Loyalist, but a rebel with a cause

Three days before his untimely death Gurudas Kamat had vowed to defeat the BJP and the Shiv Sena in the next general and assembly polls appealing to Congress workers that they must strive hard to make Rahul Gandhi the next prime minister Sadly it turned out to be his last public speech in which he paid tributes to his mentor former PM late Rajiv GandhiParty workers who attended the programme Rajiv Ek Soach in Ghatkopar last Sunday hadnt expected him to depart so early at the age of 63 because they wanted him to guide them to regain the lost glory of the Congress At the same meeting Kamat and other speakers had kept politics aside and paid rich homage to late Atal Bihari VajpayeeThe Kamat camp of the Mumbai Congress which is still considered the strongest in terms of the support it gets was disillusioned when he announced retirement from active politics in 2016 But he withdrew it later and then again quit all party posts last year but kept the partys primary membership However developments in the past few months had upped their morale as Kamat had started taking interest in politics and working expeditiously to retain a Lok Sabha ticket from Mumbai North West constituency His supporters were happy that their leader had bounced back with renewed vigour But on Wednesday Kamat passed way in New Delhi following a massive heart attack Kamat had been camping there to seek audience with the party high command to apprise them of developments in the city unit and a change in the leadershipThe anguishKamats last speech a recording of which is available with this author vehemently explained what worried him most and took a toll on his health It was again his disagreement with the city unit president Sanjay Nirupam who has asked the party leadership to replace Kamats nominees in the organisation Kamats statements indicated that Nirupam was now trying to shift from Mumbai North constituency to the North West which is his Kamats fiefdom I dont want to contest from here Mumbai North East where he had beaten Pramod Mahajan Subramanian Swamy Jayawantiben Mehta and Kirit Somaiya before shifting to North West to accommodate the NCPOnly a person who lost by 5 lakh votes can think of moving to a safer constituency he said He said it was he who had admitted the person Nirupam in Congress and requested unwilling party workers in Mumbai North to campaign for him See the fingers are now being pointed at me But I can tell you with guarantee that there will be a new day and new time change in the city leadership he saidBefore Nirupam was made city chief the local Congress was split between the Kamat camp and an equally strong group led by late Murli Deora But after Deoras demise his son and former MP Milind did not pursue the fight He gave Kamat a freehand and tacit support in the fight against Nirupam Milind said in a tweet from Hamburg that they had their political differences but he always respected and admired him Kamat He also reposted a picture of his father Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi Kamat and Sharad PawarLoyalist but a rebelKamat was persuaded by Sonia Gandhi to stay in the party when he quit from its primary membership following his disagreement with Nirupam Later he kept himself away from Mumbai corporation polls but continued to express his displeasure over Nirupams decisions He was upset after he was removed as general secretary incharge of Gujarat where he had performed well to resurrect the partyHe had shocked the party when as a minister of state he quit on being denied a ministry of his choice when PM Manmohan Singh reshuffled his cabinet in 2011 But later he patched up with the leadership Veterans in the Congress say leaders like Kamat were a rarity because he did not think twice before relinquishing a lucrative position and yet managed a solid comebackThe Rajiv connectionKamat shot to prominence when Rajiv Gandhi saw a spark in him as a Youth Congress leader Gandhi gave Kamat then 29 a Lok Sabha ticket from Mumbai North East in the 1984 polls in which he beat Subramaniam Swamy and Pramod Mahajan He was among the only two candidates from Maharashtra who were in the first list The other was late Sunil Dutt whose exMP daughter Priya said Kamat was a tall leader who worked his way up from the organisation and became a leader to reckon withAs Mumbai Congress chief Kamat had registered the partys finest performance in recent times His supporters would fear his short temper but considering his sensitive side they forgave him for all his wrong decisions It was his great connect with the masses that enabled him to get 35 lakh people to rallies addressed by the GandhisIt was due to his unwavering loyalty to the Congress first family that Sonia Gandhi who knew him as one of her late husbands successful finds who later worked under her leadership and accepted her son Rahul as their boss recently was among the first to pay her respects Rahul Gandhi tweeted that Kamats passing was a massive blow to the Congress family Gurudasji helped build the Congress party in Mumbai and was greatly respected and admired by all he wroteKamat is survived by his mother Manorama wife Maharookh and son Dr Sunil who according to his father despised politics Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a state honour for the last rites slated to be performed on ThursdayCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates