Revision as of 09:10, 7 October 2020

A brief biography

Rajeev Deshpande & Subodh Ghildiyal, Ajit Jogi, first C’garh CM and consummate politician, May 30, 2020: The Times of India

Most of the 16 years that he lived after a calamitous accident during poll campaigning left him paralysed. Ajit Jogi survived through sheer willpower. A lesser person would have succumbed long ago. As fate would have it, the accident caused serious permanent injury but left his razor sharp mind intact, full of guile, strategem and an unquenched lust for life.

A bureaucrat who found his mooring in politics, Jogi, 74, was an engineer by training. But conventional pursuits would never be his calling. He found the subtleties of politics, its labyrinthine twists and power plays absorbing and felt therein lay fulfilment of personal ambition. He was, to begin with, a useful aide de camp. During the P V Narasimha Rao regime, he skilfully managed the media and kept the ruling camp off balance with regular reports of dozens of Congress MPs signing support for rebel leader Arjun Singh. A restless man, Jogi parted ways with Singh, accusing him of backing Digvijay Singh as Madhya Pradesh CM instead of Subash Yadav. He once wheedled a hint out of the taciturn Rao that Congress veterans hit by the “hawala scam” would be denied Lok Sabha tickets by disarmingly describing himself as the then PM’s “man”. “Apne logon ko to bata dijiye,” he is understood to have said.

All this did not prevent him from emerging as a key aide and spokesperson when Sitaram Kesri replaced Rao as party chief, with his ‘backward’ sympathies coming into play. Indeed, Jogi was a persuasive and articulate party spokesperson for more than one Congress chief. He was comfortable in English and Hindi and had a certain charm and suave presence that influenced the listener. He had a wry sense of humour and could throw back his head and have a good laugh.

His crowning moment and darkest hour came when he persuaded Sonia Gandhi to despatch him to Chhattisgarh as its first CM. Here he displayed an unsuspected penchant for strong arm tactics and his love for son Amit proved an Achilles heel. Amit got embroiled in criminal cases and Jogi couldn’t bring himself to do any more than reprimand him gently.

The disappearance of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) inquiry report about his alleged caste fudging remains a mystery. He had friends in all parties and though his Adivasi status remained an issue, he never let it catch up with him.