Sonia Gandhi's move to appoint Kamal Nath as Punjab minder is a cruel, heartless joke

Howsoever tasteless or offensive it might be, freedom of expression demands that we should always defend the right of the comedian to deliver a bad joke.

A political party isn’t a stand-up comedian though. The Indian National Congress, therefore, cannot seek recourse to Article 19 of the Indian Constitution for the cruel joke it sprang Sunday by putting Kamal Nath in charge of Punjab and Haryana.

The 69-year-old Nath replaced Shakeel Ahmed while Ghulam Nabi Azad supplanted Madhusudan Mistry as Uttar Pradesh general secretary as a precursor to the redrawing of the AICC secretariat and as part of the much-discussed revamping of the nuts and bolts of the party before Rahul Gandhi, as has been speculated, takes over as Congress president.

But it was Sonia Gandhi’s move to install the controversial Nath — who was indicted by the Nanavati Commission for his alleged involvement in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots — as Punjab minder that immediately raised the temperatures and made Congress the swift target of Aam Admi Party and BJP, the other stakeholders in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections in 2017.

No sooner had Nath been named, Kejriwal threw a barb at Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh, asking if he has absolved the veteran leader for his alleged role in the Sikh genocide.

Capt Amrinder shud state his stand on Kamal Nath. Does Capt absolve Kamal Nath? https://t.co/746ad6hNQx

— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 12, 2016

His party took up the cudgel, naming Nath as the man “who (in 1984) instructed policemen to join the attackers and fired several rounds at the historic Rakabganj gurdwara.”

“Giving charge of Punjab elections to Kamal Nath shows (Congress vice-president) Rahul Gandhi’s insensitivity towards the Sikhs. Proves the Congress is unfit to lead Punjab,” read an AAP statement.

Not to be outdone, BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya tweeted:

Appointment of 1984 SikhGenocide accused Kamal Nath,as Incharge of Punjab,is like Rubbing Salt into the Wound.#Shame pic.twitter.com/4KWDLe5S1U

— Kailash Vijayvargiya (@KailashOnline) June 12, 2016

Beyond the political grandstanding though, the Congress high command’s decision accurately simulates the brain freeze that seems to have affected the rank and file of the grand old party. In Saturday’s biennial Rajya sabha polls for instance, some of its MLAs in Uttar Pradesh indulged in cross-voting while some in Haryana used the wrong kind of pen while casting their ballots resulting in a victory for BJP-supported independent candidate Subhas Chandra.

For a party that is fast losing its national footprint, appointment of Kamal Nath as general secretary of Punjab and Haryana is precisely the kind of message that it didn’t need to send. In one fell swoop, the move promises to wipe out whatever anti-incumbency tailwind the Congress may have generated from the controversy in Punjab over a film and drug abuse.

Kamal Nath head of murderous mob in '84 Sikh massacre appointed punjab Cong in-charge. their idea of repentance? https://t.co/C7IzIR7yB0

— Hartosh Singh Bal (@HartoshSinghBal) June 12, 2016

What exactly is Congress trying to prove by appointing Kamal Nath as the Gen.Secretary of the party in Punjab ? What a shame #1984

— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) June 12, 2016

Either the Congress has a death wish in the upcoming Assembly polls or the high command is so insensitive and callous that it cares little about the decision’s impact on people who still nurse in their souls the gaping wounds of 1984 pogrom.

Quoting ‘party sources’, NDTV reported that Sonia Gandhi’s move (to appoint Nath and Azad) was apparently aimed at giving preference to faces with “heart and soul in electoral politics” as both leaders have proven that they can take along all the factions.

It’d be funny, were it not so desperately tragic that Nath’s name was considered while 10 Janpath burnt midnight oil for a leader who could ’take along all factions’.

Manoj Mitta and HS Phoolka in their book When A Tree Shook Delhi (Roli Books) point out that Nath may not have been formally charged in a court of law in India, but his “involvement” in the 1984 cases is a matter of much-documented record.

Outlook magazine carried excerpts from the chapter titled A Tale of Two Gurudwaras:

The attack on Rakab Ganj Gurudwara was also remarkable for the fact that it was probably the first, and so far, the only instance in the history of mass violence in India, where a political leader admitted to being on the spot…

The leader in question was Kamal Nath.

A report in Caravan mentions an excerpt from Suri’s book 1984: The Anti-Sikh Violence and After where the then The Indian Express journalist recounted the events he saw unfolding at Gurudwara Rakabganj. According to Suri, who was an eyewitness, Nath led the mob that had gathered in the area and exercised complete control over them.

Did I see Kamal Nath physically and obviously leading a mob, commanding them to kill Sikhs? No, I did not. If to that extent the affidavit was ‘weak’, so it was and so be it. But it is just as true that what I had seen raised disturbing questions about just what Kamal Nath was doing there… If Kamal Nath was playing a role as responsible citizen and leader, he would have wanted later to follow up with the local police to ensure investigation and prosecution for the murders committed. We have seen no evidence he did that.

Is it possible that Nath’s appointment is a deliberate attempt by Congress to boost AAP’s chances at its own cost to make it a two-way fight between Arvind Kejriwal’s party and the ruling SAD-BJP combine? The way punch-drunk Congress has been behaving, not even the wildest conspiracy theories could be ruled out.