The exit of another ‘veteran’ from the Congress party in the person of Supreme Court lawyer and former Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal is by no means an earth-shaking event. This is evident also from the fact that even 10 Janpath has taken it stoically. It remains to be seen whether there will be more such resignations from the Congress party, especially of the G23 set like Ghulam Nabi Azad who are feeling uncomfortable within the Grand Old Party. They have fewer options, though. The only political establishment that has clout now at the national level is the BJP; and its ideology is far removed from that of the Congress. A Chintan Shivir by itself has not added any new energy to the Congress party’s weak leadership.
A politician has every right to shift his allegiance though cross-connections will have their inherent perils. The hoi polloi might vote with their feet and sans any brain power, but they are also increasingly becoming discerning, thanks to the reach of television into ordinary homes. Even the large army of India’s illiterate is now up-to-date with news. One cannot bluff his way to glory. Kapil Sibal opted to land in the wrong boat if one were to look at the character and class of the Samajwadi Party (SP) that has welcomed him into its fold. The UP-centric party is in essence a family enterprise with its base among the Backward Class Yadavs. A Jalandhar-born Punjabi of the elitist breed could be the odd man out there. The disconnect is glaring. The reason for this migration is all too obvious: the offer of a Rajya Sabha seat to the 73-year-old leader, when the Congress party is putting its old hats in retirement mode.
For the SP or Akhilesh Yadav, what benefit they get from this ‘adoption’ of a rank outsider is not clear. Sibal has no fan-following even in Delhi or Punjab and yet he could be of use to SP — to fight its cases in Supreme Court. In the process, however, both sides have shamed the political turf. So is the case with the ageing Shatrughan Sinha in the Bengali-centric Trinamool Congress, after he got out of the BJP, coursed through the Congress without any gain and reached the TMC ranks when he got an offer of a Parliament seat. The gain for TMC was that it helped Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to project her local outfit as a national party. Suffice it to say the harm these migratory birds cause to the character of politics is huge.
