Meet Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, a watchman once and now at the gates of glory

Having risen through the ranks, Sukhu marks a generational change in the Congress

In March-April this year, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (58), former chief of the Himachal Pradesh (HP) unit of the Congress, was named chief of the party’s campaign committee. But more importantly, the head of the committee that would screen 

candidates for the Assembly election. This meant that if enough candidates he selected won, he could have a majority in the Congress Legislature Party, leading to his election as chief minister (CM).

This is one reason he was sanguine when Business Standard asked him soon after his appointment whether he was disappointed the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief’s post was given to Pratibha Singh, the widow of HP’s Congress stalwart Virbhadra Singh and not him.

“Not really. I’ve been PCC chief before. Frankly, in politics, whatever I’ve done, I’ve reached the top as chief: I began politics as a student and became chief of the Congress’ youth wing. I was state president of the Youth Congress when leaders like Manish Tewari and Randeep Surjewala used to be national Youth Congress presidents. I became the Congress state unit chief and had the longest term in that position,” he said, adding that being the man to select candidates was enough for him. Those words were to prove prophetic.

With more than 15 of the 40 Congress candidates who were elected in the 60-member HP Assembly being Sukhu’s men, becoming CM was a foregone conclusion. More so, because in the by-poll to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat vacated by Virbhadra’s death where Pratibha had posted such a magnificent victory less than a year ago, the Congress couldn’t win a single Assembly seat, eliminating her from the race.

Mandi is the area of former CM Jairam Thakur and has 17 Assembly seats in the districts of Mandi, Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur, and Bharmour (Chamba).

Sukhu is among the seniormost Congress leaders in the state but had always been at daggers drawn with Virbhadra. One reason could be that in terms of background, the two men were chalk and cheese. Virbhadra (and his family) were royalty. He was the last Raja of the Rampur Bushahr dynasty and was the last CM in 2008 when the Congress was ousted in the Assembly elections. On the other hand, he was also a five-time CM, a two-term Minister of State in the Union government, and a politician who became a Member of Parliament first in 1962. He was also highly autocratic in style.

Sukhu, by contrast, is very much a people’s leader. He is amiable and approachable. He is the son of a driver with the state transport corporation.

“He is what Paharis call khadang: non-diplomatic, gruff, and not above using abusive Hindi when he gets irritated. He has 

mellowed over the years though,” says Bhanu Joshi, a Shimla boy who is now working for a PhD at Brown University and was Sukhu’s neighbour. “He is Sukhu Uncle to me,” he added parenthetically.

Sukhu knows the struggle.

He used to heave crates of milk to make a living in the early years and later graduated to selling milk. When times got tough, he became a watchman with the state electricity department, and even got an offer from the state electricity board for the post of a TMate (a position equivalent to a helper).

He has been passionate about improving the lives of the people he saw around him. “Our life is very difficult. I 

just want everyone to have an equal chance,” he told Business Standard.

The Congress had many ideas in its manifesto that Sukhu will now have to implement — a Rs 1,500 allowance to women-headed families below a certain income threshold and the adoption of the old pension scheme which was launched by the Congress but has been reversed by all state governments it is now heading.

But the central idea is a minimum support price for milk.

“Procurement of milk in the state is chaotic. We will streamline it, offer to buy 10 kilos of milk from every family, set up chilling plants, and resell the milk in the market at a subsidy: we will recover costs by levying a cess on the sale of alcohol. Milk for alcohol: how does that sound?” he said soon after the Congress manifesto was launched. The downside is he has no administrative experience, never having been a minister. 

Under Sukhu, HP will see a generational change in the Congress.

But another party development needs to be watched. It is the party’s worst-kept secret that there is a vacuum after the death of manager Ahmad Patel. What most people don’t know is that Patel owed his power to proximity to the Gandhi family, but also to deep and wide knowledge about state politics that influenced the choice of CMs — a route for patronage.

This election has been strategised in no small degree by Congress in-charge Rajiv Shukla, the man the High Command deputed on the ground. With this success, Shukla’s stock in the party will go up, as will the demand for his brand of carrot-and-stick.
 

With both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan challenges looming in the future, Shukla’s role in the party needs to be watched.