New Delhi’s Holy Trinity

Only two other men matter in the Republic of Modi: Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah

On that hot mid May morning, as Narendra Damodardas Modi crossed the threshold of the historic Central Hall of Parliament for the first time, two men stood out of the throng of leaders waiting to felicitate the politician set to be India’s first post-Independence-born Prime Minister. Arun Jaitley and Amit Shah were more than a bulwark for him in the several months running up to the massive mandate on 16 May. They were the two who worked the hardest in the backrooms and battlefields to make that moment possible. The indispensable two would now join Modi to form the power trinity of Delhi reborn. It was India’s Obama moment. “Yes, we can!” Modi had thundered in his speeches days prior to his maiden Central Hall sojourn. The blueprint for that transformative journey leading up to the day had been drawn up by the Jaitley- Shah duo. In the jostling throng of ebullient BJP leaders and allies, the two, as different as chalk and cheese except for their common abiding faith, Modi, merged into the backdrop. But the signals were clear: the would-be Prime Minister, for long known to play his cards close to his chest, had already chosen his closest aides. In the top echelon of power in the Modi Republic, there are only three members.

They were with Modi long before he was anointed the party’s prime ministerial candidate, and each of the would-be Prime Minister’s men had had their task cut out for them, backing him to the hilt through inner-party conspiracies and steering him meticulously through leadership rivalries and subterranean attacks. The reality of Candidate Modi owed a great deal to them.

Jaitley had recognised the shine in Modi way long before the Goa conclave of May 2013 that anointed Modi as the BJP’s campaign chief. It was then that he had observed to senior leaders that there was a growing interest in Gujarat’s Chief Minister as a prime ministerial candidate because of a groundswell of support in his favour. “When there was a media blitzkrieg against him, he had the guts to survive by addressing audiences over the heads of the media. There are few Indian politicians who have the courage to do that,” he had said.

These remarks came ahead of the BJP’s national council at Goa where party leaders such as LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Sushma Swaraj were determined to counter those pushing for an early endorsement of Modi as its prime ministerial candidate. In July, the BJP leadership decided to ignore pressure from the sulking leaders—Advani even skipped the Goa meeting—and appointed Modi as chairman of the party’s national election committee. That decision took the party beyond the still-lingering shadow of Atal Behari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani.

Narendra Modi alone embodied the alternative.

By then, the party leadership was working in coordination with the top echelons of the RSS. Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief, had reservations in the beginning. He had refused to rehabilitate RSS favourite Sanjay Joshi in the party. Bhagwat now veered round to the view that the Gujarat strongman was best suited to lead the party. Suresh Soni, the RSS man overseeing the affairs of the BJP, had virtually choreographed the Modi ascension.

However, strong vestigial opposition to Modi continued within the party. Senior leader Sushma Swaraj, who chose to disguise her sullenness at Goa, revived her campaign against Modi when it became clear that the BJP leadership and RSS were determined to have Modi lead the party and assume the country’s top political post in the event of a victory at the 2014 hustings.

After the Goa meeting, BJP leaders continued with their efforts to work out a consensus within the party. Advani and Swaraj, though, proved to be tough customers. They said any announcement of a PM candidacy should wait till the four state assembly elections were over.

Jaitley busied himself in several months of lobbying, countering some and checkmating others to navigate Modi past these hurdles and promote his candidacy. Swaraj, in fact, resorted to proxy war. By attacking Amit Shah, she was attacking Modi. At a meeting of the party’s parliamentary board following the arrest of Shah, Swaraj had said that backing Shah could land the party in trouble.

“How long can we support Amit Shah,” she asked. Jaitley and Modi countered her swiftly. Modi told the meeting that Shah had an impeccable track record and the party should resist all attempts to frame him. Jaitley told the meeting that the former CBI chief AP Singh was the one behind the framing of a false case against Shah. Jaitley even visited Shah in jail. His efforts paid off when Modi was finally crowned the BJP’s PM nominee.

The fulcrum of New Delhi’s three- member power club is arguably India’s most consummate politician, the first 24X7 leader since Indira Gandhi. He is one leader who has no life other than politics, no mission other than good governance. As the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Modi was completely in control without being a control freak. He is known to deal firmly and briskly with bureaucrats, allowing and encouraging an environment in which only the best performers find a niche around him. To them, he delegates responsibility and expects noticeable results as a matter of right. The Chief Minister of a BJP ruled state, knowing something of Modi’s nature, is believed to have told his principal secretary that his officials should now be better prepared with facts and figures when they visit the Prime Minister. “It won’t be like when we visited Dr Manmohan Singh. He never asked us about specifics of the implementation of various projects. The new man will.”

Arun Shourie, tipped for an important role in the new regime, maintains that Modi has a straightforward approach to decision-making: while he is open to ideas and suggestions, the final call is always his own. The no-nonsense attitude was in full display when nervous hopefuls of ministerial berths were left with little option but to wind their way to BJP President Rajnath Singh’s house after they were bluntly told at Gujarat Bhawan that Narendra Modi does not appreciate favour seekers.

