The recent revelation by the Special Investigation Team, which has been investigating allegations of evidence fabrication in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, that a political conspiracy against Narendra Modi was hatched at the behest of former Congress leader Ahmed Patel, has opened several fronts for discussion and allegations against the former Congress leader and Gandhi family loyalist. ‘Activist’ Teesta Setalvad allegedly collected about Rs. 30 lakhs from Ahmed Patel, according to the SIT.
Ahmed Patel, former MP and a close ally of Congress President Sonia Gandhi died in November 2020 after suffering Covid infection, although controversies surrounding him persist. This recent affidavit by the SIT discloses one such controversy. In this article, we will look at how Ahmed Patel came to hold such importance in the Congress party.
Ahmed Patel’s entry into politics
Ahmed Patel was born in the Piraman village of Anklesvar Taluka in Gujarat’s Bharuch district in 1949. In his early days, he was a member of the Youth Congress. In 1976, Patel began his political career by contesting local body elections in Gujarat’s Bharuch district. At the age of 28, Patel declared his entry onto the national political landscape. He was chosen by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to contest Bharuch in the 1977 elections for the sixth Lok Sabha.
The Congress was stunned by the 1977 Lok Sabha election because Indira Gandhi had lost her Raebareli pocket-borough. Ahmed Patel, however, won the Bharuch seat in this situation and affirmed his allegiance to Indira Gandhi, keeping the Congress flag flying in Gujarat.
He was chosen to serve in the sixth, seventh, and eighth Lok Sabhas before losing two elections in the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign in 1989. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in March 1977. From 1993 till his death in 2020, he served five consecutive terms as the State’s representative in the Rajya Sabha. Patel was the only Muslim elected as a Lok Sabha MP in Gujarat after Ehsan Jafri.
Closeness to the Gandhi family
Ahmed Patel underwent a complete transition from a Congress leader to the Man Friday of the Gandhi family under Rajiv Gandhi’s leadership. Rajiv Gandhi gave Congress a remarkable young personality. Patel served as Rajiv Gandhi’s parliamentary secretary and close confidante from 1985 until 1986.
Two major developments worked out well for Ahmed Patel. First, Rajiv Gandhi appointed him as Congress General Secretary. Second, Rajiv Gandhi delegated to Ahmed Patel the task of readying the Jawahar Bhavan in New Delhi for the centennial celebrations of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birth in 1989. He developed a deep bond with the entire Congress family while working on the Jawahar Bhavan project, nearly to the point of being considered as a part of the family.
Patel was nonetheless demoted within the Congress following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination in 1991. Sonia Gandhi had declined to enter active politics, and Ahmed Patel was one of the many known faces of the Congress Working Committee under PV Narasimha Rao, whose opinions carried little weight in final decision-making. It is said that during this period, he became closer to Sonia Gandhi.
Becoming a Sonia Gandhi loyalist
Ahmed Patel was appointed Sonia Gandhi’s political adviser in 2001. After Sonia Gandhi gained control of the Congress and focused on the 2004 Lok Sabha election, Patel became the key figure and a master tactician. In 2009, the duo of Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel won another election.
For the Gandhi family, Patel has managed political infighting, particularly in Rajasthan, as well as the fallout from the letter from 23 party leaders asking for a thorough overhaul of the party’s leadership. He defended the Gandhis from assaults from both inside and outside the party as he stood behind them. He served as the Gandhis’ chief negotiator in each crisis situation.
Congress leaders depended on Patel as a listening ear because the party president was rarely available for a personal encounter. Patel had a crucial role as a problem solver, coordinator, and mediator between the government and the party from 2004 to 2014 under the UPA government. He was regarded as a part of the senior leadership of the Congress party due to his closeness to the party’s president, Sonia Gandhi. According to accounts, Patel’s phone calls had more weight than those of any other UPA cabinet minister.
When Congress lost Gujarat to save Ahmed Patel’s Rajya Sabha seat
In 2017, Gujarat was witnessing Rajya Sabha elections for the first time since 1996 as they were always uncontested. Three Rajya Sabha seats were up for reelection in Gujarat and it had 4 contenders. One of the seats was of Ahmed Patel. The other two seats up for grabs were being contested by Amit Shah and Smriti Irani of the BJP, both heavyweights in their own way. Their victory was almost certain. BJP has fielded Balwantsinh Rajput, former Chief Whip of Gujarat Congress in the assembly against Ahmed Patel.
Gujarat Congress originally had 57 MLAs. Of these, 6 had resigned and joined the BJP. Congress abandoned Gujarat in order to secure the RS seat at any cost. Gujarat was ravaged by floods, one of the worst in a decade, as the Congress MLAs dined on buffet breakfasts at an opulent resort in Congress-ruled Karnataka. One of the areas in Banaskantha most severely affected by the floods was Dhanera. Their Congress MLA Joitabhai Patel was one of 44 MLAs touring Bangalore.
The state assembly elections were just a few months away when this took place. For the sake of saving one Rajya Sabha seat, Gujarat Congress put the whole state of Gujarat, which had elections the same year, at risk. But did Congress do it all for Ahmed Patel? No, rather it was to shield Sonia Gandhi’s face as if Ahmed Patel lost, Sonia Gandhi would be considered a loser, and was likely to lose much of her hold in the party.
Ahmed Patel’s name also popped up in the AugustaWestland scam. Rajiv Saxena, a key witness turned approver in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland helicopter fraud, reportedly identified Patel as one of the politicians accused of receiving payments in the chopper deal.
Ahmed Patel was regarded by Sonia Gandhi as an “irreplaceable companion” as he was a go-to man whenever Congress was in crisis.
