Finally, the supposed generational shift in the BJP has happened with the ascent of Ms Sushma Swaraj as the Leader of the Opposition and Mr Nitin Gadkari as the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party. What is quite interesting that all those critics, who had been crying themselves hoarse over Mr Gadkari’s elevation as the Party President on account of RSS's intervention are pretty much silent about the rise of Ms Swaraj. Probably they would rather believe that the RSS has had no hand to play in this elevation or that Ms Swaraj reached where she has reached inspite of RSS’s opposition to her. Let us have a look, both at the noise and the silence.
First, Mr Gadkari’s elevation. The critics, who have never voted for the BJP and would like nothing better than seeing the party buried for eternity, seem to have wanted someone from ‘Dilli 4’ to become the BJP President. But were any of them really good choices? Mr Venkiah Naidu’s stint is remembered for little else but his tendency for alliteration. He proved such a failure that he had to step down, ostensibly on account of his wife’s illness! And what about the support base he possesses? He has lost practically all popular elections he ever fought. Coastal Andhra, the region to which he belongs is nowhere close to being a BJP stronghold. Then, why him? Regarding Mr Ananth Kumar, he is supposed to be a good administrator and does have a mass base, but more importantly, he has always been a factional leader in Karnataka. Is he the panacea that a faction ridden BJP needs now? Certainly not! Regarding the darling of the Delhi media, the talented Mr Jaitley, well, life is long and he will have his chances. But how could the BJP elevate a person who is prone to off-the-records briefings to belittle his colleagues? That leaves Ms Sushma Swaraj.
While eminently qualified to be the President of BJP, she has received a bigger reward. Historically, the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition is the Prime Minister candidate. Till 1984, the leader of the BJP Parliamentary party used to be Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and till 1984 elections, it was he, who would be projected as the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate. Surprising, yes…but then the slogan, 'Ab ki bari, Atal Behari', was not coined in 1996 or 1998 but is as old as…probably Vajpayee himself. In 1991, LK Advani was the leader of the BJP Parliamentary party and by virtue of him riding the Ram wave, it was assumed that he would become the Prime Minister in case the BJP came to power. Post elections, he rose to occupy the chair of Leader of the Opposition and was seen as BJP’s shadow Prime Minister till 1995, when he graciously declared Mr Vajpayee to be the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. At this time, Mr Advani resigned from the post of the Leader of the Opposition and Mr Vajpayee adorned that seat. Likewise, post the 1996 13 day Government, Mr Vajpayee continued to be the Prime Ministerial candidate and became the Leader of the Opposition. 2004 onwards, when Mr Vajpayee retired from active politics, Mr Advani became the Leader of the Opposition and de facto and later de jure Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP. Hence, we can safely assume that as things stand, Ms Swaraj is the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP. This, is certainly something which is higher than being the BJP's President!
At the same time Mr Gadkari, certainly cannot be said to be the best choice for the post. After all, he was also seen as a factional leader in Maharashtra and has not exactly worked wonders for the BJP in that state. The fiasco of Chimur where he fought the Sena rather than the Congress and ended up with egg on his face is yet to recede from public memory. Probably someone like a Manohar Parrikar would have been a better bet as compared to him. That said, we must not forget that Mr Rajnath Singh had become the President with a lot of promise. He was seen as a decisive man, an RSS favorite, one who did his best to salvage the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He started off with making all the right sort of noise... on getting the prodigals back, on going back to basics, so on and so forth. Sadly, he was let down by his teammates, who never let go of a chance to underline that he did not belong to Delhi or that he was intellectually challenged. I very vividly recollect a renowned BJP watcher, with sufficient access to the inner circle of 'Dilli 4' telling me that Mr Singh was unfit to be a primary school teacher! I could only nod my head wondering which school teachers in India had become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Cabinet Ministers or the Head of a National Political Party. IThe BJP's President can only be as good as his esteemed colleagues would allow him to be. Probably the test of the leader will be more on how he manages them, rather than the party!
While eminently qualified to be the President of BJP, she has received a bigger reward. Historically, the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition is the Prime Minister candidate. Till 1984, the leader of the BJP Parliamentary party used to be Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee and till 1984 elections, it was he, who would be projected as the BJP Prime Ministerial candidate. Surprising, yes…but then the slogan, 'Ab ki bari, Atal Behari', was not coined in 1996 or 1998 but is as old as…probably Vajpayee himself. In 1991, LK Advani was the leader of the BJP Parliamentary party and by virtue of him riding the Ram wave, it was assumed that he would become the Prime Minister in case the BJP came to power. Post elections, he rose to occupy the chair of Leader of the Opposition and was seen as BJP’s shadow Prime Minister till 1995, when he graciously declared Mr Vajpayee to be the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate. At this time, Mr Advani resigned from the post of the Leader of the Opposition and Mr Vajpayee adorned that seat. Likewise, post the 1996 13 day Government, Mr Vajpayee continued to be the Prime Ministerial candidate and became the Leader of the Opposition. 2004 onwards, when Mr Vajpayee retired from active politics, Mr Advani became the Leader of the Opposition and de facto and later de jure Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP. Hence, we can safely assume that as things stand, Ms Swaraj is the Prime Ministerial candidate of the BJP. This, is certainly something which is higher than being the BJP's President!
