A product of JNU’s politics focused on Azadi slogans in 2016, Kanhaiya Kumar has now quit Communist Party of India (CPI) and joined the Congress.
Most blistering attack for JNU’s rowdy-rhetoric product Kanhaiya Kumar came from D Raja, the general secretary of CPI. He suggested Kanhaiya’s personal ambition has done the trick.
“The party, Communist Party of India, existed before he joined and will succeed even after his expulsion. The party will not end with him. Our party is for selfless struggle and sacrifices. Kanhaiya Kumar was not straightforward and truthful to my party,” says D Raja.
There was a lot of hype about Kanhaiya Kumar right from 2016 – when he was first arrested and then released.
The CPI enthusiastically gave hin ticket from Begusari in Biharand in the run up to the 2019 general elections.
At one point, Kumar’s Azadi slogan was equated as an ‘anthem’ against the RSS and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Journalists would predict that the central government has ‘given birth’ to a formidable opponent in the future – and “2019 is not far off”. The so called ‘2019 general elections came and passed by and Kanhaiya Kumar was humbled with a massive margin by BJP’s vocal hardliner leader Giriraj Singh.
The BJP nominee Singh, now Rural Development Minister, had polled a massive 57 per cent votes as against 22.02 per cent by Kanhaiya Kumar.
Singh had polled 6,92,193 votes while Kanhaiya Kumar as CPI candidate got only 2,69,976. Nevertheless, he finished second with RJD’s Tanveer Hassan polling 1,98,233 votes. The CPI had banked heavily on his so called image and thus gave the ticket to former JNU Students’ Union president. Perhaps, it did not bother much about his ‘commitment’ and so D Raja is an aggrieved man today! The irony is that he has landed in the Congress today. During 2016 ‘image building’ exercise, Kumar’s slogan also screamed ‘Azad (freedom) from corruption’.
He has displayed inconsistency. He is only consistent with his anti-Modi and anti-BJP stance. That way he can join anybody tomorrow who would be against Modi. Political defection is nothing new in Indian politics but a journey from CPI to Congress is unheard off. There is no harm in change. Politics is dynamics affairs and as a political constituency Begusari also had undergone transition.
As a politically sensitive segment, onetime ‘red forte’ Begusarai is now an epitome of caste politics.”Thanks to Lalu Prasad’s hyped emphasis on caste, Begusarai lost its trade unionism and leftists inclination,” I was told in April 2019 days before the polls.
My visit had convinced me that the BJP would have an upper hand as Bhumihar and other Hindu votes were gradually consolidating in favour of Giriraj Singh.
Voters would say they want to back ‘Chhatra neta Kanhaiya’, but would go ‘defensive’ when quizzed about the infamous ‘Tukde Tukde campaign’.
Thus, by enlisting Kanhaiya as a youth face for his party, Rahul Gandhi has ensured that even for the 2024 battle in Bihar or Gujarat or anywhere else, along with so called ‘firebrand’ image of Kanhaiya, he will be making ‘anti Tukde Tukde’ campaign also politically relevant. The campaign about nationalism and ‘action against Pakistan’ was visible in this township – once an industrial hub and also a ‘communists’ pocket’.
The CPI’s decision to field Kanhaiya Kumar from the seat also came as a big setback to the Gathbandhan – ‘anti-Nitish anti-Modi’ alliance politics in Bihar. And D Raja was also slammed by RJD. What are his merits? Other than being young, now he is 34 and would be 37 by 2024, there is nothing much Kanhaiya can bring onto the heat and dust of electoral battle.
The slogan of ‘Azadi’ could not be sold electorally in 2019 itself. So, what is making Rahul turn towards these faces – like Kanhaiya Kumar and Jignesh Mewani (an Independent MLA in Gujarat)?
In democracies, political parties and people often fall prey to sheer sloganeering and populism. In its efforts to build up the party with young and new faces, perhaps not knowingly the Congress is embracing too much of populism.
And even ‘populism’ that goes well with Englisg media and what I call the ‘Sickular’ crowd. In Punjab, they have burned fingers by opting for Navjot Singh Sidhu, a cricketer to TV’s ‘laughter show’ star; and now Kanhaiya Kumar. Of the 67 years between 1947 and 2014, 54 years the Congress party has been in power.
So, if there are ills, Rahul-Priyanka duo cannot wash off their hands. Kanhaiya Kumar will now be part of that symbol of the ruling elite. It’s a fall for leader who emerged shouting slogans.
