By praising Rahul Gandhi, did Sumitra Mahajan just take aim at BJP?

New Delhi: On July 20, 2018, the then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan chided the then Congress president Rahul Gandhi for a surprise hug he gave to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a debate on the no-confidence motion moved against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Rahul Gandhi had walked across the aisle of the Lok Sabha and walked up to the Prime Minister to give him a tight hug. He then returned to his seat and winked at Jyotiraditya Scindia, then a Congress member and now a minister in the Modi government.

The act stunned everyone inside and outside the entire Lok Sabha.

Subsequently, in January 2019, Mahajan, who is popularly known as ‘Tai’, claimed that Rahul Gandhi is a failure in politics and could not handle things alone.

Welcoming Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s appointment as the Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, she had insisted that the move was an acceptance of Rahul Gandhi’s failure by the grand old party.

Four years later, Mahajan, an eight-term Lok Sabha member and a BJP veteran, praised Rahul Gandhi for undertaking the Bharat Jodo Yatra. She said it was a good thing that he wants to understand India through this yatra.

“I felt very good. In my discourses, I had always stated that all the great leaders first travelled across India to see and understand it and then started working for the country. Rahulji also had this desire. Earlier, he would talk without thinking. I am very happy for him,” Mahajan told reporters when asked about the Bharat Jodo Yatra entering Madhya Pradesh later this month.

She also stressed the need for strong opposition to make the incumbent government accountable and cited the examples of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his deputy LK Advani who as opposition leaders would effectively corner the governments on critical issues.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker’s praise of Rahul Gandhi has come as a huge morale booster for the Congress party. Several Congress leaders shared the clippings of Mahajan’s views on Rahul Gandhi on social media.

That said, Mahajan, 79, has been completely sidelined in the BJP ever since she retired from electoral politics in 2019.

At the time of announcing that she would not contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Mahajan had made her resentment clear by saying that she had freed her party from a difficult choice.

In a statement released by her office in April 2019, Mahajan had said: “The BJP has not declared its candidate from Indore. Why this state of indecision? Maybe the party is hesitating. Even though I had a discussion with the leadership and left the decision to them. It seems they still have reservations, so I declare that I will not contest Lok Sabha elections, so the party is free to decide, without any hesitation.”

By then, it had become clear to her that she would not be renominated from Indore in line with the BJP’s unwritten rule to deny tickets to leaders above 75 years of age.

In November 2021 when she was honoured with the Padma Bhushan award for her long services in public life, Mahajan had insisted that she had not retired from active politics yet.

“Whatever task BJP office-bearers will ask me to do in the party's interest, I will do that work. I will continue to work in the social sector also,” she had told reporters.

“I have not taken retirement from politics," added Mahajan.

Recalling Vajpayee, Mahajan said a political worker will remain so even if not occupying any post. “Even today, I am a political worker and will remain so forever,” she said.

So, her praise of Rahul Gandhi could be a calculated move ahead of the assembly elections in her home state Madhya Pradesh next year.