Bhupesh Baghel, the leader Congress cannot afford to lose

The party has realised that removing him will send a wrong signal, as the support Baghel enjoys among the Chattisgarh MLAs is well-known

A dyed-in-the-wool socialist, Nand Kumar Baghel was unimpressed by his young son’s choice of the party he wanted to join and sarcastically asked him 40 years ago: “Will you become the chief minister? Pat came the reply – “Yes”. The 86-year-old now has written in his Twitter bio: Proud father of Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel.

For the junior Baghel, his father is the biggest critic and sort of trouble-maker. The father had publicly said he voted against his son when he fought his first Assembly election in 1993. The son even dismissed his father’s demand to Congress to give 85% seats in the 2018 Chhattisgarh Assembly elections to the OBCs, minorities, tribals and scheduled castes, saying he was not a primary member of the party to raise such a demand.

Both sparred in July 2019 over how to conduct the last rites of Bindeshwari Devi, the wife of Nand Kumar and mother of Bhupesh Baghel. Nand Kumar, an anti-caste crusader, wanted the last rites to be done according to Buddhist rituals while the son wanted Hindu rituals to be followed. Finally, the mortal remains were divided and Nand Kumar took it to Dhamtari where last rites were conducted according to Buddhist rituals and the son took it to Prayagraj.

Last month, Baghel did not bat an eyelid when he ordered his father’s arrest for making controversial remarks against the Brahmin community, an action the senior Baghel did not disapprove of, saying the chief minister was only doing his duty. The action won brownie points for the son, who has an iron grip over Chhattisgarh politics where his arch-rival T S Singh Deo is attempting to replace him.

This non-compromising attitude to ideology and beliefs within the family as well as the fighting spirit marks junior Baghel’s politics too. That made him a strong regional satrap of the Congress.

The post-1992 political scene catapulted Baghel to the limelight. As a staunch secularist Youth Congress district president, he led a 300-km ‘padayatra’ against communal politics soon after the demolition of Babri Masjid. In 1993 Assembly polls, he tasted his first success and became a minister in the Digvijay Singh Cabinet in undivided Madhya Pradesh. In 2000, after Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh, he became the Deputy Leader of Opposition in 2003. He lost the 2008 Assembly polls and 2009 Lok Sabha polls but won the 2013 polls to enter the Assembly again. From there, there was no looking back.

Also read: Serious effort needed over alliance, leadership: Baghel

Congress needed Baghel’s organisational and political skills to overthrow the 15-year-old BJP rule in 2018, five years after the party’s top rung, including Mahendra Karma and V C Shukla among others, perished in a deadly Maoist attack. He organised a series of ‘padayatras’ to connect with the masses ahead of elections and instilled confidence in party workers that the party could defeat Raman Singh-led BJP. As he steered the party as its Chhattisgarh president from 2014 to 2019, he also managed to sideline the state’s first chief minister Ajit Jogi, leading to his ouster from the party, and corner his rivals within the party like Deo and other chief ministerial aspirants like Tamrawad Sahu.

The Congress High Command assigned Baghel the election management in Assam Assembly elections earlier this year and now Uttar Pradesh, where polls are due early next year, elevating his status within the party. He enjoys the support of at least 55 party MLAs in Chhattisgarh, leaving around a dozen to support other leaders like Singh Deo.

This popularity and iron grip on the party has so far helped Baghel to counter any attempt to unseat him, including the latest episode when Singh Deo recalled the so-called formula of rotating the chief minister after 2.5 years. An astute politician, Baghel has positioned himself as a strong OBC leader. Removing him at a time the Congress is targeting the ruling BJP on OBCs will send a wrong signal, the party leadership was advised, as the support Baghel enjoys among the MLAs is well known.

In the last over 2.5 years in power, he has stamped his authority on administration with a stern style of functioning. The Nyay scheme providing a fixed income for the poor and other initiatives, including buying cow dung from farmers and composting it, the return of 4,400 acres of land acquired in 2005 from tribals for a Tata Steels project in 2005 etc have been his popular measures.

At present, Baghel — the third chief minister of Chhattisgarh in 21 years after Ajit Jogi and Raman Singh – appears firmly in the saddle as he has played his cards with elan. A man who knows when to time his political strike, as one saw his on the spot protest at Lucknow airport when he was prevented from going to Lakhimpur Kheri, the party knows it needs leaders like him now. But the last word is yet to be heard.

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