Commentary/Saisuresh Sivaswamy
Bofors was the reason why Sonia wanted Rao out
In politics, as in poker, one plays a winning hand or a losing
hand, alternately. No one can win at the game all the time, unless
one is resorting to deceit, and that done so artfully that the
deceived have no idea of what is going on right under their noses.
In a sense, the above applies to the former prime minister, former
Congress president and former leader of the Congress parliamentary
party remarkably. While the reason he lost his first title had
little to do with the gravamen of this article, it needs to be
kept in mind that he could accomplish what he could in neutralising,
or facing up to the pressures exerted by 10 Janpath, a postal
allusion to the widow of Rao's Congress predecessor Rajiv Gandhi.
Did Rao have a prior animus against Sonia Gandhi? Did she slight
him in the distant past, when her husband was the voice and soul
of the Congress party, something she said or did unthinkingly
that the old fox remembers to these day? Or, did he hold her responsible
for his plight on the eve of the 1991 general election, when
he was denied a ticket and he had all but packed his bags for
his native Andhra Pradesh, after taking sanyas from active politics
citing health reasons? These are questions whose answers will
forever remain in the realm of speculation. Neither Rao's memoirs
nor the lady herself will ever light on them.
Whatever be the reason -- perhaps it was just his irritation at
continuing news reports that he was a mere caretaker prime minister,
holding the fort till Sonia deemed it fit to occupy the prime
minister's chair -- Rao lost no time in taking counter-measures
against what he perceived was a threat from Sonia. And in this,
he used the Bofors issue and the fear that the Swiss documents,
when they were disclosed, would implicate the Gandhi family.
Sometimes he did it quite dexterously, without anyone ever suspecting his
real motive -- like in the Madhavsinh Solanki incident, when he
did not hesitate to sacrifice his Cabinet colleague just to send
across the message to 10 Janpath -- and sometimes rather ham-handedly,
when he would parrot that the law would be allowed to take its
own course in the Bofors investigations.
Not that Sonia Gandhi remained the reclusive widow all through.
No sooner than a recent period elapse since her husband's death,
she started giving audience to all kinds of elements from the
Congress party. While most of this could be covered up by the
line that she was merely receiving condolences, her interaction
with those who turned against Rao once he started losing elections
for the party, especially in the Hindi hinterland hardened his
resolve to meet her challenge head-on.
N D Tiwari, Madhavrao Scindia, G K Moopanar, K Karunakaran -- all
those who parted ways with Rao after spewing vitriol against his
lack of leadership qualities would find no difficulty in meeting
Sonia. Maybe she merely was taking a healthy interest in what
has become her family property, maybe she was just being polite
to her husband's associate, whatever her motive Rao did not see
it that way.
Maybe Rao erred in reading the situation correctly -- which is quite
surprising for someone like him who would put Machiavelli to shame
with his eyes blindfolded. Rao is not a management expert nor
does he have to hone his interactive skills by reading books like
I am OK you are OK etc. He is a homespun politician, in fact
the only one from 20th century India would could fit
into the Mahatma Gandhi league.
Not only does he have to react
to the situation on the ground -- although he had perfected the
art of not reacting at all -- he also has to guard against potential
threats to his leadership. Which is what he perceived Sonia Gandhi
to be.
And having done so, there was no way he could allow to have a
say in the affairs -- marginal or otherwise -- in the Congress party,
for he feared that would be the thin end of the wedge. If politics
is about power, power itself is about intoxication. It is not
like water that you can sip at sometimes and live for long stretches
without. It is more like potent alcohol, which so transforms you
being on tasting that you need a constant fix.
And make no mistake,
from the humblest civil level corporator to the number two man
in the Union Cabinet, they are all in politics for the power-public
service may not figure anywhere. And Rao was among the few who
had succeeded in landing the top job in the country as attested
by a former editor of a national daily. There was no way he was
going to go gently into the good night.
Sonia, perhaps, could stomach most of what he gave her. But what
she couldn't get over was the increasing phobia at least in Congressmen's
minds that he would do nothing to protect the party if it ended
up getting tainted in the wake of the Bofors disclosures. And
she had to act, also because she couldn't rely on his actions
once the names were out: he could always use it to score points
against 10, Janpath.
To her aid has come the litany of charges against Rao. Fine, he
was the first ex-prime minister to be chargesheeted, but the Congress
party has lived through worse stigma in its century-odd history.
Fine, Rao's record of electoral victory was second only to Rajiv
Gandhi, but no one in his or her right mind is going to argue
that Sitaram Kesri, the incumbent, is going to work miracles at
the hustings.
Rao was eased out, kicking and crying, at a nod from 10, Janpath,
to make way for someone more plaint.
The footnote here would be that no man acts the same on assuming
a position of power. His earlier demeanour would in most cases
be a subterfuge, to take him where he wants to go. On reaching
there, most discard the mould like snakeskin. And the more power
there is to the post greater in the chance of this happening,
since one is overcome by a feeling that with no more peaks to
conquer, there is no need for the drama. We saw it happen with
Rao. Who knows, the same may happen with Kesri too, as Sonia might
well realise.
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