Uniting Opposition is the most crucial thing at the moment: Margaret Alva

Alva faces a tough task as the Opposition’s candidate for the Vice-President’s post with the NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankar enjoying a comfortable majority in the electoral college

Former governor Margaret Alva,80, faces a tough task as the Opposition’s candidate for the Vice-President’s post with the NDA candidate Jagdeep Dhankar enjoying a comfortable majority in the electoral college. But the veteran politician spoke to Hindustan Times that politics is the art of the impossible, and therefore she’s ready to fight.

 Margaret Alva with Mallikarjun Kharge, Tiruchi Siva, Vaiko and other opposition leaders after filing her nomination papers at Parliament House, in New Delhi. (PTI)

Edited excerpts:

Did the opposition parties have to pull you out of retirement or were you still very political?

I was very political, and very active. I was on the political affairs committee of the Congress in Karnataka. I was addressing meetings, and not just party but also public platforms and seminars. I never considered myself out [of politics]. I went to Udaipur for the [Congress party’s chintan] shivir as I was invited. It’s true that I was not as energetic as I used to be. Whenever I was required, I was always available.

What did you make of the chintan shivir?

For me, it was like a family wedding in the sense that people whom you hadn’t met for so many years, hadn’t seen for so many years from all over the country, were there. It was a lovely, friendly atmosphere. Sonia [Gandhi] ji was there, former chief ministers, present chief ministers. We admitted something had gone wrong; and that somewhere it needs to be put right.

Did you have any indication that very soon you will be nominated for Vice-President?

Not at all. In fact, I was asleep at home when I got the phone call asking me if I would consent to be the candidate.

Tell us all about it.

I was called even a few days earlier about the united Opposition wanting me to be the candidate. Someone ( I can’t reveal who) said that the opposition parties want to make you their candidate, would you be willing to walk with us? I said, ‘why me?’ He said because they feel that you are the most acceptable candidate. I said, ‘does the Congress also know?’ He said, ‘we have discussed with them’. I said, in that case, no problem. I know it’s a losing battle, but I am prepared to be the voice of the Opposition.

Then they said they were having a meeting, and put me on speaker. They said they want to hear it from you that you’re prepared. I said, well, I’m humbled by your request and if you all feel that I am fit enough to fight, I am prepared to fight. So they all said please come to Delhi. I came to Delhi only on the 17th.

Any other calls in between or from your party?

Nothing at all. I came here and I met Mrs Gandhi. Rahul was there yesterday for the nomination. They called me for tea in Sharad Pawar’s house, when I met everybody. It was there that they made a formal announcement.

You had a meeting with Mrs Gandhi, what did she say?

I went to her, met her. I said it has come as a surprise, she said, ‘fight it’. In politics, win or lose, you fight a battle because you believe in something. I feel that uniting the Opposition is the most crucial thing at the moment. If I can be an instrument in that process, I am glad to be that. It’s not a question of winning or losing, it’s a question of responding to a challenge before the nation. The need of the hour is a united, strong Opposition. There will be various steps which brings them together, I think this is one of those.

How do you see bringing people together? You said that it’s a losing battle.

I don’t say it’s a losing battle at all, I say it’s a challenging battle. Numbers are stacked against us but I still believe that there are many, among their allies, among their own members, who have an inner feeling of unhappiness. I don’t know how they will respond but the appeal is to all members of Parliament, in the interest of democracy and the future of my nation, that they should consider me as a unifying factor that will bring consensus.

Where do you think Trinamool Congress stands in this whole thing?

They didn’t come to the meetings. Mamata is a very good friend of mine. Our relationship goes back to her Youth Congress days. I’d been in Kolkata, I’ve looked after elections in Bengal. She is a wonderful person, a very strong leader. Whatever else people may say, she was groomed in the Congress. So, that inner commitment to the ideology of the Congress is there.

Do you think it’s sad that Congress has come to such a position that they have to rely on other like-minded parties to nominate their own?

What’s sad about it? My point is that you need the numbers and Congress is still the largest party in the grouping. But the question is not you and me, it’s a question of us together. It doesn’t matter who is big and who is small. You have one-member parties, you have two-member parties, but the question is, ‘are we prepared to come in a common platform and face the challenge?’

The BJP has made an issue of your book revelations and frank comments about the Congress. Do you think that will become a factor in the election?

What is wrong in that? Manmohan Singh ji said, “I would have liked it had you in the government but Sonia ji wanted you in the party.” I mean, while the UPA was in power, she made me general secretary, in charge of eight states, which is a record in AICC. I looked after everything from Mizoram to Maharashtra to Punjab to Andaman & Nicobar. She had so much faith in me.

You don’t feel that you didn’t get your due from your party?

No. All that I have achieved, I have reached is because of my party. Who was I? I was made the first woman block president in Karnataka after the 1969 spilt. I have risen from a block president to become general secretary of the party. I’ve held every post at everywhere. I was brought to Parliament, I was made a minister, all because of my party.

What are your thoughts on G23 movement?

These are all people who had grown up in the Congress, and if they have a point of view, they should all sit together and talk about it. Kapil Sibal may have his own agenda, I don’t know, maybe he wanted to be back in Parliament. Whatever it is but Ghulam Nabi and all the others, they are all committed Congress people, like I am. We may have differences on some policy, some programme or something. Now, expressing it is not betrayal. It’s honesty to put the party right and everybody realised.

What do you think of your opponent?

Well, he has been an ex-governor, so have I. He has been in Parliament, so have I. He’s a lawyer, so am I. Only thing is he was fighting a woman in West Bengal all these years, a tough woman, And now he is thrown in to fight another woman, another tough one, in this election. Maybe it’s in his stars.