Voting for the 68 Assembly segments in Himachal Pradesh was held on November 12 and the results are to be declared on December 8. Despite the BJP’s aggressive campaign and the AAP’s entry, the Congress is upbeat and confident of forming the government.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, an outgoing MLA in the Assembly and former Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president, spoke to Frontline on why he thinks the Congress will be elected to power. Although chary of admitting it, Sukhu is considered to be a chief ministerial contender. He is contesting from Nadaun, which he represented in the outgoing Assembly. Excerpts:
What do you make of the high turnout? How do you interpret it? It is felt that the turnout was high as the AAP was also a contender.
This is not the first time that we have witnessed a high turnout. This is a continuous process. There is a lot of awareness among the public. It [turnout] was 75 per cent last time; this time it is 75.6 per cent. The electorate is highly “political”. Everyone—employees, teachers, farmers, students—is in politics and is political. One newspaper is read by 10 people. The political science of the turnout is in favour of the Congress. The byelection results [in favour of the Congress] showed that people are hugely aware of issues in the State.
Why do you feel the Congress is going to do well in this election?
A good government is characterised by good governance. When the party governing itself is at fault, its re-election becomes difficult. There is a perception that the BJP government has not performed, that there was a delivery deficiency, and that it was being run by remote control. The government failed on its promises. Inflation, unemployment, the Agnipath scheme, and the police [entrance paper] scam were important issues for people.
Following allegations of corruption during the pandemic, the BJP’s State president Rajiv Bindal had to resign. Then, Agnipath became a big issue for people in Lower Himachal. Every family has one member in the Army. When it was learnt that Agnipath would be a contractual form of employment, people naturally got agitated.
But then the BJP also made several welfare announcements.
It does not matter what the party in power says. People say the government was given the opportunity to perform. It had five years but it did not deliver even on its own promises.
This is the first time that the Congress is fighting without former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.
Yes. But the Congress was not able to win successive elections earlier even when Virbhadraji was there. Yet, with the BJP in the saddle and in his absence, we won the recent byelections, one to the Lok Sabha [Mandi] and three Assembly segments. He [Virbhadra Singh] was undoubtedly a tall leader and has left his legacy. But our organisational strength and presence are good, have been good. That is one reason why the AAP has not been able to make a dent. People in the State are inclined towards the Congress for more than one reason.
Yet, organisationally, the BJP is always seen as having an edge.
It may be so but in HP things are different. Here, all three—the Congress, BJP, and the CPI(M)—have an organisational base. How that converts into votes is the challenge. I have been NSUI president, Youth Congress president, and HPCC chief. In HP we have organisation-driven politics. And we can match the BJP in organisational strength. We have been working on strengthening the organisation for the last eight years, going beyond individual leaders. Today the younger generation looks towards a leadership that can solve issues. We believe that can provide this leadership and therefore, we are confident of getting a full majority.
What impact will rebellion have on the Congress?
People do not like candidates and legislators who defect. Rebellion has become a routine phenomenon across parties. If some of our people have gone over, there have been defections from the other side as well. The electorate does not see the defectors as serious candidates, but some half a dozen independents might win.
Why do you think the situation is favourable for the Congress?
The BJP came to power in 1998 with the help of Pandit Sukh Ram. It never had a mass leader in the State. As for the Congress, Virbhadra Singh had a very good grip on the party. But aspirations among the youth have changed over the years. This time we had a planned campaign where Priyanka Gandhi took the lead. She was the guiding force for our party. She held six rallies. We discussed everything with her: candidates, strategy, and campaign issues. We renominated everyone, all our sitting MLAs.
I suggested that we should fight the elections with a collective leadership and not project anyone as the Chief Minister. The party went along with this idea. We maintained that we are not contesting for power but for structural change. And I think people want that as well.
COMMents
SHARE