An indefatigable workaholic, Modi addressed close to 450 rallies during the Lok Sabha campaign. “Most days, during campaigning, he would return home to Gandhinagar well after midnight, sometimes after campaigns in two different states, six or seven meetings daily. But he was never tired. He would sit up with his officials until the early hours, clearing files,” according to a campaign worker. Modi was keen on appointing a set of advisors when he started off on his campaign, but gave up on the idea soon enough once he realised that it could be seen as a shadow cabinet, causing heartburn within the party.

The strong man image notwithstanding, Modi projected a more statesman- like image in his maiden speech at Parliament’s Central Hall, taking care to include even the smallest of allies and friends in his thanksgiving, even appreciating previous governments for their efforts to move the nation forward. Showing grace in strength, Modi, who can clearly form a government at the Centre on his own, made it a point to endear himself to BJP allies. Among those who spoke at the NDA meeting to felicitate India’s Prime Minister designate was Neiphiu Rio, Chief Minister of Nagaland and first time Lok Sabha member. Modi personally thanked DMDK chief Vijayakanth, even asking after the welfare of the actor-turned-politician’s wife. A key pre-poll ally from Bihar, the LJP’s Ram Vilas Paswan was seated next to the BJP’s top brass. Paswan, not often known to pull his punches while demanding heavy portfolios, has for the first time left the decision completely to Modi. In reciprocation, the BJP has indicated that one portfolio each would be reserved for allies.

Often criticised for his lack of a worldview, Modi, who played pugilist with Pakistan during the poll campaign, has since pushed a proposal that all of India’s neighbours be invited for his swearing- in ceremony scheduled on 26 May. Orchestrated by Arun Jaitley, that plan bore instant dividends when all these countries accepted the invitation, helping Modi come off as a statesman. It also placed the BJP in contrast with a churlish Congress, which was posing doubts on the new Prime Minister’s Pakistan policy.

The buzz of activity at A-44 Kailash Colony, the residential address of Arun Jaitley, only shows that the trio is already at work. Jaitley was among the first who Modi called after the numbers rolled in on 16 May. That Jaitley was among the BJP candidates who lost didn’t matter and had no bearing on his equation with the PM-elect. Jaitley was given the urgent task of getting the financials right for Seemandhra and Telangana, the latter of which will officially be carved out of what was Andhra Pradesh on 2 June this year. Among Modi’s first tasks would be to deliver on the expectations of both these states. The Prime Minister’s most able men would be working overtime for that.

Jaitley has been summoning a steady stream of bureaucrats, old and new, transforming his two-storey bungalow in South Delhi into a hyperactive power centre in the new New Delhi. As leader of the Modi brain trust, Jaitley, with easy access to the grandees of industry, corporate, legal and political circles, is expected to help Modi, a newcomer to the labyrinthine Capital, navigate the Centre’s power maze.

Among the most feted in the 2014 poll narrative has been Amit Shah, the 49-year-old political whizkid who delivered more than 70 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats to his master. His contribution turned the fortunes of both his leader and the BJP irrevocably. If Modi was the Man of the Series, Shah was Man of the Match—so went the media refrain.

In less than a year, Shah, a stranger to UP, went through the state with precision planning and perspective, not to speak of a highly effective marketing strategy that outlined the Modi message to maximise the BJP’s appeal, even designing a post-poll plan involving a blueprint for local elections (the moribund state unit had not contested these for over 12 years) as an incentive for high performers and loyal voters alike.

The BJP’s state chief Laxmikant Bajpai describes Shah as a master strategist and a “modern day leader who can connect the dotted lines on the political landscape” and use fuzzy logic effectively in every sub-region to optimise offtake.

The outcome of that super successful strategy has only added to Shah’s already established reputation as a political strategist and logistics man par excellence. And having elevated rival Anandiben to the Chief Minister’s post in Gandhinagar after his exit, Modi needed his right hand man in a key slot that would add immense value to both the BJP and newly formed Modi Government. After moving party president Rajnath Singh to the Union Cabinet, he is expected to hand over the party’s reins to someone else.

Who might that be?

On current indications, while someone like JP Nadda may formally be designated party chief, it would be Shah who actually manages the BJP under the new dispensation. “Amit Shah will control party affairs,” acknowledges a party leader. Having already demolished the Congress in several states, Shah is expected to do a UP elsewhere in the country and take the Modi message to regions that have been averse to the BJP. Modi’s right-hand-man is also expected to rejuvenate the party by taking young leaders aboard.

With two lieutenants as dedicated and focused as Jaitley and Shah, Modi is unlikely to vacate 7 Race Course Road after his first five-year term. The trio is in for the long haul.

Amit ShahArun JaitleyNarendra Modi