It is often said that in politics in a country like ours, there are no murders but only suicides.
The recent unnecessary and uncalled for rebellion by Sachin Pilot in Rajasthan shows how even educated and intelligent political leaders fall prey to the well-laid traps by the BJP and its leadership.
If yesterday it was Jyotiraditya Scindia, today it is Sachin Pilot.
Interestingly, both Mr Scindia and Mr Pilot began their political innings after the unfortunate deaths of their respective fathers, Madhav Rao Scindia and Rajesh Pilot.
The Congress Party, including its current president Sonia Gandhi and past president Rahul Gandhi, have given these leaders more than they themselves expected in terms of opportunities to consolidate their positions within the party, in the government and among the people.
Yet, they were easy pickings for the BJP leadership, which has no belief in democratic ethics, norms and practices.
Getting back to Mr Pilot, he had achieved everything which no other leader, worker or even senior functionary of the Congress could ever hope for. To become a deputy chief minister of a state at the age of 42 is no mean accomplishment.
But Mr Pilot could achieve this and it was equally thanks to the unconditional faith reposed in him by the Congress high command, and Rahul Gandhi, in particular.
During the two terms of the UPA government, though Rahul Gandhi could have become the Prime Minister without any effort himself, he declined the chance.
He even refused to be a member of the Cabinet. But Rahul Gandhi encouraged Mr Pilot to reach for his political goals and supported him in becoming a Cabinet minister.
Unlike many other Congress leaders in the country, who develop their political career from the grassroots by working from a village level or ward level Congress party committee, Mr Pilot’s entry and rise in the party ranks as well as governance has been meteoric, and it is only thanks to the support extended to him by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
Sachin Pilot made his political debut following the unfortunate car accident death of his father, Rajesh Pilot, in 2000. He was barely 22 at the time.
In 2003, Sachin Pilot joined the Congress and became MP from Dausa parliamentary constituency in Rajasthan. He was 26. At the age of 32, Mr Pilot became a Union minister in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA-2 government.
In 2014, although he lost his election as MP, Rahul Gandhi made him the president of the Rajasthan Congress Committee.
He was only 36 at the time. Four years later, the Congress scripted an emphatic win in the state legislative Assembly polls. Ashok Gehlot became the chief minister while Mr Pilot was made his deputy CM.
If Sachin Pilot says that he has been stifled by and marginalised within his own government, and if he is indeed speaking the truth, the right option for him would have been to approach the party leadership for the right post within the party at the national level.
That way, he could have continued to contribute his efforts to the cause of reviving the party in these troubled times. As a Pradesh Congress Committee president and enjoying the highest confidences of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, Mr Pilot could have accessed them at all times.
But he chose not to do the same. This exposes Mr Pilot as a selfish, greedy and opportunistic individual. He does not deserve a respectable place within the party.
Despite getting more than he could chew, Mr Pilot, instead of helping the party and its government in Rajasthan, chose to stage a rebellion against it without any cause or purpose.
His rebellion only helped the BJP to try and employ its dirty tricks department in order to destabilise the duly elected Ashok Gehlot government.
Putting his bright future in the Congress Party and the ample opportunities that would have come his way to serve the state and the nation all at stake, Mr Pilot, wittingly or unwittingly, fell into his own trap.
If he directly or indirectly supports the BJP it will now be the end of his political career.
Sachin Pilot has scripted his own political harakiri for which he has no one to blame but himself. Due to an error of judgement, this Pilot has crashed his political flight!
The writer is the Congress Legislature Party leader in Telangana
