Party thoughts

When the two Bhishma Pitamahs of Indian politics get to meet, the arrows are bound to fly. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-Chandra Shekhar interact...

When the two Bhishma Pitamahs of Indian politics get to meet, the arrows are bound to fly. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-Chandra Shekhar interaction at an event to celebrate the latter8217;s 75th birthday in the Capital certainly did not disappoint on that score.

Both men had been, quite obviously, nursing resentments. The prime minister is resentful for having been 8212; wrongly he believes 8212; accused of changing his political stance to suit his convenience.

Vajpayee used the occasion to promptly remove all doubt on that score by reiterating that if the entire body of parliamentarians had, in a single voice, condemned the Godhra attack, the Gujarat riots would probably not have followed.

Clearly, the prime minister has not got the message. His party8217;s government in the state was condemned for having, deliberately or otherwise, fanned the flames in the horrific aftermath to a horrific event.

Parliament, preoccupied with the Budget presentation, could possibly have responded faster to the Godhra attack, but even that would have been no substitute for the decisive handling of the situation, something that the Modi government abysmally failed to do.

Which brings us to Chandra Shekhar8217;s resentment. The former prime minister believes that Vajpayee could certainly have behaved in a more prime ministerial fashion in his handling of the post-Gujarat scenario. 8216;8216;Break the chains, arise and do something for the nation8217;8217;, is his advice to the man he has always considered his 8216;Gurudev8217;. It is interesting to deconstruct the words that the birthday boy directed, with more than a touch of directness, at the man occupying the country8217;s highest seat of governance.

Having been both an important player in and an observer of national politics, Chandra Shekhar is better equipped than almost anyone else today to say what he did. The burden of his words was simply that the prime minister had better unshackle himself from the clutches of the RSS if he wants to play the role he is constitutionally required to play.

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Chandra Shekhar even argued that it would be far better for the prime minister to allow the sangh parivar to go about its project of destroying the nation without hindrance, rather than provide a moral imprimatur for its divisive brand of politics.

In many ways, Chandra Shekhar was only expressing what a great many Indians have increasingly come to believe in recent times. The silence and helplessness of Vajpayee at a time when the country8217;s helmsman was required to stand up for the values that have moulded the republic have caused widespread despair and disenchantment. Tragically, when the prime minister finally got up to speak out on Gujarat, the words he uttered could have emerged just as easily from the mouth of a Narendra Modi. It was this that prompted Chandra Shekhar8217;s outburst on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Vajpayee would do well to accept his birthday bouquet of wise words with grace.He would do better to heed them.