Discipline can wait, polls can’t, so BJP brings Uma back

Uma, who was in Ayodhya tonight on a maunvrat, had stormed out of that meeting, daring Advani to take action. Within hours, she was suspended from the party and ceased to be a general secretary. Venkaiah Naidu, who first earned her ire for allegedly sabotaging her tiranga yatra, was cryptic today. ‘‘Party president L K Advani has decided to lift Uma Bharati’s suspension. She becomes a member of the party. This move is good for the party,’’ he said. He refused to take questions on whether she would be reinstated as party general secretary: ‘‘I just make announcements, not pronouncements.’’

But whether Bharati is reinstated as general secretary immediately or later, she has clearly won the battle this time round. Even before the November 10 storm, the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister had made her dislike for party colleagues, Pramod Mahajan and Venkaiah Naidu, clear. Later, she added her erstwhile ally Arun Jaitley and alleged rival Sushma Swaraj to the list.

Her “second generation” colleagues, in turn, have been equally hostile to her even though they have been more circumspect in airing their views in public. Even Madhya Pradesh leaders—notably chief minister Babulal Gaur— have come out against Uma Bharati. The anti-Uma faction in the party is far from negligible and they were keen to prevent her return so soon after being suspended for indiscipline.

It is, therefore, significant that the wise old men in the BJP—with more than a little prodding from the RSS—decided to overlook her open flouting of party discipline and ignored the anti-Uma sections to get her back.

The main reason for that is not Uma’s emotional letters to Vajpayee and Advani, but a hard assessment of ground reality. Despite Uma Bharati’s infamous “temperament”, she is seen as a mass leader with a unique “triple combo” appeal: woman, OBC, saffron.

This combination, party leaders feel, will be crucial in the upcoming Bihar and Jharkhand elections where the BJP is fighting with its back to the wall. Uma Bharati is the only leader in the BJP pantheon who can somewhat match Laloo Prasad Yadav in mass histrionics. The fact of being a woman and an OBC will help take on the Laloo-Rabri combine, party leaders hope.

The Madhya Pradesh unit may be wary about Uma’s return, but there was no such ambiguity in Bihar. As soon as word spread that her suspension would be revoked, Bihar unit chief Gopal Narayan Singh declared that she would spearhead the party campaign in the Assembly polls.

The state unit would chalk out a campaign programme for her in the next few days and efforts would be made to ensure that she camps in the state for 15-20 days during the campaign, he added. In Haryana too, Bharati’s “tiranga yatra” evoked a good response and she may be asked to campaign for the party which has decided to go it alone this time.

Assembly elections apart, Uma Bharati’s return underlines the continuing hold of the RSS over the affairs of the BJP. Immediately after walking out of the BJP office-bearers meeting last month, Uma made a beeline for the RSS headquarters in Jhandewalan. And throughout her period of suspension, she remained in touch with “well-wishers” in the Sangh.

The VHP leadership, which has little time for the Vajpayee-Advani duo, retain a soft spot for the sanyasin who came into prominence during the Ramjanmabhoomi movement.

Perhaps it is not quite a coincidence that when her suspension was revoked today, Uma Bharati was in Ayodhya again. She was there last week, washing the stairs and cleaning shoes at the Hanumangarhi Temple as “penance” for having neglected the VHP’s shiladaan movement in 2002. That penance seemed to have worked with the revocation of her suspension today.