POLITICS

Oblivion beckoning

Vajpayee still doesn't see "GAME OVER" flashing on his screen and keeps playing. Dancewithshadows.com wishes him all the success in the game.

JM

31 July 2004

After six years of deceptive success in running the country, this is surely not what Vajpayee had bargained for. The elder statesman refused to stop singing when his voice was good. Now, he can hope for a glorious place in history only in Murli Manohar Joshi's home-spun history books - if they find their way out of Arjun Singh's dustbins, that is. 

The media, in the last years of Vajpayee prime ministership, spun a myth around the man called Vajpayee. We have all heard him referred to as "the tallest leader", the "elderly statesman" and the "right man in the wrong party". And very recently, we had Prabhu Chawla, Editor Extraordinaire, spewing venom on his detractors for Vajpayee's deserved debacle at the BJP national executive. If Vajpayee was destined to be the humpty-dumpty on the wall, neither Prabhu Chawla nor or all the sarsanghchalaks and pracharaks could hope to put him together. It would have been more romantic if Chawla had written a farewell piece.

Vajpayee's elevation to the high pedestal and the subsequent fall can be attributed to the nation's lack of leaders of stature and the media's longing to find one for cover stories. Vajpayee stepped in to the premiership and soon found himself embroiled in Kargil. The war was followed up with the Agra summit and subsequent military build-up. Did Vajpayee really hope that a summit without the basics sorted out can resolve deep-rooted issues? 

Vajpayee strongly desired to grab a place in history. He was the most-seen Indian PM in foreign capitals. Please note the uncanny similarity with Chandrababu Naidu, another fallen angel, darling of all but his people. Many of Vajpayee's seemingly-altruistic moves were targeted to this cheap PR end. Visibiity was all important.

Vajpayee-fawners still feather-brush his ineptitude. There are still those who claim that Vajpayee's heart was with the targeted Muslim community in the post-Godhra riots. First, he came out with pronouncements against Narendra Modi, citing among other things, Raj Dharma. Modi very rightly cold-shouldered this babble, which Vajpayee was anyway going to reverse at the Goa National Executive meeting of BJP which was soon to follow. Modi smartly regained power. He knew that the only Raj Dharma applicable as of now is that 'thou shall nurture thy voters at all cost.'

Many leaders come with their own whims, which are usually based on sharp political thinking. Indira Gandhi pushed pro-poor farmer policies, Rajeev pushed modernisation, VP Singh Mandal and Narasimha Rao economic reforms. What do we have in memory of AB Vajpayee? The incomplete Golden Quadrilateral, and rivers waiting to be interlinked. Vajpayee's vision, if there was one, never reached fruition and always appeared as publicity gimmickry rather than noble intentions to make people's lives better. 

Vajpayee did little to stem the corruption that power had bred in his party. He put up with George Fernandes for longer than required when he came under the coffin scam cloud. And at the first available opportunity, he was lifted right back into the ministry too. When Tehelka's cash-on-camera scam erupted, Vajpayee's moral high stand was nowhere to be seen. 

The senility started manifesting more often during the election campaign. In a misguided missile attack on Mulayam Yadav's vote bank, he declared that Mullah Mulayam is the best to safeguard their interests. This lateral attack caught Mulayam off-guard, but did little to shore up his own party's fortunes in the state. If anything, the BJP's traditional voters were confused and the rabid fringe was furious.

Through the elections, the electorate had the amusing spectacle of witnessing Vajpayee appealing to his rival Ram Jethmanali that Ram should leave the contest because "he is a friend and that this could my last term". That Vajpayee had no plan to bow out was borne out later when he stuck to the Lok Sabha as the leader of the largest failed party. If he had any interest in the future of BJP, he should have stepped aside to make away for the smart, young generation in BJP that we have heard so much about.

After the poll debacle, Vajpayee again knotted up himself in statements and counterstatements. He said the party would discuss the Gujarat factor's contribution to the BJP failure at the National Executive. Party denied this. Vajpayee repeated his statement. Party denied again and called a Parliamentary party meet in Delhi on Sunday on the eve of the National Executive to push the matter under the carpet. One waited for Vajpayee to raise the issue at the meet. He did not. No one did. 

At a book-release function (a book on Vajpayee by a crony) on the sidelines of the meet, Vajpayee declared that he had had enough. Finally, the elder statesman was bowing out. The End Was Nigh. The media started compiling the political history of Vajpayee. 

Not a single BJP leader asked Vajpayee to stop. He was welcome on his way out. Vajpayee himself could see the autumn leaves ahead. But he had other plans. He was not going, he declared. 

Knowing Vajpayee, it would have been a complete shock if he had raised Gujarat at the national executive or quit active poltics. But we know him better now. He doesn't mean what he say. It's just fun, you know. Or maybe its old age.

There is an example for Vajpayee, if he doesn't know whom to follow. That man is called PV Narasimha Rao. After his five years at the helm, Rao left active politics, clearing the field and making way for other aspirants. He ruled the fractious Congress party and the country due to the exigencies of time, and left when his job was done, never to return again. Vajpayee still doesn't see the "GAME OVER" flashing on his screen and keeps playing. We wish victory to Vajpayee!

JM