The End Of Ideology

The threat of retirement from public life is a time-tested gimmick used by politicians to good effect, especially those in the dock. But when the bjp's high-profile leader and 'young Turk' K.N. Govindacharya suddenly decided last week to shun public life "for some months" and become totally incommunicado, people were unwilling to read gimmickry into it. For, Govindacharya is not your run-of-the-mill politico: he is recognised as a serious ideologue with a sharp intellect and political acumen, one of the architects of the bjp's backward-caste mobilisation that had paid it good dividends in the cow belt. At least, till the Kalyan Singh fiasco happened. Therefore, the news of his sudden disappearance came more as a shock than surprise. Even more baffling was the information, not denied so far, that a rattled and tense Govindacharya had injured himself by banging his head against the wall.

"Nischay hi Govindji bahut tanaav mein hein, anyatha unhone aisa extreme kadam na uthaya hota (Definitely he is under great stress, otherwise a person like him would not have taken such a drastic step)," a senior rss leader told Outlook on the phone from Kanpur. While it's still unclear what led Govindacharya to take the "extreme step", his decision is being interpreted differently by different people.

The question uppermost in everybody's mind is: why should a 'young' politician like Govindacharya, who has a bright future, be under so much of 'stress'? The answers vary—from complete alienation and marginalisation within the bjp to the controversy over his alleged romantic liaison with Union minister Uma Bharati in the days when the party was far away from power. Sources in the party, however, say it's probably a bit of both. While Uma Bharati is reportedly keen to give it a political colour, blaming Govindacharya's detractors in the bjp for his problems, senior party leaders clearly say that Govindacharya's decision to shun public life is the result of his "personal problems". Says bjp president Jana Krishnamurthy: "It has nothing to do with politics. It's purely his personal matter."

The incident has brought into focus an involvement about which much is heard but little known. Party insiders say Govindacharya was under constant pressure from Uma Bharati, amounting to "emotional blackmail", to recognise their relationship. Then came along unsubstantiated stories about his involvement with a woman in Ranchi. "The whole thing made him so frustrated that he injured himself and later decided to take time off from active politics," reveals a close friend. Incidentally, around 10 years ago, the then bjp president, Murli Manohar Joshi, made sure that Govindacharya was shifted to Chennai after stories involving him and Uma Bharati started floating around. But even after 10 years the controversy refuses to die.

Since Govindacharya's whereabouts remain unknown, and he has not contacted any of his friends since July 1, wild rumours about his health and mental state proliferate. Sources close to the 'missing' bjp leader admit that Govindacharya was already tense and something snapped while he was talking on the phone to a Patna-based friend, from Chennai. Out of "sheer frustration", sources say, Govindacharya hit himself on the face with the receiver and started bleeding profusely through the nose.

The last-known word from Govindacharya came via a couple of letters to his friends and some top rss-bjp leaders from Allahabad, before going 'underground' on June 27. In a letter to Krishnamurthy, he has sought permission to take some time off from the party. The letter hints at Govindacharya's deep sense of loneliness and hurt. It reads: "In consultation with Madan Dassji, I am taking leave from you for some months of ekaantvaas (solitude) and chitta shuddhi (purification of soul), some meditation, introspection and swadhyaya (self-study). Through this letter I am, in a way, seeking your permission. Forgive me my mistakes. My health is alright." In his other letters, he has discussed in some detail his personal and organisational problems.

Tongues began wagging in the Capital as soon as news of Govindacharya's disappearance was flashed on news agency Bhasha on June 29. Sources close to him maintain that his decision to shun public life is not sudden. According to them, Govindacharya was toying with the idea of ekaantvaas for some months, but nobody anticipated the extent of his hurt.

Uma Bharati told Outlook that she spoke to Govindacharya on the phone on June 22. "But after that, there's been no communication from his side. I don't even know where he is," she says. Govindacharya came to Delhi the next day and was supposed to leave for Varanasi by train on June 24. But he decided to catch a flight instead, leaving his friends clueless.

A massive manhunt was launched and he was traced to a Varanasi flight. But despite the best of the local administration's efforts in Varanasi, Govindacharya remained elusive. As the news spread, the top bjp and rss leadership went into a huddle to chalk out a damage-control plan. With Govindacharya already sidelined—it has become clear now that he was rather forced to take two years' leave from the party—the leadership's prime concern was to see to it that the developments didn't affect the image of the organisations. rss leaders were more concerned because Govindacharya has been a committed rss pracharak for over 35 years and any controversy involving him was bound to affect the image of the organisation. Probably for the first time, Govindacharya missed an important rss meeting, held in Kanpur recently.

All this raises the natural query: what forced him to turn a recluse? His alienation from the bjp and subsequent exit from the party-office residence were indications of things to come. It's being widely perceived as a victory for the Vajpayee camp, which wanted to render Govindacharya insignificant.

Subsequent developments show that the tactic has been successful for now and a top-ranking leader and 'think-tank' of the Sangh parivar has been pushed to the wall. What has peeved his friends and colleagues in the party and in the rss is that nobody stood by him in his hour of crisis. Says a cabinet minister: "All these people, Advani, Gurumurthy and even Madan Dass Devi, who pretended to be Govindacharya's well-wishers, didn't do anything when he was virtually being thrown out of the party." But rss leader Devi rejects the allegation: "Do you think I'm not his friend and well-wisher? I sincerely wish that he should become okay and come back to public life. Whatever help will be needed I am ready to extend."

That Govindacharya has strong differences of opinion with the government on the issue of globalisation is no secret, but it would be stretching the logic too far to say that policy quibbles prompted him to close doors on the world outside. For a seasoned politico like Govindacharya, polemics constitute the reason for their presence in public life, not to withdraw from it.

Govindacharya's rise in politics was a cause for envy for many as he had established himself as one of the most powerful general secretaries and strategists of the bjp in very little time. His downfall surely manifests the bjp's state. But more than that it's also a reflection on the rss' closed culture, where a pracharak is expected to practise abstinence and moderation in personal matters. Little surprise then that the number of people aspiring to become pracharaks is dwindling.