Disgruntled and Dangerous

They were once the flag bearers of saffron power. Denied rewards in the form of positions in the Government or special notes of appreciation from the Prime Minister, these worthies today spell more trouble than comfort for the NDA regime

Every star has its own galaxy. Every power source has elements that derive energy from it. Thus, when a new political dispensation assumes office, so does a coterie of hangers- on. There are many such individuals in the Narendra Modi establishment, who are seen to be close to the BJP and who were perhaps useful to the party once, but are now increasingly a headache. They shoot their mouths off with nothing to gain, push their own personal agendas, and when their bidding is not done, turn to bite their master’s hand. Here is a sample.

THE POLITICAL POSTURES OF BABA RAMDEV

When Babul Supriyo, the Hindi and Bengali playback singer who won the Asansol seat in the recent parliamentary elections, revealed how spiritual leader Baba Ramdev had helped him get a BJP ticket in a Bengali newspaper recently, it exposed what had long been suspected— the manner in which the wily yoga guru had extracted his pound of flesh. In his article in Anandabazar Patrika, Supriyo wrote about how, overhearing the guru discussing ticket distribution on a flight, he had joked with Ramdev that if he was not given a ticket, he would tell the media about the guru giving away BJP tickets. Within a few days, the singer was nominated by the BJP for the Asansol seat.

And it was not just Supriyo. For whatever Ramdev was worth—his large following, for instance, in large pockets of India, and his focused attacks on the UPA—the BJP humoured him. But it soon became apparent that the guru wanted more: his own men in the Government. It is said that Ramdev began making demands of the party, asking for dozens of seats, ultimately managing to get four. Apart from Supriyo, these include two gurus— Baba Chand Nath from Alwar and Swami Sumedhanand from Sikar, both in Rajasthan—and Kanwar Singh Tanwar, from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh. The local BJP units weren’t particularly thrilled by these choices. Chand Nath, who has a murder charge along with allegations of distributing cash to local journalists against him, was caught on tape during the campaign complaining to Ramdev about how difficult it was to bring cash into the constituency (the two later denied it). Tanwar, a political opportunist who had represented two political parties in the last five years—the BSP and Congress—wasn’t supposed to have gotten the Amroha seat. It had been intended for the former Indian cricketer, Chetan Chauhan.

Ramdev has various court cases against him related to allegations of tax fraud and land grabs. After the BJP victory in May, the senior leadership apparently tried to convey its misapprehensions to him; this was seen during an event at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi, where top BJP leaders, while thanking him for his contribution, hinted that he should not expect any favours. But, according to some reports, Ramdev has now begun to push for Supriyo to get a Cabinet berth during the next reshuffle.

The man claims he can, with mastery over his breath, teach people how to ‘cure’ themselves of homosexuality and regenerate livers, and suggests that by ridding the country of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, black money can be reduced. One can never quite be sure what to make of his proclamations. According to Supriyo’s article, when the singer told the guru he wouldn’t be able to spend a large amount of money on his campaign, the guru laughed and told him, “The BJP will take care of that. But promise me that you will learn pavan mukta asana (wind relieving posture).”

THE ANARCHIC MILITANCY OF SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY

Every political party, irrespective of ideology or inclination, needs a bouncer. Someone who, with little care for civility, can heckle and bludgeon opponents. Swamy, the great conspiracy theorist, has been performing this role for the BJP. He has, in fact, taken heckling to the level of performance art.

He will call Priyanka Gandhi an alcoholic, speak of Sonia Gandhi and her rumoured ill health, and call Rahul Gandhi a drug addict who has faked a Harvard degree, all in one breath. He will tirelessly file cases in court, rake up issues of corruption and keep opponents on their toes, like he did with the National Herald case, accusing Sonia and Rahul Gandhi of fraud and a land-grab. It is very well to have such a Jack up your sleeves when the party is warming the opposition benches. But the former Janata Party head is quite the gadfly, in constant search for public attention.

He is known to have been out of favour with the last BJP Prime Minister, AB Vajpayee, whom he called a drunk in his memoirs. It is said that Vajpayee ensured that Swamy had very little say in any matter of importance. He rejected the idea of Swamy as Finance Minister back in 1977, when the Janata Party came to power; three years later, when the BJP was formed, Vajpayee kept Swamy out. And then, in 1999, when the Finance Ministry eluded Swamy yet again—after he helped the BJP gain power by brokering AIADMK support— he engineered the NDA Government’s collapse by getting that party to switch allegiance to the Congress.

He is now a member of the BJP, a prominent face at that. But how long will it be before he stokes another needless controversy? Recall his silly and prejudiced article on how to wipe out Islamist terror after 26/11. More recently, after media reports emerged alleging that Nitin Gadkari’s bungalow in Delhi had been bugged, almost all BJP leaders, including Gadkari denied this. But not Swamy. He didn’t just ignore the party line; the conspiracy theorist that he is, he pinned the blame on America’s Central Intelligence Agency. As he told NDTV, “My view is that the senior leadership of the BJP was definitely targeted by the NSA (National Security Agency, a top US spy agency), and NSA can also include, temporarily, people from the CIA, and therefore we need to know the truth.” The NDA Government, like its predecessor, does not have an anti- US policy. Such statements, even if summarily dismissed by the BJP leadership, as has happened in this case, can only hurt the regime’s relationship with the US.

