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Among the most unexpected entrants in the BJP’s first list of Lok Sabha nominees was Bansuri Swaraj, the 40-year-old daughter of Sushma Swaraj, for whom the late BJP leader was known to leave meetings at times, to rush to be at the bus stop when she came back from school.
The choice of Bansuri has taken many by surprise, including those in the BJP, not just because she is a virtual newcomer to politics, but also because the BJP top brass has picked a newbie for the high-profile New Delhi seat. This, despite Sushma being a protege of L K Advani, who had opposed Narendra Modi’s projection as the party’s prime ministerial candidate in 2014.
It is clear that the BJP leadership was unhappy with Meenakshi Lekhi, who was seen to have lost ground in New Delhi after winning the seat twice comprehensively, in 2014 and 2019. Given that women will be a decisive vote in 2024, wooed by every party – with Modi going out of his way to underline “Nari Shakti” – the BJP appears to have been careful to pick a fellow woman leader to replace Lekhi in the prestigious seat.
In Delhi, the BJP has ditched 4 out of the 5 sitting BJP MPs in the seats for which tickets have been announced so far, with 2 names still pending (it had won all the 7 seats in 2019). The BJP appears to be plugging any loopholes given that the Aam Aadmi Party and Congress are contesting together in Delhi and, on paper, make a formidable coalition.
With Bansuri’s nomination, the BJP appears to have set the tone for the polls in the Capital. If she manages to defeat the AAP’s Somnath Bharti, who is himself a strong contender from the seat, she will establish herself as a giant killer; with the victory to be construed additionally as a rap for AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, who is an MLA from the New Delhi Assembly segment.
So far, Bansuri, a practising lawyer, has impressed, proving both confident and articulate in the few interventions she has made on the party’s behalf on TV. Those who still recall Sushma’s oratory skills will draw an easy connection with the daughter. The late leader, in fact, was only 25 when she first became a minister, in Haryana, and was among the top campaigners against Indira Gandhi during the Emergency and after.
Old-timers especially recall Sushma’s felicity in striking a rapport with women in villages, who don’t easily open up. One of her ways was to ask, generally, in a crowd, “Are there women here named Kaushalya (a reference to Lord Ram’s mother in the Ramayana)?” Several hands would go up automatically. Then she would ask if there were women called Sumitra (Lakshman’s mother). When hands went up again, Sushma would let drop: “Is there anyone who has named her daughter Kaikeyi (Dashrath’s third wife, besides Kaushalya and Sumitra, who manipulated her husband to banish Lord Ram to exile, and make own son Bharat the King)?”
When the answer came back with a resounding “No”, Sushma would let the penny drop. Indira Gandhi had behaved like Kaikeyi, she would imply, to “enthrone” her son Sanjay at the cost of others. The audience would nod in appreciation.
While Sushma contested elections from many parts of the country, including Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, and more famously Bellary in Karnataka – taking on Sonia Gandhi in her first-ever polls – she is remembered in Delhi as well, for her short stint as CM.
Hoping to retain power in the Capital against odds, the BJP had turned to Sushma just ahead of the 1998 elections and made her CM. The BJP had failed to win the polls, but Sushma had grabbed eyeballs with her campaign theme “Ab Dilli soyegi, aur main jaagoongi (Now Delhi will sleep, I will keep vigil)”.
The question being discussed in BJP circles is whether the ticket to Bansuri is the first step towards a larger role for her in Delhi, to take on the AAP.
Several positive messages have already been sent out with the ticket to her – for one, that contrary to what his rivals might say, Prime Minister Narendra Modi can be flexible, and can let bygones be bygones. Apart from being seen as part of the anti-Modi camp in the BJP, Sushma was also considered a possible PM face herself. But after she was accommodated by Modi in his government, she was relegated to the sidelines in her role as External Affairs Minister. The PM himself ran the show, with Sushma not even part of the delegation for several important foreign trips.
In 2019, an ailing Sushma did not get a ticket for the Lok Sabha and was neither offered a ministry. She died soon after, in August 2019, of a cardiac arrest.
New Delhi has been represented by many tall figures in the past, including Vajpayee and Advani, and superstar Rajesh Khanna for the Congress. This time, the ticket for Bansuri is as much about her as about Modi, and his determination that the party win every constituency it can, to reach its target of 370 – with factors like caste, controversy, loyalty etc taking a backseat.
There is much speculation about why the number 370. There have been suggestions that it alludes to the historic abrogation of Article 370 by the Modi government, and apprehension among rivals that the resultant two-third majority would leave the PM free to muscle through constitutional amendments and systemic changes.
However, whatever the number entails, BJP leaders point out, what it all boils down to is that the approach towards seats is winnability, and only winnability.
That is why 42 sitting MPs have been dropped in the first list of 195 names. And that is why many sitting MPs who were facing party ire have got a ticket again in UP.
Many not likely to be renominated were allowed the chance to make an honorable exit. Cricketer Gautam Gambhir and former MoS, Finance, Jayant Sinha, for example, chose it to announce retirement from “active politics”.
(Neerja Chowdhury, Contributing Editor, The Indian Express, has covered the last 10 Lok Sabha elections. She is the author of How Prime Ministers Decide)
