Jaipur: During his day-long hunger strike in Jaipur Tuesday, Congress leader and Rajasthan MLA Sachin Pilot ensured that he had strict control of the narrative.
Whenever the slogan “humara CM kaisa ho… (how should our CM be)” began to be raised, he gestured with his hands to stop it from going further. Slogans of “Sachin Pilot, I love you” — raised most often at the Shaheed Smarak, where Pilot’s day-long protest was taking place — were OK, however.
The strike had been dubbed “anti-party” by All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Rajasthan, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Monday.
But it was clear Pilot and his team were at pains to prevent the strike’s interpretation as a show of strength amid the leadership feud within the state Congress, and keep the guns trained exclusively on opposition BJP and the erstwhile Vasundhara Raje government.
All MLAs who support Pilot amid his feud with Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot were asked to stay away from the function, his team said. The banner on the stage read: “Vasundhara sarkar mein huye bhrashtachar ke viruddh anshan (Hunger strike against corruption that took place in the Vansundhara government)”.
There were no Congress flags or posters around. No pictorial presence of Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, or Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, was visible either.
Gehlot, against whom Pilot is said to have launched the strike, was mentioned — over what the latter described as his government’s inaction against the alleged corruption — but the mentions were kept minimal.
“I sat here on a hunger strike against the corruption in the last Rajasthan government led by Vasundhara Raje,” Pilot said. “I was raising this issue for a long time. “I was raising this issue (corruption) for a long time. This is the same issue that was raised by Rahul Gandhi in Parliament (against the Modi government and Adani),” said Pilot, speaking to the media after breaking his fast with prasad from a Hanuman Mandir and khajoor from a maulvi.
“When we were in opposition during Vasundhara ji’s government, we brought to light many issues and scandals with proof. And we’d promised the people that when we come to power, these scams will be investigated,” he added. “I wanted an investigation to happen.”
Pilot said he had “written many letters to the CM and usually I get a response. But I didn’t get a response to these two letters (on corruption)”.
“That’s why I sat on a hunger strike. We fought on the streets and went to jail to bring to light the scams during Vasundhara ji’s tenure,” he added. “We are in government now and 4 years have passed. I hoped there would be an investigation but it has not happened yet. My strike was so that the investigations that have not taken place, can take place.”
‘Not a party issue’
On Monday, Randhawa had issued a statement saying that Pilot’s strike would be “anti-party”, and that the 45-year-old leader had never raised these issues with him. Randhawa also said that such issues should be brought up in party forums.
To this, Pilot said that he would have raised the issue at a party forum if it was an organisational matter.
“If this was a matter related to the (Congress) organisation, then I would most definitely have expressed my views at an organisational platform. But since this is an issue regarding the government, I wrote to the government.”
He added: “He (Randhawa) became in-charge just a few months ago. I’d discussed these issues and problems with the previous in-charge and we keep talking. But this issue is related to corruption,” he added. “We talk about corruption in public meetings, press conferences, everywhere.”
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
Also Read: Why Sachin Pilot is fighting a losing battle against Ashok Gehlot