lK Advani has been praised in various ways in his decades-long eventful political career, but this one takes the cake: In a recent burst of affection for the veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Uma Bharti called him a “saint”.
Given that Bharti fancies herself as a sadhvi, she ought to know what she is talking. Advani must be squirming in discomfort though, not the least because the compliment has come from a person who had in the not too distant past humiliated him and other senior party leaders in full public view. Has Bharti changed from being an eternal rebel into a figure that is humility personified or has Advani changed from being a stubborn elder to an all-forgiving statesmanIJ
These questions lend themselves to tricky answers. But what has surely changed is the political atmosphere in the BJP, and it is this that has prompted the maverick former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh to heap encomium on Advani. Politics had never figured in the list of worldly pursuits that she renounced after becoming a sadhvi. And so, she wants to seize the moment, even if it means that she has to do a turnaround, in the hope that it will fetch her political dividends in the months to come.
Bharti's remark came in the context of the rise of Narendra Modi as a BJP leader of national stature. Commenting on the massive crowds that Modi had been attracting everyone he went, she said, “Crowd-puller factor does not make a leader a prime ministerial candidate. Just like Modi, if I go to some place, same crowd will come. So you cannot say if crowds come to him, he's the prime ministerial candidate.” While on the face of it there is merit in her argument, it must be remembered that she wasn't making the statement in philosophical isolation, but that it was in the context of rising demand in the party's rank and file to announce Modi as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate. Clearly, she is unhappy with that — and what better way to express it in a circumambulatory manner than to drag Advani's name into the issue!
But why should Bharti be so upsetIJ After all, Modi is ideologically not too distant from her, though he may have been speaking of ‘development politics' more than ‘Hindutva' in recent years. Both are fiery orators whose speeches can at times border on rabble-rousing. Both should be complementing each other and not be seen on opposite sides of the party fence. The fact is that Bharti is worried about her position in case Modi is projected as the prime ministerial aspirant. Unlike Advani, who has sobered with age and experience, Modi may not be as tolerant of Bharti's tantrums, and ‘pardon' her for her repeated misdemeanour. She also may not have a major say in the affairs of Uttar Pradesh that she has had. Nor will she be able to so freely keep nibbling at the Shivraj Singh Chouhan Government's credibility in Madhya Pradesh. If Modi contains her on these issues, Bharti will have neither nuisance value nor political heft.
As BJP president, Nitin Gadkari had given Bharti the charge of Uttar Pradesh in the last Assembly election for two reasons. The first was to prevent her from meddling in Madhya Pradesh where Chouhan has been from all accounts doing a commendable job. The second reason was that Gadkari believed she could infuse some enthusiasm in Uttar Pradesh's party cadre. Because she failed miserably in the second, she is back to her old hobby of undermining the regime in her home State. Only recently she indirectly attacked the Chouhan regime over reports in a section of the media that his Government had dished out prime property to members of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, and said she had “zero tolerance” to corruption. It must be remembered that Bharti had thrown a fit after she was asked to quit as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and then thrown an even bigger fit when Chouhan, and not she, was appointed after Babulal Gaur made way. She had then lashed out at senior party leaders including Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now ‘saint' Advani. Bharti was sacked from the party thereafter, and her threats to split the BJP in the State came a cropper, with barely a dozen MlAs standing by her. She had been arrogant enough to believe that the party could never give her the marching orders. She had then remarked, “How can the party sack meIJ I am the BJP.” This had drawn the following fitting response from senior party leader Pramod Mahajan: “Tomorrow if someone says she is Bharat Mata, what can I doIJ”
This was by no means the only episode that she engineered to insult the BJP's senior leadership. Once, at a televised event, she poured venom on Advani and other senior leaders in the presence of all those leaders. In 2007, she lashed out at Vajpayee and Advani, among others, for ‘stifling' the voice of women. She had said, “The top leadership wants to surround itself with sycophants or women who cannot voice their own opinion on issues. They want women in the party to come in only through the reserved quota and not merit. Their mindset is wrong and the second generation leaders who are with Advaniji, all have a feudal outlook. They cannot see a woman rising on her own strength."
Over a period of time, these serious acts of indiscipline were condoned, and Bharti returned to the party. Perhaps that is why she fondly refers to Advani as a “saint” — after all, only a saint can forgive such repeated acts of grave impropriety. Of course, the BJP veteran knows better than to bask in the new praise; Bharti can as swiftly change colour.
By contrast, Modi is not a saint, though he had by his own admission tried to gain entry to the Ramakrishna Mission in his youthful days and desired to live the life of a monk. He was sent back with words of advice that his calling lay elsewhere. If he gets to wield commanding influence in the party's central affairs, he is unlikely to be as pardoning. large-heartedness towards a political adversary is not among the Gujarat Chief Minister’s virtues.
The BJP suffers from an overdose of inner-party democracy, and Bharti is but one manifestation of that. We recently had the spectacle of suspended leader Ram Jethmalani barging into a party meet which he no business to attend, and pugnaciously demanding why the BJP was ‘soft' on the corrupt Congress, and also why the party was holding up a decision on either sacking him or revoking his suspension!