He is the man being held responsible for the failure of the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.
Ajay Maken, Congress general secretary and chairman of the Congress’ communication wing, tells Sanjay Kaw that the Congress will bounce back sooner than expected.
The Congress has been routed and humiliated. It was the party’s worst ever electoral debacle. What went wrong?
We were unable to communicate our achievements and we failed to counter the Bharatiya Janata Party’s false propaganda due to various reasons. One of them being the huge gap in resources between the two parties. The Congress could not match the BJP.
Are you saying that the Congress could not stand up to the BJP’s propaganda blitzkrieg?
They were able to project a greener pasture. They sold dreams on the basis of a fake Gujarat model. In the few days that they have been in power, everything is getting exposed.
You were heading the Congress’ communication cell while this was being projected. Do you hold yourself responsible?
Polarisation of votes was also one of the several reasons. There were different reasons for different regions. Their so-called Gujarat model is totally fake. They convinced the people that inflation was the main issue.
In his first statement after elections, Arun Jaitley said that the states can play a major role in bringing down inflation by curbing hoarding in their regions. When we said the same thing, the BJP blamed the Centre for inflation. That was their strategy.
Is there a leadership crisis in the Congress? Will Priyanka Gandhi Vadra join active politics?
It is for her to decide the role she wants to play. The party will benefit greatly from her proactive role as and when she decides on that. There’s no leadership crisis in the Congress.
What now, after this humiliating defeat?
Introspection is going on at different levels. The Congress Working Committee has authorised Sonia Gandhiji to look into the matter.
With just 31 per cent vote share, the BJP managed to get an absolute majority. Your comments.
The BJP’s low vote share and high percentage of seats clearly shows that the party is concentrated only in a few states in the north. We got 19 per cent votes, which is one per cent more than what the BJP got as an Opposition party in the last Lok Sabha elections.
Several states elections are coming up in the next few months. Do you think the Congress’ demoralised workers can put up a good show in the state polls?
Our party has gone through much worse demoralising phases many times and we have always bounced back. This time too we will bounce back sooner than expected. The pradesh Congress committee presidents have been empowered to dissolve their state units and go for restructuring.
What about Delhi?
We have a young PCC chief, Arvinder Singh Lovely, who has energised the entire party. Whenever we go to the polls, we will perform much better than the recent state elections.
What’s your take on the Aam Aadmi Party.
That newbie party is like a bubble about to burst. The Lok Sabha elections were the beginning of the end of AAP. This party represents anarchy. They occupy a place of “anti-Congressism” and some space of other political parties. It is devoid of any political and economic ideology.
The AAP can never, ever function as a cohesive unit. The only thing which binds its leaders together is their quest for power.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi has time and again talked of the role of youth in politics.
Time and again youngsters have been given important positions in our party. The number of ministers in the 30 to 50 age group in our government was far more than what you have in the present regime.
What do you have to say about the Narendra Modi government?
Mr Modi has already started looking for excuses.
The way the Prime Minister and his ministers have been talking in the last 20 days shows that their honeymoon period is over. Mr Modi has been repeatedly saying that we left empty coffers for his government.
When we came to power in 2004, our foreign exchange reserves were to the tune of $110 billion. When we left the government, there was $310 billion foreign exchange. When our government took over, our per capita income was RS 24,000. Now it is Rs 69,000. Our exports were to the tune of $63 billion 10 years ago, and now our exports have touched the $313 billion mark. Even the power generated in 2004 was 1.13 lakh MW. Now we are generating 2.43 lakh MW.
And his Cabinet?
It is too early to comment on the performance of the Union ministers. But one thing is clear, their performance has been lacklustre before the Budget.
Mr Modi’s invitation to Saarc leaders for his swearing-in has been hailed as a diplomatic masterstroke.
It is the prerogative of the PM to evolve a mechanism to have peaceful relations with our neighbours. But they should not forget the words they had been using when they were in Opposition. Before entering into any dialogue with Pakistan, not only their commitment but perceptible actions to fight terror should be ensured, which was the policy of our government.
