Team loses star all-rounder

In recent years, he may have emerged as the BJP8217;s chief fund-raiser, key organisation man and primary poll strategist rolled into one. But these roles, often thrust on him by colleagues more squeamish and less straighforward about the imperatives of realpolitik, are not what made Mahajan who he was. Over time, the party will find replacements to handle these basic functions integral to any political party.

For those who watched the Mahajan phenomenon unfold on the Maharashtra8212;and then the national stage8212;over the last two decades, the late BJP general secretary stood out from the crowd for three reasons: his clarity of vision; his incurable optimism laced with hard-nosed realism; and his ability to be a team player. Mahajan became an all-India secretary of the BJP in 1983 and entered the Rajya Sabha in 1986, but his first major brush with the national media took place at the party8217;s National Council session at Mumbai8212;then Bombay8212;in September 1989.

Three months before that, the BJP had taken two major decisions to formally mark its 8216;8216;distincitive8221; agenda. At the national executive meeting at Palampur in June 1989, the party adopted a resolution in support of the 8216;8216;liberation8221; of the Ramjanmabhoomi temple in Ayodhya. And it decided to tie up with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra.

Mahajan was instrumental in persuading the BJP leadership8212;including a very reluctant Vajpayee8212;to join hands with the Sena.

At the Bombay national council session, Mahajan was everywhere. And in one of his 8216;8216;background briefings8221; that were later to become a much-coveted staple for journalists on the BJP or the Parliament beat in the 1990s, the young BJP leader8212;as was always his wont8212;gave an insight to his thinking by way of an anecdote.

Many years ago, he said, the Punjab Chief Minister was driving down a dark road. A rabbit was scurrying across, stopped bang in the middle of the road, gazed transfixed at the headlights and was run over. 8216;8216;Do you know,8221; Pratap Singh Kairon asked his companion, 8216;8216;why the rabbit died? Because at the crucial moment, it did not know whether to go forward or turn back.8221;

The BJP, Mahajan added, had been caught in the same dilemma. Should it go ahead with its own Hindutva agenda or turn back to meld with the rest of the Opposition? Being rooted in the middle was no solution. Mahajan played a key role in making the party go ahead.

A year later, he became an all-India figure as he rode alongside L K Advani on the Ram rath yatra8212;displaying organisational skills that soon made him indispensable to the party.

But like Arjun who only saw the eye of the bird, Mahajan was always focussed on the political imperative of the moment. He may have been an integral part of the Hindutva A-team in the early 1990s but after the BJP8217;s 13-day experiment in 1996, he realised that ideological distinctiveness would not take the party much further in the pursuit of power.

When the BJP formed a coalition government in 1998, he changed his role with ease. It was time to make friends, cultivate contacts across the board8212;and Mahajan soon became Vajpayee8217;s key pointsman. As a man who had come up from the ranks, he8212;more than anyone else in the BJP8217;s Generation Next leaders8212; knew local leaders in very state unit of the party.

From 1998 onwards, he extended those networking skills far beyond the BJP8212; making friends with even Communist MPs as well as 8220;toppers8221; in the world of business, sports and film.

Nevertheless, he remained a quintessentially 8216;8216;party man.8221; In January 2003 when he was divested of the telecom portfolio, Mahajan refused to take an alternative and preferred to join the party organisation as a general secretary8212;even though that meant working under Venkaiah Naidu who was far junior to him in the party hierarchy.

Always candid in private conversations8212;and never opaque or obfuscatory even in his press conferences8212;Mahajan conceded that he had been 8216;8216;hurt8221; when Vajapyee and Advani asked him to give up the telecom ministry. He brooded over their offer for a day but decided that there was no point in going into a sulk.

8220;This party has given me everything; it has made me what I am today,8221; he told this reporter, explaining why he had decided to take up the challenge of a party post and prove his worth to the leadership.

In 2004, when India Shining came a cropper, Mahajan became the convenient fall guy. Although Advani had coined the 8216;8216;feel good8221; phrase and Jaswant Singh had talked of India Shining, in the public mind it was all Mahajan8217;s fault.

But he took that in his stride too. And tried to change the 8220;five-star8221; image by going back to the grassroots in the Maharashtra elections later that year. But the stars seemed to be stacked against him. He failed to win Maharashtra as well, giving enough room to his critics to carp against his tactics never mind their earlier success in Rajasthan.

Everytime Mahajan failed, or was let down by circumstance, he bounced back again. And he was among the few BJP leaders who was in no hurry to get back to power, had little faith in astrological predictions about the UPA8217;s imminent demise. 8216;8216;We should be ready to wait for five years and do our job as an opposition party the best way we can,8221; was his refrain.

But his greatest quality8212;and one that will be most missed8212;is that he was a team player. His colleagues testify that whether it was Vajpayee or Advani, Venkaiah Naidu or Rajnath Singh, Mahajan always gave his best to the party chief as any party worker should.

Some months ago, in a telephonic interview from London to The Indian Express, he went to great lengths to assert that he had no ego problems about working under anyone. 8216;8216;I am willing to be twelfth man, you know the man who brings water out to the players,8221; he said, underlining that for him the most important thing was to be part of the team. He was willing to do anything8212;bat, bowl, field, or even be kept in reserve.

His innings tragically cut short by a bizarre fratricide, Mahajan leaves a gaping hole in Team BJP.