The BJP in Madhya Pradesh

chillibreeze writer — Ashim Chowla

A car dealer welcomed Shivraj Singh Chouhan to Bhopal with a full page advertisement in a dubious evening daily: “We welcome the dashing new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh!” As this “dashing” new Chief Minister, third in the line after the BJP came to power, arrived from Delhi to take charge of his new post, he announced with characteristic arrogance: “The top job is not a challenge for me”. He was not present at the meeting the day before for BJP MLA-minions, convened by two grandmasters from headquarters, Arun Jaitely and Pramod Mahajan, to seek ratification of the BJP Parliamentary Board decision to foist Shivraj Singh Chouhan as CM. Chouhan is not even an MLA and will have to get elected to an Assembly seat within 6 months of being sworn-in. Hit hard where-it-really-hurts bad, Gaur offered to vacate his own Bhopal seat for Chouhan.

Gaur had several reasons to feel sad and angry. He had not even been asked for “his side of the story”. Plus, he had lost his son exactly one year back on 27 November, 2004. When the phone rang, he was at Indore doing what Chief Ministers do: laying a foundation stone. As soon as the news about Gaur’s replacement became known, worried organizers removed the foundation stone laid by him minutes before! “Well, circumstances, change and there is nothing you can do about them”, he remarked. But he was quickly forgotten in the melee and violence that marked a show of 157 hands and 16 MLAs walking out with Uma Bharti at the meeting. A fuming Uma threatened to protest-walk to Ayodhya with her flock that began deserting her, dropping off even before the show had properly started. By the next morning, two of her supporters had tendered written apologies to the BJP leadership and a sheepish Gopal Bhargav, dissident Agriculture Minister, presented himself at Chouhan’s feet when he arrived at the railway station. Only once-boyfriend and BJP ideologue and now out-in-the-woods swadeshi activist, Govindacharya, remained steadfast next to Uma on the deck of a sinking ship, defending her until the very end. He accused the BJP leadership for having wronged a woman “who has incarnated with a special purpose”. Incarnate or not, the fact remains that the people of Madhya Pradesh had most certainly voted for her as their ruler when they brought Digvijay down from the high perch at the end of his ten-year reign.

The surprise climax of a story that started with a signature campaign by MLAs to bring Uma back as Chief Minister on 16 October had many losers in the hara-kiri inclined BJP, as factions fought each other. However, the bowled-out Congress were seen strapping their shoes on once again.

Are BJP leaders taking TV journalists covering the Bihar elections too seriously? One upstart TV analyst presented the hypothesis that Laloo lost because he was not connected with the youth, children of 15 years ago when he first came to power, who were now voters, frustrated and angry because they had no work and saw no future for themselves in Laloo’s Bihar. So the youth needed political icons to follow and a “younger” Chouhan was the man to lead BJP into next elections and so on.

However, the story of how and why it really happened is pointless now. What matters for people is what follows, the direction of governance and the possible outcomes of Chouhan’s rule in the time remaining for the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.

46-year-old Chouhan, another member of the backward community, was born in a village close to Budhni in Sehore district. He stayed with his uncle in Bhopal where he studied at school and later went on to do his Masters in Philosophy from Bhopal University. He was an active member of the RSS, inducted when he was 12, and continued his involvement with Hindutva-oriented student politics with the ABVP. A skilled organizer, he held several party posts, including General Secretary at the national level, President of the BJP youth wing (BJYM) and State BJP President for Madhya Pradesh. He is married with two sons. When his wife was asked about how she felt with the news of her husband’s sudden elevation, she said that she hoped that God would prevent him from going astray (Bhagwan unhe galat kaam se bachaye). So do we.

Pramod Mahajan made two interesting remarks while he was still in Bhopal, managing the mess that resulted from their announcement. One, he said that Chouhan is unlikely to be given a free hand and the other that change in Chief Ministers make very little impact on people’s lives. Of course Chouhan cannot be given a free hand. Madhya Pradesh is a BJP majority state. It was meant to be the party’s showcase example of good governance. The BJP had hoped to use the impact of their rule in Madhya Pradesh as a vehicle to drive them into the next general elections. However, there is still very little to show. So Chouhan has to be kept on a tight leash, his nose will be forced on the development track, and activities that result in short-term gains will be preferred over reform and change-oriented initiatives.

The BJP will be strict with dissidents. Already, suspensions have been announced and show-cause notices issued. As Vajpayee said, haltingly: “Enough is enough!” Development, especially, infrastructure creation, will be put on the fast track. The bureaucracy will be under pressure to show results, even if this means taking short cuts. Sops, handouts and subsidies will once again creep into the policy environment. Spin-doctors will be hard at work. Chouhan is here as the General to lead the party into the next state elections.

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The BJP in Madhya Pradesh

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