The tongue that showed non-cooperation to the Cooperation Minister
VB Editorial | August 14, 2025 |
There is a saying: “An old root and a new sprout make a beautiful tree.” In politics, senior leaders are expected to be those roots, deep, steady, and guiding the party through storms. Their long experience should strengthen the organisation, not weaken it. But in the Congress today, that very idea seems to have turned upside down. Instead of standing as pillars of strength, many seniors have turned into burdens, creating more embarrassment than support.
Take the case of S. M. Krishna. Once a towering figure who served as Chief Minister, Union Minister, and Governor, he left the Congress in his final years claiming neglect, only to end his career making bitter statements against the very party that gave him everything. Even after joining the BJP, he found no real honour. The same story played out with leaders like Pranab Mukherjee and Ghulam Nabi Azad, who used the Congress like a banana leaf, useful only until it was discarded. Now, Shashi Tharoor too seems to be leaning towards that path.
In contrast, Rahul Gandhi, despite facing ridicule and setbacks, has remained committed to the party’s ideology. With the Bharat Jodo Yatra and relentless campaigns, he has tried to inject new life into the organisation. While some seniors pull the party backwards, Rahul struggles to push it forward.
It is largely due to Rahul’s persistence that “vote theft” has become a subject of national debate. From Madhya Pradesh to Maharashtra, from Karnataka to Bihar, he has highlighted the manipulation of electoral rolls and the complicity of the Election Commission. In Bihar especially, the scale of irregularities has alarmed the nation, with even the Supreme Court expressing concern. At such a crucial time, when democracy itself seems at risk, Congress leaders across states should be rallying behind him. Instead, Karnataka’s Cooperation Minister, Rajanna, chose to display his non-cooperation.
His loose remarks, questioning Rahul’s allegations, handed the BJP an unexpected weapon. The irony is sharp: at a moment when the opposition should have spoken in one voice, a minister from within broke ranks and weakened his own party. Rajanna’s statement has not only embarrassed Congress but also placed his own ministerial post on the chopping block.
Even if his intention was not to target the high command, Rajanna cannot claim ignorance of how his words would be twisted. When the very institution of the Election Commission is accused of undermining democracy, it was his duty as a minister to lend his voice to the struggle, not fuel the fire of dissent. Instead, he dug a pit for himself — and now finds BJP leaders stretching a false hand of sympathy to pull him out.
The opposition has predictably seized on his statement. Both Houses have witnessed heated arguments over whether Rajanna should be sacked, with BJP leaders crying hoarse that he has been made a scapegoat. Their hypocrisy is glaring. This is the same BJP that mercilessly silences its own leaders, MLAs, journalists, activists, and even police officers when they dare to speak the truth. Their newfound compassion for Rajanna is nothing more than political theatre.
At the same time, the episode raises questions about Congress’s internal democracy. Some argue that Rajanna’s freedom of speech should be respected. But freedom of speech inside a party cannot extend to giving ammunition to political opponents when the battle is over saving democracy itself. This is not the first time Rajanna has made remarks that hint at sympathy for the BJP. In the past, the party tolerated him. This time, however, his words struck directly at the high command, and at Rahul Gandhi’s fight against electoral fraud.
Rajanna’s rhetorical question, “What was the state government doing when irregularities were happening?”, might have been aimed at Karnataka Congress leaders. But its impact went far beyond, undermining the larger national struggle. Anyone with political maturity would know that the Centre can engineer manipulation through the Election Commission regardless of which party runs a state government. Bihar is proof enough.
Internal debates within a party are natural. But there is a time and place for everything. Rajanna chose the wrong time, wrong place, and wrong words. Whether his motive was carelessness or deliberate sabotage, the outcome is the same: he has damaged both himself and his party.
It is indeed unfortunate that another minister from the Valmiki community has had to step down. But in this case, Rajanna has no one else to blame. His fall came not from his opponents, not from the BJP, not even from the Congress high command, but from his own tongue.
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Trouble ‘Miyas’ everywhere only then they will leave Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Says “Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP are openly against them, we are saying it openly
New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that four to five lakh “Miya voters” would be removed from the electoral rolls in the state once the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists is carried out. He also made a series of controversial remarks openly targeting the Miya community, a term commonly used in Assam in a derogatory sense to refer to Bengali-speaking Muslims.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an official programme in Digboi in Tinsukia district, Sarma said it was his responsibility to create difficulties for the Miya community and claimed that both he and the BJP were “directly against Miyas”.
“Four to five lakh Miya votes will have to be deleted in Assam when the SIR happens,” Sarma said, adding that such voters “should ideally not be allowed to vote in Assam, but in Bangladesh”. He asserted that the government was ensuring that they would not be able to vote in the state.
The chief minister was responding to questions about notices issued to thousands of Bengali-speaking Muslims during the claims and objections phase of the ongoing Special Revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam. While the Election Commission is conducting SIR exercises in 12 states and Union Territories, Assam is currently undergoing an SR, which is usually meant for routine updates.
Calling the current SR “preliminary”, Sarma said that a full-fledged SIR in Assam would lead to large-scale deletion of Miya voters. He said he was unconcerned about criticism from opposition parties over the issue.
“Let the Congress abuse me as much as they want. My job is to make the Miya people suffer,” Sarma said. He claimed that complaints filed against members of the community were done on his instructions and that he had encouraged BJP workers to keep filing complaints.
“I have told people wherever possible they should fill Form 7 so that they have to run around a little and are troubled,” he said, adding that such actions were meant to send a message that “the Assamese people are still living”.
In remarks that drew further outrage, Sarma urged people to trouble members of the Miya community in everyday life, claiming that “only if they face troubles will they leave Assam”. He also accused the media of sympathising with the community and warned journalists against such coverage.
“So you all should also trouble, and you should not do news that sympathise with them. There will be love jihad in your own house.” He said.
The comments triggered reactions from opposition leaders. Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said the people of Assam had not elected Sarma to keep one community under constant pressure. Congress leader Aman Wadud accused the chief minister of rendering the Constitution meaningless in the state, saying his remarks showed a complete disregard for constitutional values.
According to the draft electoral rolls published on December 27, Assam currently has 2.51 crore voters. Election officials said 4.78 lakh names were marked as deceased, 5.23 lakh as having shifted, and 53,619 duplicate entries were removed during the revision process. Authorities also claimed that verification had been completed for over 61 lakh households.
On January 25, six opposition parties the Congress, Raijor Dal, Assam Jatiya Parishad, CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(M-L) submitted a memorandum to the state’s chief electoral officer. They alleged widespread legal violations, political interference and selective targeting of genuine voters during the SR exercise, describing it as arbitrary, unlawful and unconstitutional.
