‘Acchoot Doesn’t Mean Dalit, Congress Politicises Everything’: JD(U)’s K.C. Tyagi

Responding to the Congress’s charge of belying its own social justice politics, JD(U)’s political advisor and national spokesperson K.C. Tyagi said that he was referring to the grand old party being “treated as untouchables” by the other regional parties prior to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s efforts of stitching together the INDIA alliance.

Sravasti Dasgupta

New Delhi: Janata Dal (United)’s political advisor and national spokesperson K.C. Tyagi has said that he was not referring to Dalits when he referred to the Congress as an “acchoot” or untouchable.

This, after the Congress demanded that Tyagi should apologise to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and termed his statement as “unfortunate” from a party that champions social justice.

Tyagi in an interview reacted to Kharge’s statement that the JD(U)’s exit from the INDIA alliance and its subsequent alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was “pre-planned”.

“Why did we bring Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Akhilesh Yadav with an ‘achhoot’ party like you (Congress)?” Tyagi was quoted as saying.

In response, the Congress said that it is “unfortunate that the feeling of untouchability is present in the minds of those who claim social justice politics.”

“Is this the result of compromising with Godse for power? Congress had fought against this thinking before and will fight now too; and will ensure social justice and equality in the true sense! K C. Tyagi should immediately apologise to Congress President Shri Mallikarjun Kharge.”

In an interview with The Wire, Tyagi said that his statement has been “politicised” by the Congress and he was only referring to the grand old party being “treated as untouchables” by the other regional parties prior to Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s efforts of stitching together the INDIA alliance.

“I said that the Congress party was “untouchable” for its alliance parties and for regional parties. They were not talking to them. Was Mamata Banerjee talking to them? Was Shiv Sena talking? Was Arvind Kejriwal talking? ‘Acchoot’ does not mean Dalit. They politicise everything. What I meant was that nobody was ready to talk to them, they were being treated as ‘acchoot’. Now they are asking for an apology to Kharge and raising questions on us not being a social justice party. I said they were being treated as untouchables. What is wrong in what I said? No one was ready to touch them. No one was ready to speak to them,” he said.

Speaking to The Wire, Tyagi accused the Congress of “third rate antics” and “manipulations” that led to the JD(U)’s ultimate exit from the alliance. He also said that while the party had no roadmap for seat sharing it wanted to grab big posts in the alliance. While Nitish has been accused of switching sides frequently in self interest, Tyagi said that the alliance with the BJP is “permanent” and that unlike with the Congress, the JD(U) is able to work with the BJP despite ideological differences on certain issues.

JD(U)’s alliance with the RJD in Bihar was ended all of a sudden, even though there was speculation in the media for the past few weeks. How was this decision taken and was this a sudden decision?

When we left the NDA, we had 16 MPs and Nitish Kumar was the chief minister. We did not make an alliance with the RJD because of any political ambitions, or for the post of the chief minister. Due to the efforts of Nitish Kumar, the first meeting of the INDIA alliance was held in Patna. This was the time when Kejriwal, Akhilesh, Mamata and K. Chandrashekhar Rao were maintaining a distance from the Congress and were looking for a non-Congress, non-BJP alternative. Exactly 1.5 years ago during the Devi Lal Jayanti in Hisar, Nitish was there and so was Tejashwi and I was also present. He said that without Congress any option will not be successful. We need to bring in the Congress as it is a big party. And he appealed to all leaders, he came to Delhi along with Laluji and Tejashwi and met Sonia Gandhi. But in the last 1.5 years, the Congress not only tried to take over the big posts in the INDIA alliance but had no roadmap for seat sharing arrangements or joint campaigning.

There was no meeting in three months. Nitishji then became active again and then we met in Bengaluru and Mumbai. And then after 1.5 years we met at the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi (in December). Akhilesh Yadav, Sharad Pawar and Laluji also said on various occasions that Nitish Kumar has brought this alliance together so naturally he should be made the convenor. But Nitish announced on several occasions that he is not a contender for this post. In Mumbai it was decided that there will be no PM face.

Only after we cross the 272-mark will we decide. One day before the meeting at Ashoka Hotel (in Delhi), Mamata Banerjee came to Delhi and met Kejriwal for tea and then both announced together that there will be no face of the INDIA alliance. But during the meeting the next day she suddenly got up and without taking anyone’s suggestion she suggested Kharge’s name (for chairperson) and Kejriwal supported her. Khargeji gracefully declined.

So the Congress party leadership is not interested in anything except to grab power by climbing on the shoulders of regional parties. Haryana, Rajasthan, MP, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Assam and Telangana-these are their areas. There they decided they won’t do seat sharing with any party. In UP they have one MP but want 20 seats, in Bihar they have 1 MP but they want 10 seats, in Tamil Nadu they have 8 MPs but want 15 seats.

Everyday Adhir Ranjan Choudhury (Congress MP from West Bengal) has been asking for Mamata Banerjee’s government to be finished but they also want 10 seats there. In Maharashtra they have 1 MP but want 25 seats. So they want to finish regional parties and fire from their shoulders.

Nitish and Akhilesh have also urged them to finish seat sharing talks on various occasions. Congress does not know how big an organisation BJP is and how widely they have spread out at the village booth level conducting meetings.

From our end, apart from intrigue and manipulation no other work has been done. In Bihar, from our alliance partner, two to three ministers were engaged in making statements about how the party should be anti-Hindu, anti-Ram. They kept making statements against Ram, Sanatan Dharma, and on the Ram Temple Pran Pratishtha. All this ensured that it was advantage BJP and disadvantage INDIA alliance.

