'Instead of camping in the cities and leading the party, leaders have to go to the interiors of the country.'
'The Congress is losing touch with the common man.'
Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan was home minister in the Oommen Chandy-led United Democratic Front government from 2012 to 2014.
In 2014, he had to give up the home minister's post for Ramesh Chennithala, factionalism within the party forcing the change in portfolio.
From home minister, he became the minister in charge of forests, transport, sports, cinema and environment.
In the May 16, 2016 Kerala assembly election, he successfully fought anti-incumbency to become the Congressman who won with the largest number of votes!
Radhakrishnan below, left, spoke to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com, about the Congress defeat in Kerala and the party's future nationwide.
Did you expect this kind of setback for the Congress in the assembly elections?
I never expected this kind of a setback. We were quite hopeful of getting a good number of seats.
We had concentrated on two things -- that we had done a lot of developmental activities in the last five years, which was happening in Kerala for the first time. Then, we had done a lot of work to help and include the marginalised in society.
We thought these two programmes, which had great impact on people and society, would be appreciated by the people of Kerala.
We were hopeful that these two initiatives would have a positive effect from the point of view of an election and fetch us votes.
But we could not retaliate strongly to the kind of blackmail politics which the Left indulged.
What do you mean by blackmail politics?
The kind of allegations they raised against Oommen Chandy. The Left did not even touch upon the development activities we did because it would be advantageous for us if they spoke of it.
Finally, we did not get the numbers that we expected.
When I spoke to Ramesh Chennithala, he said it was a humiliating defeat for the UDF.
It was very humiliating. There were three leaders in the Congress and the entire Congress party followed whatever these three leaders decided upon.
Surely by three leaders you mean Oommen Chandy, V M Sudheeran and Chennithala.
Oommen Chandy, Sudheeran and Ramesh Chennithala took all the decisions for the party.
It is not that the party men did not follow their decisions, but it is obvious that whatever decisions taken by these three were not acceptable to the people of Kerala.
Till the rape and murder of Jisha occurred, it was expected to be a close fight between the UDF and the LDF (Left Democratic Front)...
Yes, it was close till the Jisha incident took place. It was a huge setback for the UDF government that we were not able to catch the culprits. The LDF used it as a strong weapon against us.
The campaign that women were not safe in Kerala and there was no good governance in the state worked well for the LDF...
Exactly! If we had caught the culprits before voting day, the result would have been different.
How much did factionalism affect the party in this election?
More than the corrupt image, it was the disputes within the party that affected the government more.
It is also true that we could not show a clean image of the government to the public. The public perception of the government was not very clean.
Partymen were washing dirty linen in public. When we could have solved the disagreements and problems within the party, so many partymen took them out in the open, which gave the perception that there was no unity within the party.
It was known to the public that there were many factions and many leaders within the party and it was not under a single leader.
When factionalism took its ugly turn and many voices came out in the open, it became obvious that the party was not under a single leader.
That was when the high command asked these three people to create a collective leadership, and the partymen were following the collective decisions of these three leaders.
Do you think A K Antony commenting once that the UDF was appeasing the minorities and the image that the UDF was an anti-Hindu front made Hindus vote for the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) this time?
The Congress losing the support of the Hindus was because of the emergence of the BJP in Kerala.
I feel this is only temporary. Because they are in power in Delhi, they thought they would be able to make an impact here, but they have not been able to get inroads in the state as they had expected.
The BJP campaigned not to open its account, but to capture power in Kerala. They had said their aim was to get 70 plus seats.
What did they get ultimately?
Is it also not true that the BJP came second in quite a few constituencies and got more than 15 per cent vote share in the state?
Shashi Tharoor felt the state could expect three cornered contests in the future.
I also agree that triangular contests are going to be a reality. It will be the Congress versus the Left versus the BJP.
We can never agree with the communal policies of the BJP. Though the Left is secular, we can never agree with the violent politics they indulge in.
We will consolidate the votes of all those who cannot agree with the Left's violent politics and the BJP's communal politics.
A majority of Keralites should have accepted the secular, non-violent face of the Congress, but this time it did not happen.
Muslims have always been with the Congress, but Muslim votes in those constituencies where the Muslim League did not have a candidate went to the Left. Does this worry you?
Yes, the party has to definitely find out why it happened that way.
Does the fact that many Hindus in south and north Kerala voted for the BJP worry you?
It is only temporary. The sudden emergence of the BJP has caused this. It is not a matter to worry about.
Digvijay Singh tweeted that the Congress needed not just introspection, but surgery after it lost many states.
I won't say the party needs surgery, but if we have to overcome the current crisis, it is true that at the national level, the Congress has to improve upon its organisational capacity.
Instead of camping in the cities and leading the party, leaders have to go to the interiors of the country.
The Congress is losing touch with the common man. It is high time the party got in touch with the common man.
Among all the Congressmen in Kerala, at 33,650 votes I got the largest number. I could achieve this and win my seat when the entire Kerala was voting against the Congress only because I was always available for the people, and I was there to solve their problems.
I also carried with me all the partymen and our campaign was a joint effort.
Many observers question Rahul Gandhi's leadership abilities and the party's dependence on one family (the Nehru-Gandhis).
I don't agree with this observation. The Congress is united only because of this one family.
The presence of the Nehru/Gandhi family is the reason behind the unity in the party.
If you question them today, the side effects would be terrible.
You mean the party will disintegrate?
Yes, without the Gandhi family, the party will disintegrate completely.
Nobody else can keep the Congress united like the Gandhi family. So, their presence is extremely essential for the party.
