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'The Congress has become a rudderless party'

Onkar Singh in New Delhi

Meira Kumar, who resigned from the Congress two days ago, will keep her options open for the time being. She will decide on her course of action after consulting her supporters.

"Ever since I tendered my resignation I have been flooded with offers from various quarters. I would not like to take a final decision in this regard till I have consulted my supporters. They are the people who stood by me through thick and thin," she said at a press conference at her New Delhi residence.

"It was not easy to part company with the Congress with which I have been associated for the last 14 years. But the party in the last few years has become claustrophobic and I felt that I was increasingly becoming irrelevant," she added.

Many times in the past, Kumar continued, she had thought of resigning. But circumstances and her commitment to the downtrodden had stopped her from doing so. But her voice in the party was being ignored.

"I visited the places where three massacres took place in Bihar and told the Congress president that we should withdraw support to the Rabri Devi government. But this advice was turned down. I had told the party that we should have nothing to do with Jayalalitha. Even this was not listened to.

"I told them that the Bahujan Samaj Party was damaging our image. They did not listen to that either. Now let them look back and see whether what I told them has proved correct."

Asked which party is more secular, the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Samata, Kumar said that since she was still weighing her options she could not make a categorical statement.

Did she think the BJP had become more secular over the years?

"Since so many secular parties have joined hands with the BJP in forming the government, nobody can say that the BJP has not changed," she said.

Did this mean that she feels it is not a communal party anymore? Kumar seemed to agree.

"Any party that spreads hatred and communal tension is a communal party for me. And I will fight that party," she claimed.

Speaking about the Congress, Kumar said: "When I joined it 14 years ago, it stood for some principles. It championed the downtrodden. Today it is only paying lip-service to all these ideals."

"The Congress," she went on, "has become a rudderless party. Sycophants rule it. The commitment that was its hallmark in yesteryears is missing."

Kumar refused to name anyone who precipitated her exit, saying there was no room for animosity in the political arena.

"I have been asked to comment on the issue of foreign nationality [of Congress president Sonia Gandhi]. This is an important issue and it needs to be addressed properly and necessary action taken. But it should not become a weapon to attack a particular person," she said.

The Congress, according to Kumar, is a monolithic party in which the president has overriding powers. If the party does well, the president gets the credit. Hence, if it does badly, the president should take the blame, she said.

Kumar claimed to have advised Sonia Gandhi that it was not in the Congress's interest to pull down the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government -- also, she had advised her not to stake a claim to form the government.

"My prediction came true and the Congress suffered on both counts," she pointed out.

Meanwhile, sources close to Kumar revealed that she had made up her mind to join the BJP. But many of her supporters felt that the time had come for her to revive her father's party, the Congress (J), and contest the forthcoming assembly election in Bihar on her own.

Whatever her decision, one thing is certain: she will not return to the Congress, Kumar said.

EARLIER REPORT:
Will Meira Kumar join the BJP?

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