Political Gup-Shup: The cult and curse of personality

With all poll surveys suggesting that the Bharatiya Janata Party is set to form the next government, party leaders are eagerly looking forward to a stint in power after a decade in Opposition. It is, therefore, not surprising that private conversations in the BJP these days are peppered with discussions about who is likely to make it as a Cabinet minister. Arun Jaitley, who currently holds the post of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, will obviously be a key member of the BJP-led government, but speculation is rife about his portfolio. Since Mr Jaitley has already handled the commerce and law ministries in the last Atal Behari Vajpayee government, it is being said that he could well be the country’s next foreign minister. It would seem Mr Jaitley, too, is preparing for the job. He is currently reading Karachi-based journalist Babar Ayaz’s book What’s Wrong With Pakistan, an obvious attempt to better his understanding about the neighbouring country. The ante room in his office has several photographs of Mr Jaitley shaking hands with the Obamas, which could be read as a sign of his job preference.

As the next Lok Sabha elections draw closer, the war of words between various political leaders is becoming increasingly shrill. Given the surcharged atmosphere, it is not unusual that Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav should raise serious ideological issues in his speeches by questioning BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s secular credentials and his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. But his son, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, has a different grouse against Mr Modi which has nothing to do with the latter’s communal agenda.

Young Yadav is often heard complaining that Mr Modi is not sufficiently “generous and large-hearted”. The Chief Minister is apparently miffed that Mr Modi never misses an opportunity to brag about how Gujarat gifted two pairs of Asiatic lions to Uttar Pradesh for a proposed safari park in Etawah. A peeved Akhilesh points out that while Mr Modi loves talking about his state’s generosity, the Gujarat Chief Minister fails to mention that the Uttar Pradesh government had reciprocated the gesture by gifting 12 animals to Mr Modi’s home state.

Faced with the prospect of being badly mauled in the electorally-crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, the Congress has been tapping new candidates, especially from the film and cricketing world. It was in this context that Firozabad MP and actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar recently called up fellow actor Raza Murad to persuade him to contest the coming Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket. Babbar apparently told Murad that all he had to do was to pick any constituency in Uttar Pradesh and it would be his for the asking. Murad was not convinced by Babbar’s confidence, considering that the Firozabad MP was struggling to find a safe seat for himself as he was not confident about winning his old seat. He was eventually nominated for the Ghaziabad seat after he requested the Congress leadership to shift him to a safe constituency. Murad was further baffled when Babbar first asked him to get in touch with All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, Madhusudan Mistry, with his wishlist, and then proceeded to warn him that the latter never responds to any calls. Needless to say, Murad was not taken in by Babbar’s hardsell.

The BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has acquired a larger-than-life image, much to the chagrin of a section of its senior leaders. Unhappy with the emergence of a personality cult and the relegation of the party to the background, a number of stories have started doing the rounds in the BJP. One such story is about a party worker’s experiences in Bihar. Recounting his recent interactions with villagers in the state, the worker was surprised at being ticked off when he sought votes for the BJP. He was obviously surprised since the party’s internal feedback has indicated that the BJP is going to do extremely well in this heartland state. The mystery was soon solved when irate villagers pointed out that they were fed up with all political parties as they had all failed to deliver. “Whether it is the haath or kamal or the lantern... they have all let us down,” they said, adding emphatically that this time their vote would go to Mr Modi as only he would be able to redress their longstanding grievances. Armed with these inputs, BJP workers have now suggested that a special awareness campaign be launched to convince the voter that the BJP election symbol kamal (lotus) is synonymous with

Mr Modi. But this may prove to be a tough call as the BJP campaign has become totally “Modi-centric” with chants of “NaMo NaMo” taking precedence over party slogans.

The writer is a Delhi-based
journalist