The loneliness of Atal Behari Vajpayee

If there was a signal that he could be pushed around — and that is what his allies are now doing — that was it. If there was an incident that robbed him of the authority that a prime minister should enjoy even in a coalition, that was it. After that, nothing seems to have gone right for him. Jayalalitha, Subramanian Swamy, Ram Jethmalani, Ramakrishna Hegde, Buta Singh, Ashok Kumar — all have put him on the defensive.

The immense goodwill he came with is getting rapidly eroded. Instead the question is being posed whether he has what it takes to rule the country. His problems are not a few. The party seems to be distancing itself from the government. This is evident from the recent replies of new party president Kushabhau Thakre. The RSS is asserting itself. Vajpayee is hamstrung by the absence of instruments. He had favoured Bhairon Singh Shekhawat as party president but that did not happen.

Narasimha Rao too did not have thesupport of the party. But he had the advantage of being the party president. He had 240 seats to begin with; Vajpayee has only 182, making him that much more dependent on allies.

Once power came his way, Narasimha Rao suddenly had adrenalin flowing in his veins and an otherwise ailing leader began to look fresh. Vajpayee has begun to look tired and jaded after a month. With his popularity he can afford to call the bluff of his allies. His biggest asset is that Sonia Gandhi is not interested in forming an alternative government at this stage and that the MPs of the 12th Lok Sabha, cutting across party lines, will not allow another election so easily. If any of his allies rock the boat they may find their parties breaking, and this could include the AIADMK.

Let Vajpayee set a different agenda by taking policy initiatives instead of allowing himself to be put on the defensive. It is quite amazing that the government has for a month now been immobilised by a war of words of the "insect" and"shut-up-or-get-out" variety by ministers in the same government, the like of which has never been seen before. Let him get the Lok Pal Bill passed and all the various cases of corruption that are dogging his government can be referred to it. Let him stick to his promise of enacting the 81st constitutional amendment to give women reservation in Parliament and state legislatures, which will earn him a place in history.Let him get on with putting into place the National Security Council which the last three governments did nothing but talk about. A semi-permanent body, with eminent people on it who are outside the usual political circle, to go into all issues which unsettle the nation would help establish Vajpayee authority and give his government a semblance of stability.

Even if Vajpayee has to go, let him go down fighting against the stream instead of allowing himself to drift along. One is reminded of the devil-may-care attitude of famous Hindi poet Neeraj in his Conversations With Death, and inthis instance death should be read as the "challenge" posed by governance: "Chalta hoon, abhi chalta hoon, do geet zara jhoomke, gaa loon to chaloon, do geet zara pyar ke gaa loon to chaloon, aesi bhi kya baat hai, chalta hoon, abhi chaltaa hoon."

If a leader with fifty years of political tapasya behind him, who has had no major charge levelled against him, whom the opposition parties respect enough to call the "right man in the wrong party", who is acceptable to the minorities despite being in the BJP, whose poetic heart, image of reconciliation and hypnotic oratorial skills have endeared him to large sections of the country, cannot do it, where will the leaders that we need come from?

The country gave Vajpayee a mandate not because it thought that he would become a prisoner of coalition politics or of temperamental allies or even one of his own non-confrontationist temperament, which makes him retreat into a shell, but because it had faith that he would be able to unshackle himself.Very subtly he has transformed the BJP’s exclusive agenda to an inclusive one. It is these skills that he now needs to demonstrate as Prime Minister.