The former prime minister of India Indira Gandhi had said once that Congress party can’t be defeated by outside forces but from inside because of the continuous internal bickerings. In Uttarakhand which is going to polls in 2027 few months from now is in the same situation of internal bickerings despite the hard fact that the Central High command and the Uttarakhand Incharge , Central observer and former union minister Kumari Shelja had in an important meeting of all Congress top brass at AICC unambiguously advised the partymen and the senior leaders to forget all their personal differences and at least for now give up all the narrow bickerings in the wider interest of the party in view of the 2027 assembly elections.
The Congress party has lost the last two elections at the hands of the BJP due to internal bickerings.
The present rift is between the former Uttarakhand Chief minister Harish Rawat and Professor Prakash Joshi , a senior Congress leader who had in the past lost two elections and never won. They are presently on head on collision courde and their fight has come out in the open.
The controversy started when one of the rebel Congress candidate wanted to join the Congress party who had earlier contested as independent against Congress candidates in Ram Nagar. Harish Rawat was backing his entry in Congress but at the behest of Prakash Joshi, his entry was barred thus hurting the sentiments of Rawat who felt badly insulted.
Prakash Joshi the ardent rival of Harish Rawat is of the strong opinion and has impressed upon the senior party leaders that no leader from any political party be entertained into Congress as these opportunists not only capture the positions of the real and dedicated party leaders and activists they also shift loyalties according to their whims and fancies betraying the party.
The senior Congress leader though quite junior to Harish Rawat Prakash Joshi says that now is the time for Rawat to retire, sit at home and guide the party instead of intervening in party affairs.
He even says that Rawat has used Tantrik manipulations ( Black Magic) to win elections. And so has his ardent rival and detractor Ranjit Rawat who once was the most trusted and close confident.
Ranjit Rawat had also accused his pre mentor of using / practising Tantra Mantra to win elections, particularly after falling out with him.
In addition to this in the recent past when six ex MLAs and leaders of BJP and BSP joined the Congress party in Delhi in the presence of senior Congress leaders and all the Uttarakhand Congress leaders Harish Rawat was conspicuous by his absence, either not invited or due to some other reason.
A day before, Rawat sensing that he has not been invited in Delhi high profile meeting, had gone on fifteen days political sabbatical announcing it in newspapers and TV channels.
Extremely active in social media apart from being practically mobile in Uttarakhand Harish Rawat loses no chance to issue replies to his ardent detractors.
In the context of his political detractors Prakash Joshi and Ranjit Rawat calling him a Tantrik, without naming his detractors, Harish Rawat has posted long note on X handle, explaining about his dedication to establish Congress in Uttarakhand to being sidelined by then high command snatching away from him the first chance to become Uttarakhand CM, and giving the chance to ND Tiwari who had said that Uttarakhand will never come into existence and if it comes into existence it will be formed over his coffin/ dead body.
Rawat in order to counter his detractors presently sidelining him from Uttarakhand politics catagorically said that it was under my leadership that Congress was formed—it was some witch doctor, or politician, or something else—but people worked tirelessly day and night, traveling more than 5,000 kilometers by car and walking more than 400 kilometers across the state, not including the marches in urban areas.
Along the way, Congress was built, the BJP’s pride was shattered, and the people handed power to Congress. Harish Rawat’s detailed post says : Am I Tantrik!! Wow, what a comparison between a leader and a politician! I remembered that when I was appointed state president after the state’s formation, I received a list of approximately 1,307 active members from Uttar Pradesh as a legacy, of whom we couldn’t locate 57.
I salute the visionaries who acquired such a large plot of land on Rajpur Road, where a room for the City Congress Committee was built.
Our comrades together formed the Congress and also worked to build the Congress Bhavan. The help and support of Congress members is inscribed on every brick and mortar of the building.
This entire building was built before the Congress came to power, and after coming to power, we added a large upper room; the rest of the work is the same as what the Congress did during its days of struggle. Congress was formed—it was some witch doctor, or politician, or something else—but people worked tirelessly day and night, traveling more than 5,000 kilometers by car and walking more than 400 kilometers across the state, not including the marches in urban areas. Along the way, Congress was built, the BJP’s pride was shattered, and the people handed power to Congress. Naturally,
I was a contender for the Chief Minister’s post, but the decision was in favor of Shri Narayan Dutt Tiwari. The man who had once declared that the state would be formed at the cost of his dead body, who had even declined a request to become a PCC member from Uttarakhand, became Chief Minister, and for five years, the government ran a remarkably successful government.
We never allowed such a situation to arise that threatened the government’s existence. I don’t know how this quality of our allies would be defined now. But in 2006, when the incumbent Chief Minister refused to lead the election and began saying “goodbye, comrades,” my colleagues and I kept the Congress party’s morale in check.
We reached a point where it seemed that Congress, not the BJP, would form the government together with the support of the BSP, the UKD, and independents. AICC in-charge Mr. Motilal Bora made a major announcement, stating that public opinion was not in our favor, so we would not resort to the shoddy tactic of forming a government through manipulation. We immediately withdrew.
In 2012, the decision again went in favor of someone with far less parliamentary experience than I.
Even in today’s Congress, his contribution was less than that of other colleagues, but the decision was made—after some grumbling and raising some questions, we ultimately stood by the party’s decision.
Now, I don’t know what category history will place our decisions in both times. But some of my colleagues have eased my burden by saying two things: first, they explained the difference between a tantrik and an astrologer, because an astrologer makes a prediction occasionally, whereas we had to work continuously.
And I thought that perhaps I fit the mould of a tantrik. As a leader in the state, I never considered myself a leader; I considered myself a worker.
As a leader in the state, I never considered myself a leader; I considered myself a worker. But I did the work a political worker should do, and I continue to work as a worker today. Leaders left, but workers remain with the Congress party. Yes, I am the Congress party—the Congress exists because of me—I had this misconception neither in 2002 nor in 2012.
Today, I must gather what is scattered, so I’m carrying the flag as a worker. If any comrade wants to clear up this misunderstanding, they needn’t bother wrote Hapless Harish Rawat.
