Senior Congress leader Shobha Oza was inspired by the personality of late prime minister Indira Gandhi from an early age, which led her to choose politics as her calling in life. Born and brought up in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, she began her political career as an office bearer of the National Students’ Union of India (NSUI), the Congress party’s student wing.
Late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi appointed her the national secretary of NSUI in 1987, and she has never looked back. Oza became the national spokesperson of the Congress in 2014 during the UPAII government under Manmohan Singh. She is currently a member of the Congress Political Affairs Committee (PAC). In a conversation with Gaurav Chandra of The Statesman, she spoke on the role of women in politics, her party’s revival plans in Madhya Pradesh, and Operation Sindoor.
Q. Why do you feel the Congress needed to launch the ‘Sangathan Srajan Abhiyan’, and what does the party aim to achieve from the campaign?
A. The Congress Working Committee (CWC) came up with the idea to re-strengthen the party organization from the ground level. The party leadership felt that in Madhya Pradesh, and in many other states too, the Congress has weakened at the organization level. The CWC decided to appoint observers from outside the state, assisted by state level observers, to identify suitable leaders in all districts; people who have a good standing not only in the party but also in society. Presently, we have many district presidents and other office bearers who have been there for multiple terms but have done nothing for the party organization because most of them were appointed only on the basis of being close associates of some or the other senior leader. As a result, the party has suffered. The aim of this campaign is to rectify all such problems, and rekindle the organization’s strength and reach. The campaign has already seen successful results in Gujarat, and now it is the turn of Madhya Pradesh.
Q. How do you foresee the role of women leaders in this campaign?
A. Rajiv Gandhi had introduced reservation for women in panchayats and local bodies, and the Congress has 33 per cent reservation for women in the organization. As a result, this campaign will enable more women leaders to become district presidents, and strengthen the party further at the organizational level and also in electoral politics. More women leaders in general are also the need of the hour to make politics cleaner and curb the increasing criminalization of politics in India. Women constitute more than half of the society, but if they do not play an important role in politics, naturally there will be an imbalance.
Q. You have been given the responsibility of Khandwa district in the Sangathan Srajan Abhiyaan. How do you plan to go about it?
A. Khandwa is one of the districts where there has been a lot of infighting in the party. As of now, there is not even a district president there. I have long been associated with the region. We will be meeting the leaders, workers and everyone to find out the best person to be the district president there. That will be followed by appointments of block and booth presidents, among others.
Q. What is your opinion about the current BJP government in Madhya Pradesh, particularly on womenrelated issues like their safety and security?
A. We have a very disturbing picture of women’s safety in Madhya Pradesh. The state is probably number one or two in the country as far as atrocities on women are concerned. Every day, there are about 20-25 reported cases of rape or gang rape. Moreover, I can vouch for the fact that the actual number is much higher. That is the plight of women in MP, and this sorry state of affairs persists despite the fact that Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is also serving as the home minister of the state.
Q. Some senior state BJP leaders allegedly made derogatory remarks on the armed forces in connection with Operation Sindoor. What is your reaction?
A. This is obnoxious. When they are in a responsible position and take an oath under the Constitution, and they speak against the armed forces or make derogatory comments about a woman army officer, that is really shameful. If such people speak on the lines of religion, caste, creed, or gender, it is highly objectionable. I strongly believe that such ministers, MLAs or leaders have no right to continue in their positions. Moreover, despite the BJP’s repeated claims about empowering women, we have noticed that everyone, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and others, is taking credit for Operation Sindoor. There has been a conspicuous absence of giving any credit to our President, who is constitutionally the Supreme Commander of India’s armed forces. Droupadi Murmu is also a tribal lady, but we know that she was not even invited to the inauguration of the new Parliament building as well as at the consecration ceremony of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. The BJP does not believe in women’s empowerment, but all this is just tokenism. The party made her the President for the sake of votes and to win elections. And this is not the first time that the Prime Minister is taking the credit, which is actually due to our soldiers. He had taken the credit belonging to our soldiers during the Pulwama incident too in the past.
Q. How do you see the future of the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, and what are your own future plans?
A. As far as the Congress is concerned, we will definitely come back to power with the blessings of the masses. The people have realized that they made a mistake by voting for BJP, but I believe it is not their mistake because EVMs (electronic voting machines) are playing a big role. This government is just about money, there is total ‘jungle Raj’. We will work hard to ensure that whatever small mistakes we did in the past, and whatever our organization failed to do, we will fix all those problems. I am confident that we will come back to power in the next assembly elections and form the government. About my future, I wait for the party to decide my role.