Anil Anand
The justice has finally caught up with Delhi strongman Sajjan Kumar following his conviction and life imprisonment in one of the 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases. The development meant different things to different people. For the families of the riot victims the ends of justice had been met after long, arduous and painful wait spanning over two decades. Politically speaking it came as a bolt from the blue for Congress which under the stewardship Rahul Gandhi has been desperately trying to regain ground in preparation for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Again politically speaking Sajjan’s conviction would have different meaning for Congress, which he quit a day after Delhi High Court pronounced its judgement, and its arch rival the BJP. There are two connotations of his being found guilty in the case; firstly the impact on Congress’ standing in Delhi local and secondly the impact on national politics as BJP is bound to make it a bigger issue in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections and naturally their direct target would be Congress and particularly the Gandhi family.
There is no denying the fact that Sajjan Kumar has been part and parcel of Congress in Delhi for three decades and more and had dominated the capital city-state’s politics with a total sway in Delhi rural particularly the Outer Delhi, which incidentally was his Lok Sabha constituency being one of the largest in the country in terms of voters before it was dismantled under delimitation process. The large organisational network which he had created made him almost indispensable both for the Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee (DPCC) as well as the All India Congress Committee (AICC). His indispensability lay in his capability to make any party programme a success through mustering crowds.
Whosoever has been the DPCC president none could take the risk of ignoring him simply because had been the only party leader with vast network of workers. This indispensability factor if made him significant it also created many rivals for him as he would bulldoze his way to extract his pound of flesh from any DPCC chief to ensure his sway over the organisational matters.
His conviction and sentencing on the eve of Lok Sabha elections is nothing less than a trump card for the BJP in the saffron party’s renewed attempts to create a new perception against the Congress (read Gandhi family) for being responsible for the anti-Sikh riots. The party wasted no time in seizing the issue as soon as the court verdict came and tried to hit the Congress where it hurt the most.
There were two options left for the Congress in their quest to ward-off or at least weaken BJP’s perception building attempt before it got rooted strongly in the latter’s election discourses; Expel Sajjan from the party or ensure that he quitted on his own. The second option seemed more plausible given the unassailable position that he enjoyed in Delhi Congress and his proximity to Gandhi family as expulsion would have generated more heat and dust. If the party insiders are to be believed Sajjan was asked to resign and he willingly obliged without creating a fuss and rightly too as he had not many options.
His resignation might have given some momentary relief to the Congress by taking sting out of the BJP’s vitriolic attacks but the showdown is waiting to happen. The first effect of his conviction and subsequently leaving the party is being immediately felt by the Delhi Congress. The party’s ongoing process of mobilising booth level workers for Lok Sabha elections has come to a standstill in most of the Outer Delhi areas as middle and lower rung leaders owing allegiance to Sajjan have expressed their inability to go ahead with the meetings under the prevailing circumstances. This has raised a question mark on Congress preparations for the elections in Delhi.
The decision to get rid of Sajjan, through seeking his resignation, has squarely been taken by the Congress high command with a view on the general elections with Delhi unit falling in line. Given his organisational utility view in Delhi Congress is sharply divided even today on whether he should have been ” forced” to quit as void created by his removal from scene four months before the elections would be difficult to fill. However, since the stakes for the Congress at the national levels are greater than Delhi local naturally the scales tilted accordingly.
None of the successive DPCC presidents, ever since Sajjan acquired the strongman status, had ever visualised a Congress network without his presence or intervention. As a result all of them chose the easier way of relying on him rather than creating an alternative system. When current DPCC chief and former Union Minister Ajay Maken tried to get rid of certain stereotypes, his moves were appreciated by all those who had been made to look pygmies by Sajjan. Ostensibly, Maken soon realised the stronghold of Sajjan on the organisation and mended fences with him at the cost of antagonising all others who were sidelined by him.
Unlike Delhi where Sajjan would be missed by the Congress for his organisational abilities, the party at the national levels will have to prepare itself for a war of perception at a different level as BJP and its ally Shiromani Akali Dal will not allow this opportunity go, to hit at the Gandhi family. Definitely, Sajjan factor would continue to haunt the Congress and the party’s first family for some more time to come though in a different mode and manner.
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