From the pen of Suresh Kochattil : Why the Lalit Modi issue will strengthen Narendra Modi’s hold on the party ?
In May 2013, when BJP National Executive Committee met in Goa, the party had begun projecting Narendra Modi as its Prime Ministerial nominee. Naturally, this move upset a number of party veterans including Shri Lal Krishna Mr. Advani, who after having expressed displeasure over the decision decided to stay away from the proceedings.
The rumblings were apparent, but Modi was playing his cards right, trying not to make a big issue out of it. In this group was another senior leader, Sushma Swaraj, herself a Prime Ministerial aspirant. Unlike Murali Manohar Joshi who chose to speak out against the young turks taking over, Sushma Swaraj stayed silent. The three veterans along with ‘old’ ones whom Modi dumped by the wayside, were looking for an opportunity to get back at the then Gujarat Chief Minister, and decided to bide their time.
The media had even coined the sulkers as the ‘Advani group’ and even speculated that in the event of BJP not getting past the 200 seat mark in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Sushma Swaraj would emerge as a consensus candidate, reaching out to the regional satraps like Mayawati, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalitha.That dream crashed on 16th may when the Modi juggernaut ensured that BJP did not need any crutches to stand on and swept past the 272 seat mark needed for Modi to form the government. It was a unique moment when not only was the opposition was rubbing their eyes in disbelief, but even among the BJP the ‘anti-Modi’ brigade went silent.
When the Union cabinet was formed, it was clear that the likes of Murali Manohar Joshi will not be in the list sent to Rashtrapathi Bhavan for the swearing in. But Sushmaji as she is referred to in the party (and i will refer her by that honorific in the rest of this story), made it to the swearing in ceremony – only her portfolio remained a matter of speculation. When the list was finally made public Sushmaji got to head what is considered a rather glamorous portfolio, that of External Affairs.
As Sushmaji began learning the ropes of international diplomacy, she was spending more time at Hyderabad House shaking hands and posing for the shutterbugs with visitors from SAARC and other nations. But there was one way her tenure would be different, and she learnt that when Prime Minister Modi made his maiden visit to Bhutan, a not so diplomatically important country. As external affairs minister, it was an accepted protocol that she would accompany the Prime Minister. But PM Modi made that departure from tradition amply clear, he would be the center of the diplomatic foray.
Since then, PM Modi has travelled has travelled to 19 other countries, swinging from United States to Mongolia, but Sushmaji stayed home to play host to visiting foreign ministers. Indian media which never loses an opportunity to sensationalise, latched on the stay at home Foreign Minister going even to suggest that this was a snub by PM Modi for being a part of the Advani gang.
As expected media lost interest soon after and no one noticed the absence of Sushmaji in PM Modi’s entourage. She was considered as an capable minister handling the crisis in Iraq and Yemen, apart from her Twitter helpdesk which enabled Indians abroad who were in trouble to reach out to her. But there was still a certain level of mistrust between PM Modi and his external affairs minister. That is till the media frenzy of Sunday broke out.
A desperate Arnab Goswami under fire from the management of Times of India over faltering TRPs of TIMES NOW, decided to go all guns blazing. Arnab picked on a week old story that was published Sunday Times (of London) as a breaking news on Times Now. It detailed how Keith Vaz, the British MP pulled strings for ex IPL boss, Lalit Modi to enable him get travel documents when his Indian passport was revoked.
Sushma Swaraj as foreign minister told the British to follow the law of the land and India had no objections. What she did is piddly stuff compared to what Rajiv Gandhi did in helping Union Carbide boss Warren Anderson escape from India and how Sonia Gandhi got the cops and immigration at Delhi airport look the other way while Ottavio Quattrochi walked away to freedom.
Which brings us to the point as to who lost and who gained. It’s said Sushmaji offered to quit once the news broke on Sunday, but PM Modi and RSS both rejected the idea. She was told that the senior leaders of the party will back her actions in the Lalit Modi episode. In return, she will now have to depend on PM Modi for her political survival and move away from the Advani camp.
Having stayed silent, PM Modi and BJP President Amit Shah are said to be planning a massive counter strike on the Times of India group. One bird told me that Sushmaji will file a complaint that her email ID was hacked and since Arnab Goswami was reading from the same mails – it becomes an offence under the IT act and entails severe punishment. If Arnab passes the buck to Sunday Times of London, that will spell bigger trouble for the loudmouth, as libel cases will be filed by both Lalit Modi and Sunday Times of London.
There is one thing, or rather two things that PM Modi has been able to achieve in this episode. He has now no dissensions in his party and at the same time split the media into pro and anti Arnab camps. As they say, khel to abhi shru hua hai.
( Suresh Kochattil is a Strategic and nationalist writer, also associated with BJP.)
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'भारत की राजनीतिक व्यवस्था में आज भी इमर्जेंसी की आशंका है। इसके साथ ही समान रूप से भविष्य में नागरिक स्वतंत्रता के निलंबन की आशंका से इनकार नहीं किया जा सकता। वर्तमान समय में ताकतें संवैधानिक और कानूनी कवच होने के बावजूद लोकतंत्र को कुचल सकती हैं---: लालकृष्ण आडवाणी (इंडियन एक्सप्रेस को दिए इंटरव्यू में) !
India Honest has a point of view : ''वर्तमान समय में ताकतें संवैधानिक और कानूनी कवच होने के बावजूद लोकतंत्र को कुचल सकती हैं'' आडवाणी जी के इन सब्दो को किस संदर्भ में लिया जाना चाहिए ? Nageshwar Singh Baghel
'भारत की राजनीतिक व्यवस्था में आज भी इमर्जेंसी की आशंका है। इसके साथ ही समान रूप से भविष्य में नागरिक स्वतंत्रता के निलंबन की आशंका से इनकार नहीं किया जा सकता। वर्तमान समय में ताकतें संवैधानिक और कानूनी कवच होने के बावजूद लोकतंत्र को कुचल सकती हैं---: लालकृष्ण आडवाणी (इंडियन एक्सप्रेस को दिए इंटरव्यू में) !