THE HISTORY REVISIONS OF DINANATH BATRA

Over the years, the retired schoolteacher Dinanath Batra has taken upon himself, through his organisation Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti, the task of correcting history. He has famously taken on the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to remove ‘objectionable passages’ from its textbooks for saying, among other things, that Aryans in ancient times consumed beef. He had filed a case against renowned artist MF Husain to protest what he saw as blasphemous depictions of Hindu gods, got sex education taken off the curriculum of Madhya Pradesh schools, sought to remove AK Ramanujan’s essay on the Ramayana from Delhi University’s history course and even sent The Hindu Group a legal notice for a Frontline cover story several years ago on Hindu terrorism, objecting to its use of the word ‘terrorism’ together with Hinduism. In 2001, when he was on a similar warpath against NCERT textbooks, he defended his actions by telling Outlook, “Jesus Christ was a najayaz (illegitimate) child of Mary, but in Europe they don’t teach that. Instead, they call her Mother Mary and say she is a virgin.”

The BJP-led Government has said nothing in support of Batra’s plans, but the former schoolteacher has kept up his dharmayudh. Earlier this year, he got Penguin Books India to pulp American scholar Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History. In various interviews, Batra has claimed that Doniger is driven by a “Christian missionary zeal” to denigrate Hindus and show their religion in poor light. He didn’t stop at that. His actions led to the withdrawal of another book by Doniger, On Hinduism—although the publisher, Aleph Book Company, has now decided to reprint the title. Significantly, according to the latest, much tweeted news, six of Batra’s books have been made mandatory reading in Gujarat’s 42,000 primary and secondary schools. The books, among other things, apparently say that people should refrain from blowing out candles for birthdays as this is a ‘Western custom’; that they should wear swadeshi clothes and recite mantras and feed cows; and that large parts of south and central Asia—including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar—are part of a greater territorial ‘Akhand Bharat’. As one would expect, leading scholars and commentators have dissed his efforts. Romila Thapar has said that his books are “not history, but fantasy”; “This is absurd. If education is about training children how to think, this approach will not work,” she said, speaking to The Hindustan Times.

Batra’s efforts may garner him headlines and get his opinions into the public sphere, but they also feed a paranoia that exists about right-wing parties. The BJP is unlikely to use its parliamentary clout to have history books rewritten, the party’s supporters surmise. In fact, such efforts would hurt its image. But Batra remains unshaken. He’s been at it for far too long.

THE STRANGE TURNAROUND OF MADHU KISHWAR

Even in the career graph of the most seasoned politician, a volte-face, when it occurs, is embarrassing. And if you are an academic who has built a career critiquing politicians and social injustices, it is nothing short of cringe-inducing. Madhu Purnima Kishwar, the academic- journalist who was once considered a leading feminist voice, has made a big switch-over once, and by all available evidence, she is making another one now.

Kishwar was once a leading critic of the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat. She claimed, among other things, that the state government was responsible for the 2002 riots in the Gujarat. She wrote articles and editorials denouncing the government and its then Chief Minister— but by the time it had become clear that Modi was going to bid for the Prime Minister’s post, she had undergone a remarkable transformation. She met him for interviews, wrote a book on him, attacked news organisations that weren’t rallying to his side, and generally defended him with the embarrassing zeal of a devotee. It wasn’t just that she built a temple around Modi. She had also appointed herself its high priestess.

A day after Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, Kishwar underwent yet another transformation. She attacked the very government she had so long appeared to want in power, providing a battered Congress ammunition to mount its first attack on the BJP. The issue: Smriti Irani’s appointment as Union Minister of Human Resource Development. Her grouse: that an education culminating in class 12 and the career of a model and television actress left Irani unfit to handle the education portfolio. Kishwar declared that she had nothing personal against her, and that concern for education was her only cause.

Two months on, she continues to badmouth Irani, recently calling her an agent of the Left, and sharing pictures of the HRD Minister apparently dozing off in Parliament. Her reservations have also extended to the rest of the Government. Every few days, she gets on Twitter, objecting, among other things, to individuals like Aamir Khan meeting Modi; the PM’s decision to travel to the US; and the BJP’s alleged ham-handed manner in dealing with the Intelligence Bureau leak of a report on foreign-funded NGOs.

Consider the tweet she sent out on 20 June, less than a month after Modi took office: ‘Too many actions of Modi govt totally out of sync with @narendramodi who was Gujarat CM. Can’t make sense. Has Modi changed so drastically?’ It is unlikely Modi changed in a month. If anything, her expectations have.

THE SUDDEN REBELLION OF ARVIND PANAGARIYA

All through the run-up to the General Election, we heard the economist Arvind Panagariya discuss Modi as the answer India’s economy has long been looking for: someone who would take the toughest possible action, if the need arose, to fix things, reform policies and bring about development. He began doling out economic advice to kickstart the economy long before the votes were counted. Along with Jagdish Bhagwati, he co-authored a book called India’s Tryst with Destiny that made glowing claims about Gujarat’s economic model; he even wrote a letter to The Economist with his co-author, objecting to the magazine’s coverage of Modi. One can safely assume that a glistening resume was kept ready, as Panagariya’s stance led many to believe that a plum position awaited him, perhaps as chief of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council. He had unequivocally put his weight behind the Modi campaign. But the job call, it seems, never came.

Now consider his recent review of the Union Budget that Arun Jaitley presented on 10 July. In The Times of India, he writes, ‘Many had eagerly awaited the budget speech for a policy vision of the new government. Unfortunately, it too left observers guessing on whether the government would tackle tough reforms or rely principally on better implementation.’ He makes a few concessions on the good points of the Budget, about the promise of an entrepreneur-friendly legal framework and the credibility of proposals to accelerate the building of infrastructure. But these are quickly done away with in a few paragraphs, as he launches into how the only explanation for this budgetary disappointment is that continuity- minded bureaucrats had effectively hijacked it. ‘Contrary to claims by many, this is not the best budget possible in 45 days…,’ he writes, ‘Even the cleverest rewriting would not substitute for the missing policy vision.’

Baba RamdevNDASubramanian Swamy