Anguished, Not Angry

From socialist to saffronite to swadeshi standard-bearer, Sushma Swaraj has successfully reinvented herself in response to her political environment, ensuring that she’s never out of the limelight.

Her name crops up every time there’s a vacancy going. She’s been touted as governor, ambassador and Uttar Pradesh CM. Come October and there’s another vacancy coming up-that of BJP president. And sure enough, hers is among the names doing the rounds. "I hope Thakreji agrees to another term," she says earnestly. But party circles say there’s little doubt she’s in the fray, quietly promoted by her mentor, L.K. Advani.

She toes Advani’s line on all issues, agreeing with his controversial post-hijacking statement that the episode had dented the image of the BJP: "He did not mean it was a reflection on the party organisation but it hurt the party in the sense people said ‘we did not expect this of you’. I am not questioning the government; they have access to all the files and I am sure they acted properly. I am anguished, not angry...we did not come across as a determined nation."

Likewise, she defends RSS chief Raju Bhaiyya’s provocative statement that India had come across as a "nation of cowards". "That statement must be seen in context. You will not understand it unless you see it against the backdrop of all the previous hijackings which have taken place," she said.

Her position on President K.R. Narayanan’s comment on a review of the Constitution raised a few eyebrows in the BJP. "There was nothing wrong in what the president said. He raised the question of whether the Constitution had failed us or we had failed the Constitution. Take Article 356 that’s been used many times to dismiss state governments which did not suit the Centre. Is that the fault of the Constitution or the government?" Without ever openly criticising the government or departing from the official party line, she manages to strike a posture that’s just a shade different.

Yes, Sushma Swaraj is the now-conservative, now-moderate face of the BJP. That, plus her idealisation of ‘typical’ Indian womanhood, her voluble ways and charisma stand her in good stead. As Bellary proved, she is-currently-the BJP’s only answer to Priyanka Gandhi.

If she is, one day, to take over the party reins under Advani’s aegis, she needs RSS backing. Her verbal play in amending the BJP’s Chennai declaration won her friends among the hardliners. Instead of "the BJP has no other agenda than the NDA agenda", it read "our agenda for governance is the national agenda for good governance". Swaraj says: "We have accepted the NDA agenda. What people felt was that we should not make a permanent commitment...most people felt that way."

While Swaraj hasn’t yet spoken out publicly or privately against the break-neck economic reforms and the government’s perceptible pro-US tilt, confidants say she shares-at least partly-the reservations of the swadeshi lobby on fast-track liberalisation.

"Sushma Swaraj ya Sushma naraaz?" her detractors snicker, speculating that she will quit the party. Manoeuvred out of the Cabinet, battered by allegations of proximity to crimelord Romesh Sharma and installed as Delhi chief minister weeks before assembly elections-a kamikaze mission-she refused to contest for the Lok Sabha.

At odds with Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley and Ranjan Bhattacharya, she appeared to be sulking. Her husband Swaraj Kaushal openly lashed out at Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee. And then came Bellary. Her pyrotechnic campaign restricted Congress president Sonia Gandhi to a relatively slender margin of 56,000 in a seat the Congress had never lost and the BJP had never fought.

"I did not fight for any individual reward. For me, it was a mission, a cause very dear to me. If I was keen on a cabinet post, I would have fought from South Delhi. Bellary focused the issue of swadeshi versus videshi," she had said. Having fought "only because of Sonia Gandhi", she has not chosen to re-enter Parliament by fighting the by-election from the same constituency.

After that, there was no keeping Sushma down. She has become the BJP’s star campaigner. "Four days a week, I am out of Delhi. And I have to turn down 80 per cent of the invitations I get," she says. "I am not unhappy. I am a dedicated BJP worker."