AUTUMN OF THE PATRIARCHS

Vajpayee is a mass leader and Surjeet a political manager, but both have presided over the paradigm shift of Indian politics to coalitions. Vajpayee used all his charm and appeal to build an anti-Congress alliance, while Surjeet used his first to cut down the Congress and then to stop Vajpayee. Both will have no role to play in the next elections and it marks the end of an era that started in late 1980s when these leaders argued within their parties on the need and desirability of alliances.

In 1988, Vajpayee showed his party the benefits of coalitions after a successful experiment with the Lok Dal in Haryana. In the CPI(M), Surjeet and Jyoti Basu argued that an indirect cooperation with BJP to cut down the Congress was good. The cooperation between the Left, BJP and the Janata Dal led to the formation of V P Singh’s Government in 1989.

‘‘Both have a special ability to rise above their own parties and maintain good personal rapport with leaders of other parties. They command respect from others,’’ says JDU leader Sharad Yadav who has closely worked with both. The TDP, AIADMK, DMK and various factions of the Janata Parivar often switched sides, either citing Vajpayee’s statesmanlike presence or coming under the persuasive spell of the Sardar.

‘‘Surjeet is a practical man. He applied the ‘march separately, but strike together’ approach of Mao in the Indian context—first in ending the monopoly of the Congress and then in stopping the ride of the BJP,’’ says CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury.

Surjeet has been an enigma of sorts—a clever practitioner of power politics who managed to retain his air of aloofness.

In 1989, Devi Lal invited Surjeet, a fellow Jat, to contest from a ‘safe seat’ but got no for an answer. Clearly, Surjeet had enough power without being in power. For instance, in the 1990s, during a party drive to help Cuba, the rice collected was not enough to fill the ship that was to carry it to Cuba. Surjeet stepped in and made a few phone calls. That did the trick. After his party collected money for medicines to send to Cuba in the mid-’90s, Surjeet procured the drugs from his friends among manufacturers at hugely subsidised prices. And when thousands of people who landed in Delhi for CPI(M) processions would knock at his doors for shelter, Surjeet usually made a few phone calls and got all gurdwaras in the city opened for them.

... contd.