At the same time Mr Gadkari, certainly cannot be said to be the best choice for the post. After all, he was also seen as a factional leader in Maharashtra and has not exactly worked wonders for the BJP in that state. The fiasco of Chimur where he fought the Sena rather than the Congress and ended up with egg on his face is yet to recede from public memory. Probably someone like a Manohar Parrikar would have been a better bet as compared to him. That said, we must not forget that Mr Rajnath Singh had become the President with a lot of promise. He was seen as a decisive man, an RSS favorite, one who did his best to salvage the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. He started off with making all the right sort of noise... on getting the prodigals back, on going back to basics, so on and so forth. Sadly, he was let down by his teammates, who never let go of a chance to underline that he did not belong to Delhi or that he was intellectually challenged. I very vividly recollect a renowned BJP watcher, with sufficient access to the inner circle of 'Dilli 4' telling me that Mr Singh was unfit to be a primary school teacher! I could only nod my head wondering which school teachers in India had become the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Cabinet Ministers or the Head of a National Political Party. IThe BJP's President can only be as good as his esteemed colleagues would allow him to be. Probably the test of the leader will be more on how he manages them, rather than the party!
Now, to conclude that the RSS will be happy to have a person, who it does not believe in (or oppose), as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial Candidate, is to do disservice to both the BJP and the RSS. Even Mr Vajpayee’s declaration as the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate in 1995, was a result of RSS deliberations. Further, while it cannot be denied that there are tones of disharmony in the relationship between the RSS and the BJP, the latter has had its roots of the former and still gains umbilical sustenance from it. While it may warm the cockles of secularists wishing for a parting of ways between the two entities, such thinking is entirely wishful, particularly when you realize that there is little to distinguish between each other, at the core level. One may do good to remember the lament of Mahatma Gandhi, pre and post partition, when he said that while everyone professes to respect him, no one listens to him. While this was certainly far from reality, what this and the accounts of that period do reinforce that there was indeed some tension between Gandhi and his followers, the latter finding Gandhi too idealistic for their comfort! It however, by no stretch of imagination means that there was a stage for parting of ways! Same will be true for the BJP and the RSS, at least in the coming years.
What some critics would like to forget now is the Ms Swaraj was seen as an RSS favorite till some time back. And why not? This lady started her political career in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, is attractive in her own way, is an excellent orator, a walking epitome of Indian culture, is an efficient administrator and is as yet, untouched by taint of corruption. Few, who have seen Ms Swaraj perform in debates would have any doubt that she is among the most articulate speakers in Indian political firmament today. For those, who would want to dismiss this as of little consequence, should remember that Mr Vajpayee made his mark first as an orator only. I have had a chance to hear Ms Swaraj in a public rally. This was when she came to my hometown along with Mr LK Advani, on the Su Raj Yatra. No disrespect to Mr Advani, but Ms Swaraj spoke first and was mesmerizing. When Mr Advani started, the crowd started moving away and mid way through his speech, half the crowd was already gone.
In addition to being an orator, Ms Swaraj is a feisty lady, always up for challenge. After all, how many would have decided to confront Ms Sonia Gandhi on a Congress bastion, in an alien state? Or how many would have given up the comforts and certainty of the Central Council of Ministers to accept Chief Ministership of Delhi, all while knowing that a defeat is certain and would mean being away from position of power for long. Finally, she was a part of the Ayodhya campaign and unlike others, she has never beaten round the bush with regards to BJP’s association with the movement.
It is not to say that Ms Swaraj has not had her share of failures. Just after 2004 elections, when Veer Savarkar’s plaque was removed from the Martyr’s memorial at Andamans, Ms Swaraj led a delegation of NDA MPs on a Satyagraha against that move. Unfortunately, that did not make a mark. Likewise, she became the campaign champion of Mr Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, during the run up to President of India polls. While she had a lot of positive statements and hopes to offer, in the final reckoning, Mr Shekhawat scored less than promised votes!
That said, there can hardly be a candidate better than Ms Swaraj to lead the BJP. If nothing else, the simple fact that quite a large section of the media pejoratively describes her image of a middle class Indian women, stands ample testimony to the fact that they are scared, scared that the down to earth and common-sensical appeal of Ms Swaraj could be too hard to ignore for a significant section of the Indian population. While many of these critics would like that the entire country go ga-ga over Priyanka Gandhi’s natty dress sense, there exists more shades of India than one. Welcome Ms Swaraj. I have always believed you to be a future Prime Minister of this country and am sure that you will adorn that office one fine day.
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