The Hindu : National : Defeat requires thorough introspection: Congress

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Monday, Dec 24, 2007
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Defeat requires thorough introspection: Congress

Special Correspondent

We have set the agenda, and we will continue to fight, says Kapil Sibal

Great victory for Modi: Abhishek Singhvi
“Democracy not about winning or losing a State election”

Kapil Sibal

NEW DELHI: Accepting the “verdict of the people,” the Congress said on Sunday that its defeat in Gujarat required thorough introspection. It rejected the view that party president Sonia Gandhi’s “merchants of death” remark had helped Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Asked whether the remark was a strategic error, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal said: “The truth has to be told. We have to fight it up front. Democracy is not about winning or losing a State election.”

“We have set the agenda, and we will continue to fight,” Mr. Sibal said.

According to B.K. Hariprasad, general secretary and Gujarat party in-charge, the defeat called for a detailed discussion with the State party leaders. “We have to have a meeting and then decide what needs to be done there.”

Mr. Hariprasad said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have gone to the people on the development issue, but they went back to their communal agenda once they realised it was not selling.

Mr. Modi picked development and Ram Setu as his election planks but soon realised that Ram Setu was a non-issue and development did not sell.

“They were quick to shift to the communal agenda by raking up the Sohrabuddin encounter.”

Describing Gujarat as different from other States, Mr. Hariprasad said the fight there was of ideology, but what Mr. Modi campaigned for was not even BJP ideology. It was his (Mr. Modi’s) own agenda. “But we will continue to fight,” he said.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said it was a great victory for Mr. Modi. The Congress had expected to improve in Saurashtra because of the rebellion in the BJP and in the tribal belt, though it had increased its count in central Gujarat.

Stunned by the results, no senior leader, barring Mr. Hariprasad, came to the party headquarters on Akbar Road. It wore a deserted look but for the television crews waiting for a byte. Railway Minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad said the Congress had given ticket to some candidates “implicated in the riot cases.”

“The secular parties will have to think how people have won using communal tactics,” he said.

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