Lucknow: The Congress commemorated Sitaram Kesri—who was controversially ousted in 1998 from the post of party president to make way for Sonia Gandhi—for the first time since his death 25 years ago. Rahul Gandhi led the memorial at the party headquarters Friday, offering floral tributes on the anniversary of Kesri’s passing.
Sitaram Kesri, who served as Congress chief from 1996 to 1998, was removed, citing a string of electoral defeats and weak leadership, even as Sonia Gandhi, who replaced him, had campaigned for the party in the 1998 general election. After Kesri’s death on 24 October 2000, a Congress delegation had attended his cremation in Danapur. But, formally, the party had not observed his birth or death anniversaries, so far, reportedly due to his uneasy relationship with the Congress leadership.
The current timing of the memorial coincides with the Congress’s electoral campaign ahead of the November assembly polls in Bihar—Kesri’s home state. This did not go unnoticed.
On the same day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a rally in Begusarai accused the Gandhi family of having “insulted” Kesri. On 14 March 1998, Kesri was reportedly locked in a bathroom while Congress leaders held a working committee meeting, after which they replaced him with Sonia Gandhi.
“Today is the death anniversary of former Congress President Sitaram Kesri. The country will never forget how this Congress family insulted him. This day reminds us of the lengths the Congress will go to take away the rights of Dalits and backward classes. For them, only their own family matters,” PM Modi said.
“Sitaram Kesri was the pride of Bihar. This family locked him in the bathroom of his home and even threw him on the footpath. They snatched the post of Congress President from him,” he added.
With the Bihar elections around the corner, many are finding the timing of the Congress’s gesture suspicious.
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Kesri’s memorial
ThePrint has learnt that Rahul Gandhi—after paying floral tribute at the party HQ—invited Sitaram Kesri’s family to his residence and directed K.C. Venugopal to maintain regular contact with them.
A senior leader at the event later told ThePrint, “Kesri’s grandson, Rakesh Kesri, wrote to Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi, requesting a programme at the AICC headquarters on the occasion [Kesri’s death anniversary]. Within a few days, Rakesh Kesri received a call from Kharge ji’s office, confirming that the event would be in the presence of Rahul ji.”
On the other hand, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla told ThePrint that Congress remembering Sitaram Kesri now was about nothing but assuaging Bihar’s OBC and Dalit voters, given that Kesri was a prominent OBC leader from Danapur. Other critics also agreed with him.
Dismissing such claims, Congress MP Imran Masood told ThePrint that the party’s gesture was about showing respect to its former leader and had nothing to do with the upcoming Bihar elections. He described it as a positive initiative by the top leadership.
Sitaram Kesri’s removal as party chief on 14 March 1998 at a controversial CWC meeting, reportedly led by leaders such as the late Pranab Mukherjee, was followed by an ugly episode. Some party workers allegedly shouted at Kesri and tried to pull off his dhoti and damage his car before he could return home.
Political observers now view the Congress’s renewed interest in Kesri as a calculated effort to reclaim the legacy of a Bihar-born leader, who championed social justice, ahead of the Bihar polls.
In his book, ‘24 Akbar Road—A Short History of the People Behind the Fall and Rise of the Congress’, Rasheed Kidwai wrote, “Kesri died a disturbed and disillusioned man. He could not reconcile himself to his unceremonious ouster. There was much that he wanted to say, but he suffered an asthma attack and then slipped into a coma. Kesri’s end came on 24 October 2000. He was eighty-one. His faithful dog Ruchi died the same evening.”
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)