The bubble bursts

The BJP’s boast that Narendra Modi will ensure electoral victory in Gujarat is fast evaporating. The state’s powerful business community and the urban middle class, considered the party’s backbone, are furious at the manner in which the state government has handled affairs.

Their concern is not so much over the atrocities against the minority community as the fact that business has come to a virtual standstill and the state has earned a bad name internationally. Ironically, the CII and World Bank for 2002-2003 had ranked Gujarat first among the potential states for investment.

But even if the RSS and hardcore BJP were to prevail upon Modi to step down — which appears unlikely — choosing a successor will be problematic. State Industries Minister Suresh Mehta is a moderate who would find it difficult to control the VHP and Bajrang Dal, which have become a law unto themselves in Gujarat.

Union textile minister Kashiram Rana, who reported back to the Centre that Modi had tackled the violence most unsatisfactorily, is considered a better option. But the BJP does not want to risk the chance of losing a by-election which would be necessitated if Rana is made chief minister. The third option is the old war, horse Keshubhai Patel, who was only recently removed for incompetence. Significantly, although Patel was elected to the Rajya Sabha just a week ago, the party has asked him not to resign his assembly seat just yet.

Politic silence

The two young Muslim members of the BJP have expressed their concern over what is happening in Gujarat post-Godhra, although a trifle mildly. While Civil Aviation Minister Shahnawaz Hussain felt that the response of the Modi government was inadequate, BJP general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi regretted that the RSS seemed distrustful of Muslims. But Sikander Bakht, the oldest Muslim in the party who was a founder member of the BJP, has remained silent.

Bakht has cause to be unhappy with his party. First his commerce portfolio was taken from him, then he lost his position as BJP leader in the Rajya Sabha. And his term in the Rajya Sabha ended in March.

Last week the 83-year-old Bakht was appointed governor of Kerala. Bakht says he can’t speak about Gujarat since as a governor he is expected to remain apolitical. But what prevented Bakht from speaking out earlier? Could it be that his silence and his appointment are linked?

Sage advice

AT the Rashtrapati Bhavan banquet for Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri, a BJP minister inquired of former prime minister Narasimha Rao the secret of the survival of his minority government for five years without a major hitch. Rao explained that his formula was to remain as unobtrusive as possible. He forbade any celebrations to mark his first 100 days as prime minister or any functions for the yearly anniversaries of his regime.

If one proclaims one’s success too loudly, the knives are sure to be out in Indian politics, was his sage advice.

Ghost writer

THERE was a measured and reasoned tone to Sonia Gandhi’s well written speech against POTO in Parliament, suggesting that it was not the handiwork of a politician. Sonia’s speech did not have the stridency and smart-alecky quips that are associated with Mani Shankar Aiyer.

Nor was it written as if for a college debating competition which characterises Jaipal Reddy’s speeches. Phrases like ‘‘astonishing sectarian manner’’, ‘‘distributive equity’’ and the fact that the BJP and the sangh parivar were referred to not by name but simply as the PM’s ‘‘party and its sister organisations’’, suggests that it was an outsider who drafted the speech.

Since the Gandhi family plays its cards close to its chest, the identity of the speech writer remains a mystery. Pullok Chatterjee, an IAS officer who is Sonia’s secretary, or a veteran journalist who is a close family friend are the likely suspects.

Her own tune

MELODY queen Lata Mangeshkar, a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, normally stays in New Delhi with Congress MP R.P. Goenka, who owns her record company HMV. But on her last visit for the joint parliamentary session on POTO, she booked into a five-star hotel since she did not want to embarrass her host. Goenka and she were on opposite sides in the debate.

Incidentally Shabana Azmi, another nominated member, made an attempt to get Mangeshkar to vote against POTO, but the singer explained that in such matters she took her own decisions and was not influenced by others.

Rollback raja

FINANCE Minister Yashwant Sinha is unable to prevent the downward slide of the economy and it seems he has little control over his own ministry as well.

Earlier this week, a newspaper carried a lead report indicating that there would be a rollback of rebate on savings for incomes up to Rs 5 lakh. The next day the concerned press officer was instructed to deny that any such move was contemplated. Considering the publication is unlikely to have stuck its neck out on the report without the tacit approval of the minister, it is a moot point whether Sinha was consulted before his information officer issued the denial!

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