New Delhi: Three months after the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl in Kathua in January 2018, the then-Congress president Rahul Gandhi accompanied by his sister Priyanka Vadra led a candle march to India Gate. The same day, BJP minister Choudhary Lal Singh were forced to resigned following uproar over his participation in a rally held in support of the rape accused.
Six years later, the former Congressman is back to the party after a decade and is likely to be the party candidate from Udhampur.
The Congress’s decision to induct Lal Singh has drawn criticism from opposition parties like the Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) of Ghulam Nabi Azad.
“Utterly shameful for Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi to welcome – Lal Singh who supported the rapists of 8-year-old Asifa. This betrays the core principles and ideology of Congress. It validates our decision to leave a party that harbors supporters of rapists. Shame on you, Congress!” DPAP chief spokesperson wrote on social media platform ‘X’. “The Congress is exposed for its ideology by using supporters of rapists in elections.”
Incidentally, in 2014, Lal Singh had resigned from the party after the Congress denied him a poll ticket from Udhampur. The two-time Udhampur MP had then joined the BJP and went on to become a minister in Mehbooba-Mufti-led coalition government.
It was his presence at the rally called by Hindu Ekta Manch that raised hackles among the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) ranks. Eventually, the health and forest minister in the BJP-PDP coalition government had to resign in 2019. The leader, whose politics revolves around ‘Dogra Pride’, then formed his own Dogra Swabhiman Sangathan Party (DSSP).
In November last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Lal Singh in a money laundering case pertaining to an educational trust run by his wife and former legislator Kanta Andotra.
Now part of the opposition INDIA bloc, the PDP is guarded in its response about Lal Singh’s induction in the Congress. “I don’t have much to say on the issue. It is the matter of Congress internally,” PDP chief spokesperson Suhail Bukhari told ThePrint. The National Conference, too, has called it an “internal matter” of the Congress party.
On its part, the Congress has sought to play down his induction, saying that what Lal Singh did in 2018 was a mistake.
“I accept that it was a mistake to support them (Kathua accused). But if you see after that, since he left BJP, he has spoken against BJP’s policies towards Jammu and Kashmir,” Congress spokesperson Sheikh Aamir said. “It’s a welcome step that he returned to the party. He has understood it was a mistake to leave the Congress. He has returned to his home.”
In 2019, Lal Singh had fought both Jammu and Udhampur Lok Sabha seats. He managed mere 20,000 votes from Udhampur, coming fourth. The result was not much different in Jammu where he came fourth with 7,500 votes. If he gets the Congress ticket from Udhampur in 2024, he will be facing sitting MP and Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh.
Jammu-based political analyst Zafar Chaudhary said that Lal Singh brings a face, some noise and a past history of having won Udhampur twice.
“Congress and Lal Singh both needed each other. Lal Singh didn’t have a party and the Congress didn’t have a formidable candidate in Udhampur. His past will, however, be a challenge for the party,” Chaudhary says.
He points out that the NC and the PDP “are strongly opposed to any association with Lal Singh” in view of his intervention in the “much publicised” Kathua case.
Both NC and PDP had created huge pressure on Congress last year, with senior leaders issuing public statements to ensure Lal Singh is kept off stage during Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. In fact, a Congress spokesperson had resigned in protest.
Congress leaders from the state amongst those who first proposed Lal Singh’s name told ThePrint that there was a near unanimous demand across five districts of the constituency to rope him in. “Cadre from the constituency used to ask — ‘Lal Singh nahi aasakta?’ And they said if he comes, he can win,” said a Congress party leader.
The Udhampur Lok Sabha seat comprises five districts of Doda, Kishtwar, Kathua, Udhampur and Ramban. While Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban are Muslim majority districts, Udhampur and Kathua have Hindus in greater numbers.
The BJP tends to draw its maximum strength from Udhampur and Kathua. However, the combined population of Udhampur and Kathua districts is more than the rest of the three districts, according to the 2011 Census.
The Congress party is banking on Muslim voters to rally behind them. “Where will we get a better candidate than this? We are consolidating anti-incumbency; yes, there will be a fight,” another senior Congress leader said.
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Home factor
A second Congress leader, who believes that the past is not going to impact Lal Singh’s chances, said that “sympathy vote” is also in favour of the former MP..
“People from Doda–Kishtwar also stressed that the candidate should be able to get votes from Udhampur and Kathua. They wanted a strong candidate from this belt. They want to defeat the BJP,” he said. “Lal Singh is widely seen as a fighter. People think he can perform against this dictatorial government.”
But Zafar Chaudhary says that Lal Singh’s electoral impact is very limited “Electorally, it is limited even in Udhampur but in terms of his articulation on a range of issues, Lal Singh is factored in at multiple levels in state politics,” the political analyst said. “He has taken a public stand on a number of controversial issues, which makes him notable.”
The DSSP founder is a vocal advocate of a separate statehood to the Jammu division. He has also continuously raised demand for Article 371 (which provides special status to 11 states) after the abrogation of Article 370 in the erstwhile state.
Chaudhary believes that there are several question marks about Lal Singh’s winnability. “Election victory includes a number of factors and the candidature is just one of those. The Congress doesn’t enjoy a very good position on any of the two Lok Sabha seats in Jammu. Ghulam Nabi Azad’s party will make a critical dent in Congress vote bank, particularly in Chenab Valley (part of Udhampur constituency). Lal Singh doesn’t have as much individual potential to help the party overcome its fundamental problems,” he says.
Congress coordinator for Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency Ravinder Sharma is not worried about the points raised by Chaudhary. “He (Lal Singh) is a powerful leader, liked by people. He had mass support. He is a victim of vendetta politics. So he decided to join and he was allowed to join,” Sharma, also the party’s chief spokesperson, told ThePrint.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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