The recent move by Government of India to bifurcate the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into two union territories, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, doesn’t seem to have gone well with senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singh. A visibly infuriated Singh invoked Mahatma Gandhi to express his feeling on the matter and said, “What would have Mahatma Gandhi done … in a situation that this bill had come and passed? I think he would have taken a march from Lal Qila to Lal Chowk to show the solidarity with the Kashmiris.”
Singh was speaking at the launch event of journalist Dhirendra K Jha’s book, Ascetic Games: Sadhus, Akharas and the Making of the Hindu vote. He took the stage to demonstrate his views on the recent political developments in J&K and confessed that Congress party was leaderless since Rahul Gandhi’s resigned as party president on July 6, 2019.
In response to a journalist on whether the Congress leadership would have the courage to march to Lal Chowk, Singh responded, “That’s what I would want them to do.”
Singh admitted to his party’s past mistakes including the failure to deal with religious fundamentalisms, preventing Babri Masjid demolition and reversing Supreme Court judgment on Shah Bano.
Congress is divided over its stance on Article 370 and many leaders including Dr Karan Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia, and Bhubaneshwar Kalita have pledged their support to the GoI’s decision to do away the discriminatory and temporary article. However, some loyalists like Singh have shown the intent to back the party. The fact that Gandhi, in whose leadership Singh swears by, claims to have Kashmiri genes but has opposed the government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 vehemently.
Singh, who is unhappy with Gandhi’s resignation, felt he was the only leader to take on BJP and RSS by attacking the ideology of hate and violence. He believed that Gandhi had the capability to lead from the front and his resignation was an opportunity lost.
In a historic move, on August 5, Home Minister Amit Shah took the opposition by surprise by tabling the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019. Shah also presented a presidential order issued earlier that day, that rendering Article 370 toothless. Since then, while people, including Kashmiris, have unanimously welcomed the move, this has certainly caused heartburns to leaders who have been left irrelevant. Congress has been at the receiving as the fissures are coming to fore with each passing day.
During the conversation,
Singh, a compulsive RSS critic, said, “I appreciate the RSS for being consistent in their objective of Hindu Rashtra. From the book Dhirendra has written, Hanuman Gari is a very interesting example of the Sadhus of the day and in that context, I firmly believe on three things that are important for religion as said by Swami Vivekananda; ethos and essence, myth and mythology and rituals.”
