Pramod Mahajan
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A brief biography
Nov 4, 2021: The Times of India
Time was when almost every party office in Maharashtra was tacked up with Mahajan’s pictures, although few considered him a politician with a mass base. He won only one election in 1996 — one better than Jaitley — from Mumbai north east and lost the next one.
Advani, the best talent scout the BJP had, brought Mahajan to Delhi when he set up a team with Sushma Swaraj, Jaitley, KN Govindacharya and M Venkaiah Naidu in the 1990s. Advani recognised Mahajan’s HR skills (although later he was prone to breeding factions), a knack of feeling the political pulse the country over, indefatigability and grandiloquence. His oratorical skills were second to none. He had the ability to combine Hindu mythology with the BJP’s version of history to mobilise the cadre. Vajpayee used him to troubleshoot when things became uncontrollable in Gujarat in 1995-96 after serious intra-party dissensions. Modi was a catalyst with Shankersinh Vaghela although they were serious rivals. The perception was Mahajan leaned towards Vaghela and brought about a temporary truce that was not to Modi’s liking. Perhaps the lack of mutual trust between the two men began in Gujarat.
Some in the BJP thought of Mahajan as a tall poppy. He deliberately courted trouble with a dash of swank although in retrospect, the criticism seems exaggerated. Economic liberalisation sanctioned the display of financial ownership and affluence, but politicians were still expected to at least look “seedha-sadha” and stick to their kurta-pyjama and chappal. Mahajan raised the bar, so to speak, in the BJP, by sporting Ray-Ban sunglasses (humble really when compared with Bentley Platinum and Chopard) and a mobile phone, as he arrived on the venue of a mammoth BJP’s meet in Mumbai in 1995, where Vajpayee was declared the PM candidate, in a stylish car. Such accoutrement, and more, is kosher now. Nobody blinks when a BJP leader wears Bvlgari eyewear or bespoke suits. Mahajan was trashed by his own party men but he was blasé.
Other rising stars unsettled Mahajan who fancied himself as the BJP’s cordon bleu in the Vajpayee era. Sushma’s electoral success put her in the worthies’ line-up as did Jaitley’s prowess at realpolitik and legal acumen. Modi got on his radar after he won the 2002 elections that placed him notches ahead of Sushma and Jaitley. It was suspected that in December 2004, Smriti Irani was set up by Mahajan to demand Modi’s resignation as the Gujarat chief minister. She retracted her call.
Mahajan’s downswing started when the BJP was defeated narrowly by the Congress in 2004 in an election over which he had a proprietary hold. He coined the “feel good” phrase which backfired. His confidants spread the word that the Gujarat communal violence upset the BJP’s calculations because it caused a Muslim backlash. Of course, there was more to the thrashing than just reverse polarisation.
Vajpayee was not the same after the rout. Mahajan valiantly continued to lionise him as the BJP’s number one, but the party figured out that his efforts were in vain.
Funnily, Mahajan, an abiding Vajpayee loyalist, let him down when Vajpayee possibly needed him the most: In April 2002 at the BJP’s national executive in Panaji. Vajpayee hoped to adopt a vote of no-confidence against Modi after the communal conflagration. He had counted on Mahajan to mobilise support for him. When it came to it, Vajpayee was isolated. The members, including Mahajan, voted in favour of Modi staying on as the Gujarat CM. The PM was vetoed by history.
Radhika Ramaseshan keeps an eagle eye on all that's hot in the corridors of power.
(Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's own)
