Congress leader Shaktisinh Gohil is perhaps the only leader from Gujarat with direct access to the party high command in Delhi after the demise of party veteran Ahmed Patel. Articulate and soft-spoken, 63-year-old Gohil is among the few senior leaders who were part of the Congress in power way back in the 90s and witnessed the crumble of the party with the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In the December 2022 Assembly polls, the party suffered its worst defeat ever, with the BJP winning 156 seats in the house of 182. As the Rajya Sabha member takes over as the president of the state Congress ahead of crucial Lok Sabha polls, when the BJP won’t leave a stone unturned to strike a hat-trick of winning all 26 seats, DH’s Satish Jha caught up with Gohil. Excerpts
You are the eighth president of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee in less than twenty years, during which the party kept losing its ground. How challenging is it for you to motivate workers to bounce back?
You are right that for the last many years we haven’t been in power. But in between, there have been occasions where Gujaratis voted for us. After the 2001 earthquake, we won corporations, district panchayats, and block-level elections. We had a mayor in Ahmedabad from our party. Between 2004 and 2009, the Congress and BJP were almost neck-and-neck (in Lok Sabha polls), with the BJP one or two seats ahead. Subsequently, the BJP kept changing chief ministers to fight anti-incumbency, and polarised the voters. In 2017, we would have formed the government had the BJP not resorted to hathkande (tricks).
Yes, 2022 was the worst for us as secular votes got divided and there were some weak links. I don’t want to go into those details, but ever since my name was announced and I took over, support has been pouring in from all quarters, including non-political people, which is my and my party’s strength.
The Gujarat Congress is said to be short of manpower and financial resources, and there are internal rifts, including a recent one soon after you took over as president. Public rifts harm the image of the party...
Look, we have an internal democracy, but there is a thin line between internal democracy and indiscipline. If one crosses the line, it will certainly damage the party. We had some misunderstandings, and he (an ex-MLA) immediately clarified them. In the future, we will communicate to our workers that we proudly have to use our internal democracy, but they can’t cross the line, and they agreed and supported me. I am a soldier of Congress, and I don’t have any personal groups or personal ambitions. I work for the party, and luckily, I have worked with many leaders. I have worked with two generations of leaders. Like Sidharth Patel, in whose father Chimanbhai Patel’s cabinet I was a minister, Bharatsinh’s father, Madhavsinh Solanki, won the assembly election with me. Tushar Chaudhary’s father, Amarsinh Chaudhary, was leader of the opposition, and I was his chief whip. I have been an MLA for years and worked with many senior leaders, including state Congress presidents like Amit Chavda, Shailesh Parmar. Sabke sath kaam kiya hai (have worked with everyone), and there is no gutbazi (factionalism.)
The general election is approaching. The BJP seems to be heading for a hat trick by winning all 26 seats again. What is your strategy to counter Modi and the BJP’s election machine?
I have some ideas and have had a dialogue with the inner team and other leaders. We have a roadmap and a strategy that can’t be made public as of now. But my strategy is to break the arrogance of the BJP with the blessings of the people of Gujarat and win their hearts through our campaigns. I won’t give out details, but my strategy is to break the BJP’s ahankar (arrogance).
Are there any possibilities of Congress joining hands with AAP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, considering AAP snatched nearly 50% of the Congress vote share in the December 2022 assembly polls?
There is no doubt that AAP damaged Congress and garnered anti-BJP votes. There was a perception that the AAP could defeat the BJP. Now people have realised, and those who joined AAP have understood, that AAP is the BJP’s B-team. Ideologically, they are not against the BJP. Many AAP candidates are in touch with me. Many workers and leaders are in touch, and they confess to having erred in joining AAP, which indirectly benefited the BJP. The voters who voted for AAP have also realised that they wasted their votes. In the future, no Gujarati will vote for AAP and will come back to Congress. Voters have also realised that the BJP has failed to deliver even after enough time was given.
As far as joining hands with AAP is concerned, I wouldn’t like to make any comment. I will leave it to the party’s high command to decide. We tried our best, and AAP was given a chance during the recently held opposition party meeting, but the party ditched us and all opposition parties.