HVK Archives: Prime ministerial material
Prime ministerial material - Sunday
Vir Sanghvi
()
June 2-8 1996
Title : Prime ministerial material
Author : Vir Sanghvi
Publication : Sunday
Date : 2-8 June, 1996
Vajpayee and the BJP gained from their time in office.
Atal Behari Vajpayee gave India the impression that he
was a straightforward man who would do his best. There
would be no intrigues, no manipululations, no suitcases,
no Chandra Swamis and no N K Sharmas. I don't want to
prejudge his successors, but Vajpayee will be a hard act
to follow
Why did Atal Behari Vajpayee agree to take office as
Prime Minister even though it was staggeringly obvious
that the BJP had no chance of securing a majority? The
evening before Vajpayee went off to meet President
Shankar Dayal Sharma, the BJP's top leadership had
decided that the party would not stake its claim because
nearly very other grouping had said that it would not
touch the BJP.
I suspect that we shall never know the full story but
the version given to me by two BJP leaders goes something
like this: apparently, Vajpayee went to see the President
(in response to his request for 'consultations')
intending to explain that the BJP had decided to opt out.
But he attempted to lighten the atmosphere by joking,
'Rashtrapatiji, you should not call me for consultations.
You should invite me to form the government.'
At this, Shankar Dayal Sharma reached into his achkan and
pulled out a letter. But that is why I've called you," he
said. A stunned Vajpayee read the letter and was
surprised to find that rather than asking him to
demonstrate that he could gather up the requisite
numbers, the letter stated that he had been appointed
Prime Minister and would be sworn in at noon the
following day. Once the invitation was framed in those
terms, he could hardly refuse and left Rashtrapati Bhavan
in a state of shock.
When he faced the TV crews after emerging from his
meeting with the President, he did not look like a man
who was about to leap up into the air and whoop with joy.
Rather, he looked grave, and more than a little shell-
shocked; like a man who has just been told he's won the
lottery but doesn't want to admit that he's lost his
ticket.
I don't know if this story is true. But it sounds
plausible enough. And it explains why the BJP went into
government even though everybody knew that a majority was
impossible to cobble together..
Having said all that, I think that Vajpayee did the right
thing by agreeing to form the government even if it was
for less than a fortnight. You can argue about whether
the BJP gained from its short stint in office (and I
think it did) but one thing is indisputable: it did the
party no harm.
There is, first of all, the question of who in India,
would,make a good Prime Minister. Narasimha Rao is ruled
out by the circumstances of his defeat. V.P. Singh and
Jyoti Basu have both turned down the job. Two obvious
contenders have destroyed their chances. Chandra Shekhar,
who would have been my preferred candidate a couple of
years ago, has self-destructed through a series of
foolish and petulant political decisions.
R.K. Hegde, who many regarded as an acceptable, amiable,
chairman- of-the-board sort of fellow, has revealed
unbecoming pettiness in the aftermath of his old enemy
H.D. Deve Gowda's selection by telling the Bangalore
Press Club that the Congress should form the government
and that Deve Gowda was forced on the United Front.
(Perhaps he was. But who is Hegde to complain? In 1983,
Chandra Shekhar plucked Hegde from the obscurity of a
general secretaryship in New Delhi and sent him to
Bangalore to become chief minister: I didn't hear him
whingering about inner- party democracy then.)
Even so, Hegde's reservations are not entirely without
foundation. Deve Gowda is nobody's first choice for the
job. His principal strength appears to be that he is not
Laloo Prasad Yadav. Had Laloo, Mulayam Singh Yadav, or
Ram Vilas Paswan got the job, the middle class would have
turned against them in a matter of weeks. And as the
examples of Charan Singh, the post-Bofors Rajiv Gandhi
and the post-Mandal V.P. Singh demonstrate, no Prime
Minister can last for long if he alienates the middle
class. This may be unfortunate and unhealthy; but it is
also indisputable.
Deve Gowda has, to be fair to him, made a far better
chief minister of Karnataka than anyone had dared hope.
And he is an accommodating fellow who has no hesitation
in touching somebody's feet if it helps his government; I
suspect a coalition needs somebody like him if it is to
contain the egos of its constituents.
But Deve Gowda is not Vajpayee.
Even those who would find it difficult to support the BJP
- and that includes me - will have to concede that
Vajpayee is one of the few leaders of stature in Indian
politics. When he took over as Prime Minister, he looked
like somebody who had been made for the job. (Contrast
this with the first few months of Narasimha Rao when he
looked like an elderly family retainer who was holding
the fort while sahib was away.)
Vajpayee's demeanour; his impressive televised address to
the nation; his willingness to dispense with some of the
trappings of the post (unlike Rao, he didn't let them
shut Delhi airport down for an hour when he travelled);
and his ability to combine humility with dignity have all
won him many admirers.
He gave India the impression that he was a
straightforward man who would do his best. There would
be no intrigues, no manipulations, no suitcases, no
Chandra Swamis and no N.K. Sharmas.
I don't want to prejudge his succesors, but Vajpayee will
be a hard act to follow. Certainly, Deve Gowda will have
his work cut out for him.
If there is an election within the next 24 months -and
most people think that there will be one-then even those
who are ambivalent about the BJP may vote for the party
because they want Vajpayee as Prime Minister.
By agreeing to take the job for a fortnight and by then
bowing out without tryng to buy up MPs or make
unacceptable compromises to cling on to power, Vajpayee
has enhanced his own stature because of his performance.
And the BJP is certain to benefit.
As for the rest of the Cabinet, its members have done
little to harm the BJP's image (with the possible
exception of the unseemly squabbles about Sikandar
Bakht's portfolio). Jaswant Singh's brief stint at North
Block has reassured those who warned about the BJP's
economic policy; it was wise of Jaswant to announce on
the first day itself that he would not tamper with
Manmohan Singh's policies or his team.
Despite criticism from a section of the media, Sushma
Swaraj's point about vulgarity on TV was shrewdly chosen
- this is a constant refrain within the middle class.
And my friend Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, demonstrated as
home minister that he is a politician of substance and
not the ogre that the press makes him out to be.
All of this will stand the BJP in good stead when the
constituents of the United Front begin to squabble as I
fear they will. People will forget that the BJP wasn't
in power long enough for things to go wrong and for
fights to break out. Instead, they will favourably
contrast the party's disciplined and well- mannered
tenure with the shenanigans that are certain to result
when the cow- belt constituents of the United Front get
their hands on the levers of power.
At that stage, nobody will listen if the UF-LF and the
Congress start going on about the BJP being a political
untouchable. And the party might well secure a majority
at the next election.
So, all things considered, I think the BJP has gained
from its brief stint in office. It has shown us that it
is fit to govern and that the other parties cannot keep
it out of office indefinitely.
Is this a good thing for India? I offer no value
judgements. As a fully paid-up member of the secular
consensus, I'm not thrilled by the prospect of a BJP
government in the future. But I suspect that all those
who are gloating over the fall of Vajpayee's ministry are
being short-sighted. The BJP will be back.
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