Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday said that people who left the Congress party at the time of elections to join other political parties were “gaddar” (traitors) and their defection only displayed opportunism. Gehlot was speaking to reporters in Jaipur.
“Call them opportunists, non-performing assets, nikamma, nakara (useless, worthless), or gaddar (traitors), or the ones who stab in the back – all these words are brothers and sisters. And these (words) are used for such people. Jo gaddari karta hai who gaddar hai hi hai dekho (one who commits treachery is a traitor indeed). What else would you call them?” Gehlot stated.
According to The Indian Express, Gehlot recalled the time when Congress was almost wiped out in the North in 1977 and “yet we stayed strong”.
In mid-2020, Gehlot used the same words “nakara, nikamma” for former deputy CM Sachin Pilot.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Mahendra Jeet Singh Malviya, Lalchand Kataria, and Rajendra Singh Yadav, among others, left the Congress to join the BJP. Gehlot noted that many of these leaders had served in the party for 40-42 years, holding positions such as union minister, AICC general secretary, PCC president, and chief minister.
“Those who betray and stab in the back demonstrate opportunism. I urge them to think of their future and act in a way that they remain assets to Congress 15-20 years from now, rather than becoming liabilities,” Gehlot said, emphasising that loyalists who help during crises do not need to ask for rewards from the party.
Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent comments, including the use of the term “mujra”, the former CM remarked that the PM’s post holds a certain dignity, stating, “No one, not even Narendra Modi, has the right to degrade the dignity of the office.”