The Congress leadership has been too clever by half. There is no other way to describe its handling of the forthcoming by-election in Allahabad. It created the impression that it might field Mr Amitabh Bachchan in order to oblige Mr V.P. Singh first to canvass support for himself in the constituency and then to file his nomination papers on the last day on Monday (May 23). And when he had done so, it asked Mr Sunil Shastri to file his nomination papers. Apparently it calculated that by this ruse it would place Mr V. P. Singh in a dilemma. Since he had said more than once that he would contest only if Mr Bachchan was the Congress candidate, he would be honour bound to withdraw. But he was likely to come under pressure from opposition parties to stay on in the field. But such tactics do little credit to the Congress leadership. If anything, in the present context when the issue of public morality has assumed great importance, it should have gone out of its way to demonstrate that it engages in clean battles and not in clever ruses.
As was only to be expected, Mr V.P. Singh has expressed a desire to retire from the contest on the ground that he was committed to fight only against Mr Bachchan. This is a principled position and hopefully Mr V.P. Singh would stick to it even if he is pressed by opposition leaders not to do so. Even tactical considerations demand that he withdraws his nomination. For that would add to his stature and embarrass the Congress leadership. That certain gain is far more important for him and the opposition than his presence in the Lok Sabha. Our Parliament House is not another Westminster. The debates in it do not make or mar political careers. These are settled in the larger arena outside Parliament. As it happens, Mr V.P. Singh also does not need the floor of the Lok Sabha to make himself heard. The press gives him more than adequate access to the people. Above all, the battle is on for the next poll to Parliament whether or not Mr Rajiv Gandhi opts for a mid-term one. Allahabad could have served as a dress rehearsal for it if Mr Bachchan was the Congress candidate because he would have been seen, and rightly, as not only the Prime Minister’s own nominee but as a surrogate for him in his fight to the finish with Mr V.P. Singh. It cannot now serve that purpose. Thus Mr V.P. Singh has nothing to gain by contesting against Mr Sunil Shastri. On the contrary, it can reduce his stature. Opposition leaders should have no great difficulty in appreciating these points.
We do not know the Bahujan Samaj Party leader, Mr Kanshi Ram’s reasons for offering himself as a candidate in Allahabad. But his decision assumes great importance in the new context. If Mr V.P. Singh withdraws, as he should, the Congress nominee will be pitted principally against Mr Kanshi Ram. After his party’s lacklustre performance in the elections to the Haryana vidhan sabha last summer, Mr Kanshi Ram has not created the kind of waves he did in 1985 when he played an important role in the Congress party’s defeat in the elections to the Punjab state legislature in September 1985; he had then managed to deny the Congress substantial support among the Harijans and thereby about a score of seats. Then in a number of by-elections, including in U.P., his party emerged second. It is, of course, by no means certain that he could repeat that performance in Allahabad. But he could, especially if the opposition were to support him. His victory would be a far bigger blow to the Congress than Mr V.P. Singh’s and indeed anyone else’s. As it is, with his plans to forge the Harijans and other weaker sections into an independent political force, Mr Kanshi Ram constitutes a threat to the party. His victory would certainly increase his appeal among sections of society to which he is addressing himself. As far as we can judge, this would facilitate rather than hamper Mr VP Singh’s own plans. The Harijans are not his constituents and are not likely to be in the next election. If events take this turn in Allahabad, the Congress leadership would have reason to rue its clever-clever approach. The by-election will then have assumed an importance which no one had anticipated.