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Pity poor Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, minister of state for human resource development, erstwhile minister of state for food processing, BJP M...

December 11, 2000 12:00 AM IST

4 min read

Pity poor Syed Shahnawaz Hussain, minister of state for human resource development, erstwhile minister of state for food processing, BJP MP from Kishanganj and the youngest minister in the Vajpayee team. He is, besides, the only Muslim in the 74-member Vajpayee Cabinet. On his frail shoulders rest BJPacirc;euro;trade;s credentials of having given fair representation to Indiaacirc;euro;trade;s largest minority group which comprises roughly 14 per cent of the countryacirc;euro;trade;s population. To be the decorative piece, the fabled acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;token Muslimacirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade;, in a party that is inspired by temples and tridents is an onerous, some would even maintain impossible, task. Many far worthier than janab Syed Shahnawaz Hussain have bitten the dust while trying to perform this delicate function, men like Sikander Bakht and M. A. Naqvi, for instance. In their heyday, these individuals too were assiduously hailed as the Great Secular Hope of the party while they in turn kept the myth, and their own relevance, alive by donning immaculate sherwanis and dispensing kebabs andkheer by the platterful to anyone who cared to participate in the charade.

Of course, no one knows better than Hussain himself that relevance is just a state of mind. His senior colleague in the ministry of human resource development, the redoubtable Murli Manohar Joshi, is too busy attending to the spiritual quotient of Indian schoolchildren to devise ways to keep his junior minister busy. Hussain discovered to his chagrin that there was not even the mandatory chair on the dais for him at a recent function organised by his own ministry; that the prime minister never consulted him on policy issues related to his portfolio; and that he was grossly underemployed as a pillar of the government. Sometimes, even a swanky bungalow in the heart of Lutyensacirc;euro;trade; Delhi, a foreign jaunt or two and white ambassador cars with red lights are no compensation for the emptiness in the soul.

The Iftaar party that the minister threw late last week was therefore part of his continued search for relevance. It seemed a grand success with everyone who was anyone in Delhiacirc;euro;trade;s political firmament trooping in. From a Deve Gowda to a Mulayam Singh Yadav to a Sonia Gandhi, from assorted ministers to assorted clerics, they were all there. And, of course, there was the prime minister to be welcomed and turbaned before national TV cameras. How was Hussain to know that Vajpayee would seize just this moment to expand upon his plans for Ayodhya, which may well have had the effect of demolishing the carefully cultivated votebank back home in Kishanganj? Talk of spoiling the party! Within a few hours came more evidence of the damage done. Shahnawaz got mobbed when he went to offer Friday prayers at a nearby mosque and slogans of acirc;euro;tilde;acirc;euro;tilde;Vajpayee-Shahnawaz murdabadacirc;euro;trade;acirc;euro;trade; rent the air. This entailed urgent damage control and next morning, the minister was at the PMacirc;euro;trade;s door seeking a clarification on behalf of the community. Asif that was not enough, the more hardcore proponents of Hindutva also simultaneously made it clear that they consider him disloyal to the party. Being the decorative piece of the party is a perilous exercise, it seems. Poor, poor Shahnawaz Hussain!

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