Political fallout of Nanavati Commission

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, August 8

The tabling of the Nanavati Commission report on the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in the Parliament has opened fresh wounds and is set to realign Congress politics in Delhi. Two of the Congress leaders named in the report - Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler - are still active in local politics and influence Congress in a big way in Delhi.

“What Sheila Dikshit could not do in her over six and a half year tenure, the report has done in a matter of a day,” quipped a senior Congress leader. He said both Tytler and Kumar were opposed to Dikshit from the very beginning and the report has helped the CM immensely. “She will emerge stronger with the indictment of the two leaders,” he said.

None of the leaders at the centre of the controversy talked to the media. While Kumar refused to talk to the media on the issue as he has been doing for the last 21 years, Tytler refused to be quoted. Dikshit herself did not comment on the issue nor did any of her Cabinet colleagues. “They have realised the likelihood of political tremors which the report would unleash in the next few days,” said a minister in Delhi government.

Interestingly, Kumar had patched up with Dikshit in the last few months and Tytler is the only Congress leader in the city along with the DPCC president Ram Babu Sharma who are still opposed to the CM. The other leaders named in the report – HKL Bhagat and Dharam Dass Shastri are no longer in active politics. While Bhagat is on the deathbed, Shastri is ailing and cannot comprehend anything at his age.

Sources close to Tytler said that the report was contradictory. “None of the earlier commissions on the riots had named him, it is only this commission which has references to the Union Minister and that too is very vague,” said a leader close to Tytler. Kumar’s supporters point out that a court of law has acquitted him of all charges and the recommendations of the report amounts to flagging a dead horse. (2005)

Amitabh Shukla

New Delhi, August 12

The Nanavati Commission’s report on the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 might have had country wide ramifications and outrage but it has a direct bearing on the way politics would take up shape in Delhi. Most of the Congress leaders are unanimous on one point – the report has written the political obituary of two of the Congress leaders in Delhi, Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar.

Post Nanavati, both Tytler and Kumar have found themselves in a tight spot, something which they never faced in their entire political career spanning almost three decades. Their names were there in the earlier commissions and inquiry reports on the 1984 riots but they managed to wriggle out of the controversy and survived politically in Congress.

Tytler, the four time MP from Delhi Sadar, was denied ticket once in 1998 ever since he won from here for the first time in 1980. The reasons for the denial of ticket at that time was his “probable” involvement in the riots. He won the Lok Sabha polls in 1980, 1984, 1991 and then in 2004. It was after a gap of 13 years that he managed to win the Lok Sabha seat and enter the Union Council of Ministers. In the meanwhile, he lost thrice in 1989, 1996 and 1999.

Kumar on the other hand was denied ticket repeatedly. He became MP for the first time in 1980. Of the eight Lok Sabha elections held since 1980, he was denied the party nomination 4 times. He won thrice and lost once. The main reason for the denial of party nomination was his alleged involvement in inciting mobs for the 1984 episode.

Senior Congress leaders here in Delhi point out that now it would be next to impossible for both these leaders to get another party ticket for the polls. “The public perception about their involvement has only grown stronger even though nothing might come out of the cases against them even if investigated,” said a senior leader. He pointed out that with the opposition BJP disintegrating, both the leaders are no longer indispensable for the party in Delhi.

The other two leaders named in the report – HKL Bhagat and Dharam Dass Shastri – are no longer in active politics. The heat generated from 1984 consumed them politically in due course. Bhagat, the one-time strongman of Delhi, was last given party ticket in 1991. Shastri, the sitting MP at the time of the riots, was given the ticket only once after the riots in 1989 in which he lost.

As Tytler was one of the most vocal critics of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, the loyalists of the CM were celebrating his ouster from the Cabinet. However, with no work at hand, he would only work to create more difficulties for the chief minister and becoming a rallying point for the dissidents. He has the support of at least two MLAs and a few councillors in Delhi and is believed to share a good rapport with the some leaders in the high command.

Kumar, on the other hand, had come close to Dikshit in the last few months after a few years of fierce opposition to the CM. He was even rewarded with the Chairman of Delhi Rural Development Board and given the rank of a minister. He enjoys the support of around half a dozen MLAs in outer Delhi even though some of his proteges deserted him and carved out a different source of power. DPCC president Ram Babu Sharma is still close to him.

With the political eclipse of these two leaders, the younger generation is vying for a place under the sun. Prominent among these is Ajay Maken, the 41-year old MP from New Delhi. He is not aligned to any of the groups and has an enviable political career. He has been a three time MLA, a minister, Speaker and now MP from New Delhi who had defeated the BJP veteran Jagmohan. For the political observers, he is set to fill the vacancy of a ministerial post at Centre from Delhi quota which has been vacated by Tytler.

Union Minister and Chandni Chowk MP Kapil Sibal and east Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit are not considered leaders of Delhi as both had never worked at the grassroots level. It would take some time for both of them to establish themselves in the nitty gritties of local politics.

With politics taking an unexpected turn following the Commission’s report, Dikshit seems to have emerged stronger. However, with the issues of power, water and alleged arrogance, she has lost the clout with the high command which she enjoyed earlier. In such a situation, political observers here are keenly watching the twists and turns which the Delhi Congress would take in the next few weeks. (2005)