Enemies No More?

Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot strike a rare chord of unity in a bid to salvage the Congress in Rajasthan.

Rajasthan

For a party that wears its internecine feuds as badges of honour, the Congress seems to have discovered something rarer than electoral victory in Rajasthan: détente. Earlier this week, at a prayer meeting in Dausa marking the 25th death anniversary of stalwart Congressman Rajesh Pilot, Ashok Gehlot and Sachin Pilot, long locked in political warfare, offered what looked like an olive branch to each other.

Gehlot, the party’s ageing warhorse and Rajasthan’s former three-time chief minister, leaned into a microphone and remarked “When were we ever far apart?”

He was referring, of course, to Sachin Pilot, Rajesh’s son and his own estranged protégé-turned-adversary. Just days earlier, Pilot had personally invited Gehlot to the ceremony - an invitation that Gehlot, perhaps unexpectedly, accepted.

The rivalry between Gehlot and Pilot has been emblematic of the generational, ideological and temperamental rifts that have come to define – and undermine - the Congress party. It began in earnest in December 2018, when the party clawed back power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Rajasthan. Pilot, then the state Congress chief, had led the campaign from the front, rebuilding the party’s ground game and expanding its appeal among youth and Gujjar voters. Yet when the spoils were divided, the high command anointed the more experienced Gehlot as chief minister. A miffed Pilot was placated with the post of deputy CM and retained the PCC presidency, a power-sharing arrangement that soon proved unworkable.

Tensions festered and finally erupted in July 2020, when Pilot, along with 18 loyalist MLAs, staged a mutiny from a Gurgaon resort. The plan, allegedly abetted by the BJP, failed partly because Gehlot outmanoeuvred his rival with ruthless precision, and partly because the Congress central leadership refused to blink. Pilot was sacked as deputy chief minister and as state party chief. Gehlot emerged stronger, but not unscathed. The bitterness was palpable. Gehlot publicly labelled Pilot as “useless” and “ineffective” while privately accusing him of conspiring with Union Home Minister Amit Shah to topple the government.

The feud split the party down the middle and contributed, in no small part, to its eventual defeat. In the 2023 assembly elections, the BJP staged a resounding comeback, aided by the Congress’s inability to present a united front or articulate a coherent governance record. Pilot had agitated for a leadership change, while Gehlot had tried to cling to power through loyalists and last-minute populist sops. Their mutual sabotage became the party’s funeral procession.

Now, in the aftermath of defeat, both leaders have begun sounding uncharacteristically magnanimous. Gehlot’s appearance in Dausa and his statement about enduring “love and affection” with Pilot may be part of a larger recalibration.

Still, few in Jaipur believe the Gehlot-Pilot truce is anything more than cosmetic. The ideological divide remains as Gehlot represents the Congress’s old guard which is statist, loyal to the Gandhi family. Pilot, in contrast, is modern, media-savvy, and seen as a symbol of aspirational politics among Rajasthan’s youth. Their respective camps, too, remain entrenched.

The question is what this truce, if it is one, actually achieves. With the BJP firmly in control of the state and having made deep inroads into rural and urban voter bases alike, the Congress’s path back to relevance in Rajasthan is steep. A united front could revive morale, but only if accompanied by fresh ideas and grassroots mobilisation. Merely swapping warm words at a memorial will not be enough.

Still, political history is not without precedent for turnarounds born in funeral courtyards. Rajesh Pilot himself was a tough, unifying figure, respected across the aisle. If his legacy can momentarily bridge a chasm between two Congressmen who helped tear the party apart, it may offer the faintest of hopes that the Grand Old Party still has a few embers of renewal left.