | 03 Apr, 2023
Once a core member of 'Team Rahul', former All India Mahila Congress
President Sushmita Dev changed the course and overnight joined the
Trinamool Congress in August 2021.
Since then, she
has been on the ground to lead Trinamool's campaign in two states -- Goa
and Tripura. However, election results were far from satisfactory for
the party in both these states.
In a detailed conversation with
IANS, Dev spoke on a a range of issues, from Rahul Gandhi's
disqualification from the Lok Sabha, corruption charges against Assam CM
Himanta Biswa Sarma, Opposition unity, to the road ahead for Mamata
Banerjee and her party.
Excerpts from the interview:
IANS:
You had extensively campaigned in Tripura, but the Trinamool drew a
blank in the recent Assembly polls. In fact, Trinamool's vote percentage
was below NOTA...
Dev: First of all, we contested a limited
number of seats. We put up candidates in only 28 seats (out of 60). It
became a bipolar contest between the Congress-CPI(M) combine and the
BJP, while the tribal votes more or less polarised towards Tipra Motha
Party. We could not go on either side. The whole political journey of
Mamata Banerjee has been anti-Left. Sometimes, if you stick to your
ideology, you may lose an election, but it is better than landing in
confusion about your ideology.
IANS: But about a year ago, Trinamool was claiming to be the principle opposition party in Tripura...
Dev:
When we started working in 2021, there was no opposition party on the
ground. Both CPI-M and Congress had ruled Tripura for many decades, so
they had a settled base. We, as a new party, could not even open an
office due to political violence. It was only in July last year that we
could open a main office in Agartala. However, until the election time,
we were not able to open offices in the blocks due to fear of political
violence. No one was ready to offer us space for an office. No one faced
the challenges which we did in Tripura. Our workers were constantly
threatened.
IANS: Do you think that Trinamool missed a face in Tripura?
Dev:
To win an election, you need a credible face and a narrative. The party
decided to go to the polls with a son or daughter of the soil.
Unfortunately, we ran into a lot of trouble in putting up a strong and
credible local face.
IANS: Trinamool could not build a narrative too?
Dev:
People of Tripura have a lot of respect for Mamata Banerjee's good
governance and strong leadership in West Bengal. But we missed a face or
a strong local leader to take things forward. I must say that despite
that, our workers and leaders put up their best efforts in the
elections.
IANS: But now your party workers in Tripura are complaining that no leader is taking care of them after the polls...
Dev:
I have been in a national party for 30 years of my life. The time I
spent in Tripura is more than any representative of any party. You see
the other national parties, including the Congress, the party in-charges
hardly visit the states. Actually, this has been peddled as part of a
propaganda. Since I joined the Trinamool, I spent most of the last
year-and-a-half in Tripura because the elections were near and we had no
president for long periods. I tried my best in those circumstances.
IANS: Will Trinamool contest the Lok Sabha elections in Tripura?
Dev: I am of the opinion that we should fight, but the decision would be taken by the party.
IANS: What is the positioning of Trinamool in Assam?
Dev:
We are gradually expanding our organisation in Assam. The politics of
BJP is driven by fear. If you post anything on social media, you will
get arrested the next day. If you criticise the government, they will
try to take action against you using the administrative machineries. In
these circumstances, building a new organisation is a really challenging
task. But I believe that Ripun Bora is doing a fantastic job and has
already made breakthroughs.
IANS: You were once a close associate
of Rahul Gandhi. What is your take on his disqualification from the Lok
Sabha and the BJP's stand?
Dev: This is not the first time that
an MP has been disqualified from the Parliament. But what is most
important here is the turn of events. The person who filed the
defamation suit is a politically motivated man, and he himself put the
case on hold for one year as per Congress' version. This case was
suddenly revived clearly with an aim to avoid the debate in the
Parliament on the Adani issue, which I think is the biggest scam in the
country.
IANS: Your party supremo Mamata Banerjee stood by Rahul Gandhi...
Dev:
My party leader did not stand beside one particular person, but against
the entire attempt to throttle the Opposition. Since 2021, Mamata
Banerjee has been constantly saying that there is no equality in the
eyes of the law. If you are in the Opposition, enforcement agencies will
treat you with bias, and if you are in the BJP, they just stop every
investigation.
One example is that of Assam Chief Minister
Himanta Biswa Sarma. In the Central Hall of Parliament, I read out a
booklet published by the BJP accusing Sarma of being involved in the
Louis Berger scam. Months after that, he joined the BJP and the issue
was over.
IANS: Do you think the present situation provides a chance for stronger Opposition unity?
Dev:
Narendra Modi and the BJP can be defeated if there is unity among the
opposition parties. But this will only prove effective if Congress can
win at least 100 of about 180 Lok Sabha seats in which they are in a
bipolar contest with the BJP. If they continue to perform poorly in
those seats, and if Trinamool doesn't win all the 42 seats in West
Bengal, the BJP cannot be ousted. So, it is not important whether Rahul
Gandhi is inside the Parliament, the Congress as a party must do its
organisational work and win for Opposition unity to work eventually.
IANS: Is it possible for the Congress to take on the BJP?
Dev:
I am not the right person to comment on that. But from my earlier
experience in the party, I can say that the Congress is a top-heavy
organisation, and by the time it goes from the Pradesh Congress to the
booth level, the structure dilutes. You know the reason why the BJP
could not defeat Mamata Banerjee in 2021: Trinamool has a very strong
organisation at the grassroots level. If the Congress wants to do well
in 2024, they must focus on that. And it is not an easy task.
IANS:
The Congress has accused Trinamool of dividing the Opposition votes in
Meghalaya and Goa. Don't you accept that this is ultimately helping the
BJP?
Dev: The Opposition unity is an exercise in which everybody
has to walk the same distance, including the Congress. Today, the
Congress is contesting so many seats in Bengal which only helps the BJP.
In the recent Sagardighi by-election, local Congress leaders appealed
for Opposition unity between the BJP, Congress, and Left. If this kind
of ideological confusion exists in the grand old party, an alliance will
be difficult.
Congress must rethink its position in seven-eight
states, including West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar
Pradesh, etc. where other parties are doing better than the Congress. If
Congress expects Mamata Banerjee not to contest seats outside Bengal,
the same applies to them as well in states where there are stronger
contenders than the Congress.
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