Whether one goes (to the Pran Pratishtha) or not is a matter of their personal faith. There is no point in making statements against who’s going. So we were tired of all this and decided to end the alliance.“““““““““““““““““

You have earlier said that it was a conspiracy by the Congress to not give the INDIA alliance convenor or chairperson’s post to Nitish Kumar. Are you holding the Congress solely responsible or do you see a hand by the other parties as well?

Congress gave birth to this conspiracy. Just look at the statements that Rahul Gandhi is making even today in Bihar. He is saying that Nitish Kumar did not want to conduct the caste survey and he did it under pressure from us. Why hasn’t the Congress conducted the caste survey in any state that it is in power? Congress was also against the Mandal Commission and opposed 27% reservation for backward castes and also brought down the VP Singh government. His own father (Rajiv Gandhi) in a 1.5 hour speech drank water 3 times and said there should not be caste based reservations. So how a big leader like Rahul Gandhi says things like this is beyond our understanding.

You referred to the Congress as an achoot party. The Congress has responded to your statement and said that it is unfortunate that a party that talks about social justice is using such words. How would you respond to that?

I said that the Congress party was “untouchable” for its alliance parties and for regional parties. They were not talking to them. Was Mamata Banerjee talking to them? Was Shiv Sena talking? Was Arvind Kejriwal talking?

‘Acchoot’ does not mean Dalit. They politicise everything. What I meant was that nobody was ready to talk to them, they were being treated as ‘acchoot’. Now they are asking for an apology to Kharge and raising questions on us not being a social justice party. I said they were being treated as untouchables. What is wrong in what I said? No one was ready to touch them. No one was ready to speak to them.

But the question that is being raised now is that as you yourself said that Nitish Kumar was working hard to build the INDIA alliance. But after difficulties came up within the alliance, he left the alliance and went and joined hands with the very party he was working against – how should one see this?

We have worked with them before as well. The birth of our social justice struggle has been against the Congress itself. Our political ancestors, Jayprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia they have fought against Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. We have gone to jail with leaders of the BJP as well as the Jan Sangh during the Emergency. In Bihar, Nitish Kumar’s first three governments were with the BJP itself. Yes, we have some differences with the BJP, like Article 370, Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi. Now as far as Uniform Civil Code is concerned, we disagree with them on that as well.

So how will you work with them with these disagreements?

See the Ram Janmabhoomi matter has been settled, in the case of Article 370 we have already protested. In the case of the UCC we will give our suggestions that don’t push it in haste. Speak to all the stakeholders, all religious minorities and state chief ministers. There is no need to treat such sensitive matters in haste. We will give these suggestions.

JD(U) has struggled for social justice and the Nitish Kumar government has conducted the caste survey in Bihar. But now you have joined hands with a party that has never taken a clear position on the caste survey and did not support the exercise either. Will this alliance be a setback to the JD(U)’s struggle for social justice?

We are a party born out of the struggle for social justice. Our leader Lohia spoke about reservations for backward castes, women. In 1978 our leader Karpoori Thakur brought the Mungeri Lal commission. V.P. Singh implemented the Mandal Commission report.

The whole country knows that a caste survey has been conducted only by the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar and nowhere else. We have always maintained that the backward castes need to know their economic social status in the 75th year of independence. And the results that came out were shocking. That is why we increased the reservations in the state and worked towards their economic empowerment. So we have been the pioneers of social justice, why will we step back?

A credit war is playing out in the media between JD(U) and the RJD, with Tejashwi Yadav referring to Nitish Kumar as a “thake huye mukhyamantri” and claiming credit for the promise to provide jobs to the youth. How do you see this?

We are not in the habit of making personal remarks against any senior politician. His father is also tired and sick. We don’t use such language and Tejashwi Yadav who has held such a senior post and worked with us in the past should not do so either. Secondly, all parties promised jobs in their election manifestos and so did the RJD. It was the RJD-JD(U) government that was headed by Nitish Kumar that finally gave the jobs. If they try to take credit, we can do so too but the people of Bihar know what the truth is.

It was not just about being the convenor or chairperson, he had already declined these posts on several occasions. He formed the alliance and he wanted the alliance to be successful. But it was the Congress that was creating problems. Now look at Uttar Pradesh they (Congress) have one MP but want 20 seats. And this is the case everywhere. In Bengal Adhir Ranjan Choudhury wants to end the Mamata Banerjee government now and now Mamata has said there will be no alliance in Bengal. So it is not just us. No party wants to work with them.

Do you see a future at all for the INDIA alliance, will it be able to make an impact?

We lost that opportunity. When we held the INDIA alliance meeting in Mumbai, the momentum was in our favour and we were ready to fight the BJP on 400 plus seats. But due to the Congress’ third rate antics and manipulation, not just us, even the SP is looking at them with mistrust and so is Mamata. The seat sharing arrangement is also not set with the RJD. The same situation is in Maharashtra where they have only one MP but want no less than 20-22 seats. So the Congress is stuck in its old ways and syndrome. This was the time for the Congress party to look to survive. But instead of survival, it started fighting for revival.

Finally, will the BJP-JD(U) alliance be for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections only or will you fight together in the 2025 Bihar elections as well?

We have a long experience of working with the BJP. We have had some differences with them on matters of princple. But we had no problem working with them. When our numbers were less, they made our leader the chief minister. And in 2014 we had 2 MPs, they allowed our candidates to fight on 17 seats and we won 16 of those. So that attitude is not there with the Congress. While we may not differ with the Congress ideologically as such, their attitude towards work is the problem and is not in favour of any regional party. Any regional party that has been born has been born at the cost of the Congress whether it is SP, BSP, TMC or anyone. They want to end regional parties and slowly the entire INDIA alliance will disintegrate with all regional parties leaving the Congress’ side.

This (JDU-BJP) is a permanent alliance, both for the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha.

Courtesy : The Wire

Note: This news piece was originally published in thewire.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Right