NEW DELHI: From Margaret Alva and Tarun Gogoi to Digvijaya Singh and Salman Khurshid, many Congress veterans have advised Sachin Pilot that he needs to be patient before he eventually realises his dream to become the chief minister.
At nearly 43, Pilot indeed has many years left in his political career and appears to have a bright future ahead. But, the Congress has had a history of grooming young leaders and making them chief minsiters very early.
Two of them, Digvijaya and Ashok Gehlot himself, who is at the centre of the ongoing Rajasthan political crisis, became CMs for the first time when they were in their mid-forties.
While Gehlot was 47, Digvijaya was a year younger, 46.
Other Congress leaders who were picked to be CMs when they were young are Sharad Pawar (now with the Nationalist Congress Party), V P Singh and P A Sangma, among others.
With the party high command’s blessings, all these leaders grabbed the top post, pipping the then old guard.
But there is one crucial difference between the young Congress CMs of the past and the wannabe CMs of the present.
While Gehlot, Pawar, VP, Sangma and Digvijaya cut their teeth in politics from the grassroots, today’s impatient brigade such as Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia (now with the BJP), Milind Deora and Jitin Prasada are all dynasts who parachuted into the party solely on the strength of their fathers.
None of them really went through the grind in the true sense. All of them had big boots to fill and were made central ministers when they were very young, whetting their appetite perhaps.
In contrast, today’s party veterans have risen from the ranks, giving their blood and sweat on their way to the top.
Ashok Gehlot:
The Rajasthan chief minister began his political career through social work. Influenced by Gandhian ideology in his youth, he spent lot of time at the Wardha Gandhi Ashram. In 1971 during the India-Pakistan war, he worked as a volunteer in Bangladeshi refugee camps in Jodhpur. It is said this is where Indira Gandhi noticed him.
Gehlot entered student politics, becoming the first state president of the NSUI in 1974. He later became the district Congress committee president of Jodhpur and in 1980, he was elected to the seventh Lok Sabha at only 29.
After serving as a minister in the Centre in various capacities, he became the CM for the first time in 1998 at 47.
He outwitted several senior leaders, among them Parasram Maderna, a towering Jat leader and an influential figure in state politics. Maderna was also the PCC chief.
Senior journalist Suresh Vyas remembers how Gehlot was chosen.
“After the Congress won a huge mandate, AICC observers came to Jaipur. Balram Jakhar managed to convince Maderna to become the Speaker, paving the way for Gehlot to become the CM.”
Digvijaya Singh:
There is no doubt that his royal lineage helped his rise in politics, but it cannot be said that he did not work his way up. When he was only 22, he became the president of the Raghogarh Nagar Palika in 1969-71 and joined the Jana Sangh. He switched to the Congress in 1970.
He was elected to the Madhya Pradesh Assembly from his native Raghogarh seat in 1977 at only 30. He was re-elected and went on to serve as a minister in the Congress government led by his political mentor Arjun Singh in 1980-1984.At 37, Digvijaya became a Lok Sabha member, winning the Rajgarh seat in 1984. Nine years later in 1993, as the state Congress president he led the party to victory in the state assembly polls.
Being the PCC chief many considered him the natural choice for the CM’s post but he had to fend off competition from several seniors such as Arjun Singh, Motilal Vora and Shyama Charan Shukla, besides OBC leader Subhash Yadav and rising star Madhavrao Scindia. He was sworn in as the CM at only 46.
Congress CMs in the past rose through the ranks after grassroots training
Sharad Pawar:
The Maratha strongman also began his career in politics from the grassroots. In college he was active in student politics. He joined the Youth Congress in 1958 and became the president of the Poona district Youth Congress in 1962.
But he came into his own when Yashwantrao Chavan, the biggest politician from Maharashtra at that time, took Pawar under his wings. In 1967, he was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly for the first time when he was only 27.
Then at 38, he broke the Congress led by Indira Gandhi to become Maharashtra’s youngest chief minister in 1978. Pawar returned to the Congress despite stiff opposition from the then chief minister, S B Chavan, and senior Congress leader V N Gadgil.
One day in 1998, then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi called Pawar at 4 in the morning. When asked what he was up to, Pawar told Rajiv he was only doing what people generally at that hour, sleep.
Pawar was summoned to Delhi and the next day, on June 24, 1988, Pawar was made the CM again at 48, this time as a Congressman.
His rival Chavan was made the union finance minister.V P Singh: Born into a zamindar family, the Raja of Manda, as he was popularly known, was initiated into politics as a student.
He was elected the vice president of the Allahabad University students union. He joined the Congress prty and was elected to the Uttar Pradesh assembly in 1969.
There was no looking back after that, becoming a junior minister in the Indira Gandhi cabinet. Then in 1980, he was made the UP CM at 49.
The party high command chose him over old foxes N D Tiwari, Kamlapati Tripathi, Sheila Kaul, C P N Singh and Brahmadutt.
PA Sangma:
The late leader from Meghalaya joined the Congress early.
He became the vice-president of Meghalaya Youth Congress in 1973 and its general secretary in 1975. In 1977, he was elected to the sixth Lok Sabha from Tura and represented it for the next two terms as well.In 1988, he switched to state politics and became the CM when he was only 41.
His senior rivals for the chief minister’s post were D D Lapang and Salseng Marak but Sangma had the blessings of the party’s central leadership.
(With inputs from Richa Sharma, Rajesh Asnani, Sudhir Suryawanshi, Anuraag Singh, Namita Bajpai and Prasanta Mazumdar)