BJP all set for action against Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy

New Delhi: The BJP is set to take “strong action” against party MP Subramanian Swamy if he does not refrain from targeting party members and ministers. Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi ticked off Swamy, the BJP rank and file had taken a serious view of  his relentless targeting of party colleagues and government officials.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made it clear on Monday that he was in no mood to tolerate Dr Swamy’s relentless attacks and remarks against government officials and party colleagues. That he was virtually gagged became somewhat evident when on Tuesday an otherwise unrestrained Dr Swamy avoided the media.

Despite the warning, Dr Swamy quoted the Bhagvad Gita to reply to the saffron wrath he has incurred. He tweeted: “The world is in general equilibrium. A small change in one parameter effects changes in all variables. So Krishna advised: Sukh Dukhe...” He has always been “difficult” to handle for his controversial remarks.

While he was direct in his attack on RBI governor Raghuram Rajan and the chief economic adviser to the government, Arvind Subrama-nian, he tacitly targeted his arch-rival, finance minister Arun Jaitley.

Speculation was rife that an annoyed  Mr Jaitley cut short his China visit and returned to India after Dr Swamy, in a tweet, took an indirect dig at him, saying, “BJP should direct our ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. In coat and tie they look like waiters.”

A senior party functionary told this newspaper that the BJP has decided to take “strong action against Swamy” if he continues with his remarks against party leaders and government officials.

It was pointed out that the BJP leadership felt that Dr Swamy was “diverting attention from the good governance of the Modi sarkar and giving the Opposition a handle to target the BJP and the government”.

It was learnt that the central leadership had cancelled three events supposed to be attended by Dr Swamy: the first was a commemoration in Mumbai of the anniversary of the Emergency on Sunday, the second an event organised by the BJP’s Maharashtra unit where Dr Swamy was to be the chief guest. The central leadership had also reportedly cancelled a similar event organised by its Tamil Nadu unit to host Dr Swamy for a speech on the Emergency.

Dr Swamy has always been “difficult” to handle. A senior BJP leader recalled that in his earlier avatar in the Janata Party, Dr Swamy had targeted the BJP's tallest leader, Atal Behari Vajpayee. There are reports that Dr Swamy, in his autobiography serialised in the Tamil weekly Kumudham, had lashed out at Vajpayee.

It was revealed that when the party high command decided to offer Dr Swamy a Rajya Sabha seat, many a saffron eyebrow was raised. There was strong opposition to Swamy’s nomination as a section of party leaders argued that “given his track record, he would turn on the people who helped him”.