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There is a fable a couple of venomous serpent which regularly bit individuals and sucked their lives out by means of its poison. Counselled by a sage, the repentant snake determined to surrender its violent methods. Days later, when the revered grasp was passing by the identical route, he noticed the reptile mendacity in a piteous state by the roadside. The grievously injured snake complained that because it had stopped biting individuals, they overcame their concern and pelted it with stones. Alas, mentioned the sage, together with biting, you additionally gave up hissing.
The letter by Congress president Sonia Gandhi to Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray signifies that the celebration appears to have taken a leaf out of that snake’s guide by deciding to hiss and underline its nuisance worth.
In the letter, Sonia has sought that the Maharashtra authorities, of which it’s a constituent, introduce quotas for scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (ST) in authorities contracts and initiatives. The letter additionally underlines that “the policies and programmes for the welfare of the Dalits and Adivasis in Maharashtra is a very important commitment made in the Common Minimum Programme of the Maha Vikas Aghadi”.
There is rising resentment within the Congress that whereas Uddhav is the face of the federal government together with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, who’s seen because the architect of the alliance, the Congress has been omitted within the chilly. Congressmen rue that the celebration has not been given due credit score for the choices of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime.
Though the Congress has most of its mass base within the Dalits, tribals and minorities, the NCP is working systematically to poach this flock and faucet into the rising disenchantment in these sections towards the rise of political Hindutva. Though some aged Adivasis in districts like Nandurbar nonetheless wistfully converse in regards to the late Indira Gandhi, the Grand Old Party, which is a pale shadow of its former self, has ceded its help amongst tribals to the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Highlighting the predicament of the Congress because it strikes a stability between the feelings of the bulk, and its core minority vote-base, it has to deal with the presence of gamers just like the All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). The NCP can be attempting to wean away the Dalits, particularly the Buddhist Dalits, into its fold.
As the state grapples with a useful resource crunch, Congress legislators and ministers complain that the finance division, held by the NCP’s deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, is tight-fisted when it comes to funds for his or her departments and constituencies. This led to Congressman Nitin Raut, the state vitality minister and impressive Dalit chief from Vidarbha, being compelled to renege on his promise of offering reduction to shoppers saddled with steep payments from the state electrical energy distribution utility.
NCP’s Dhananjay Munde holds the social justice portfolio. The NCP usually will get the credit score for schemes run by the division for Dalits and weaker sections. The Congress can be cautious about getting a uncooked deal within the distribution of positions in state-run companies, with fears that the Shiv Sena and NCP, with their new-found bonhomie in energy, could stroll off with the choicest cuts.
However, what has set the alarm bells ringing within the Congress have been reviews that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar can be elevated because the chairman of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) changing the Congress president. Though this hypothesis was denied by Pawar himself, this, coupled with Pawar’s takedown of Congress scion Rahul Gandhi as missing consistency, underlined the Congress’ insecurity about its ally.
Despite its string of electoral debacles, Congress leaders complain that the celebration is but to shed the top-down, high-command tradition, the place selections are pushed by these in Delhi. In distinction, the NCP, which is actually primarily based in Maharashtra, is nimble on its ft.
The letter from Sonia may additionally be geared toward soothing ruffled feathers amongst some leaders from the Congress who don’t see eye-to-eye with the celebration’s state management.
For occasion, some Dalit leaders are upset over the celebration’s selection of nominees to the state legislative council from the Governor’s quota. The state unit additionally lacks a full-time president with income minister Balasaheb Thorat, persevering with to maintain the cost. His opponents declare that regardless of being an eight-term legislator from Sangamner in Ahmednagar district, Thorat lacks the pan-Maharashtra mass base, heft and attraction wanted to develop the celebration.
This led to Maharashtra minister and NCP chief Nawab Malik claiming that Sonia’s letter might have been prompted by complaints by Congress ministers and internecine fights, prompting an indignant retort from Thorat.
As the outcomes of the current legislative council elections, the place the celebration’s nominee trounced the BJP’s candidate from the distinguished Nagpur graduates constituency, which is a saffron bastion reveal, the Congress could also be down, however not out. The celebration nonetheless retains sturdy pockets of help and its leaders can guarantee an electoral miracle in the event that they keep united.
Hence, as many Congress leaders would really like to agree, the celebration excessive command appears to have made the proper strikes to shake off the notion of being in energy, however not in authority. After all, higher late than by no means.
Dhaval Kulkarni is a Mumbai-based journalist and writer of ‘The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of their Senas.’ Views are private
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