Her party146;s rebel

Saffron robes, vermilion mark on forehead and oiled hair in a plait. But Uma Bharati8217;s real persona comes through only...

Saffron robes, vermilion mark on forehead and oiled hair in a plait. But Uma Bharati8217;s real persona comes through only when she speaks. The sanyasin-turned-politician is a gifted orator. Her speeches are replete with symbols from the Ramayana and Mahabharata. She tells an audience: 8220;Now, you must shout out the slogan with me by raising your hands in a fist like Hanumanji and not like the empty hand of the Congress.8221; They obey. She is in full control of the crowd. That8217;s the magic of Uma Bharati.

She is a tireless campaigner, notwithstanding the nagging backache. It can be any cause and any slogan 8212; from the Babri Masjid demolition to recognition of her claim to chief ministership of Madhya Pradesh. Bharati is unsparing while taking on her targets, and so what if she forfeits the patronage of powerful people in the process. She can poke fun at Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani by comparing them with widowed aunts everyone touches their feet, but no one takes advice from them with as much ease as she can mock Sonia Gandhi. She has made innumerable enemies and few friends. No wonder, then, that when it comes to the issue of her return to the BJP, it is just a fellow-Lodh, Kalyan Singh, who bats for her within the party.

Born into a poor peasant family in a remote village called Dunda, in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh, Bharati was a child prodigy. She became a 8216;kathavachak8217; just out of sixth standard. Delivering Ramayana discourses in small towns and villages of the Bundelkhand area, she was an instant hit. Moved by her 8216;katha8217;, villagers touched her feet in reverence. She gradually acquired the self-image of a holy person. Ever since, this has been the hallmark of her persona. She has been a captive of it too.

The contradiction runs through Bharati8217;s politics and personality. She is a devout Hindu, committed to the ideology of Hindutva. Yet, she is conscious of her identity as a leader of OBCs. She presses her claim for elevation from minister of state to cabinet rank, but retires to Badrinath when she is not heard. She vents indignation on her party colleagues 8212; live on TV 8212; and storms out of a high-level meeting, but a few hours later she is discovered doing 8216;dhanteras8217; shopping at the capital8217;s Maharashtra Emporium. She spites the BJP, floats her own party, but longs for her return to the saffron-fold. The lure of the BJP is evident as she proclaims: 8220;I am the real BJP.8221;

Two years after her exit from the BJP, Uma Bharati stands at the crossroads. She runs the risk of facing complete marginalisation unless she gets a bigger platform. The party she presides over, Bharatiya Janshakti, is not getting anywhere. She is endowed with exceptional qualities, but organisational skill is not one of them. Of the leading lights she had gathered, veteran MP leader Gauri Shankar Shejwar has returned to the BJP and become a minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. Her MP unit president Raghunandan Sharma too has gone back. Her attempts to sabotage the BJP in UP, Bihar and Uttarakhand have failed.

The current assembly polls in Gujarat offered her an opportunity. But as Rajnath Singh and even Narendra Modi gave hints of a patch-up, Bharati8217;s detractors within the party closed ranks to foil her attempts to return to the parivar. Consequently, she is back to square one, trying to fend for herself in Gujarat and elsewhere.

Bharati may not pose much of a threat to the BJP in Gujarat, but elections in Madhya Pradesh are only a year away. And, Bharati, howsoever weak, has the capacity to dent the BJP8217;s vote in the state.

pradeep.kaushalexpressindia.com