BJP’s Mr Possible

If politics is the art of the possible, Pramod Mahajan is a powerful exemplifier of that definition. Few politicians can run election campaigns, be handy at organisational work in all its ramifications and be at home with policy and deal making that comes with ministerial responsibilities. Which is probably why, as our today’s columnist mentions, Mahajan has a large number of colleagues in the BJP who are not overly fond of him and a fair number of admirers in the Congress. His admiring political rivals will be the first to say perhaps that as the BJP rose from obscurity to become the Congress’s natural challenger, it arguably could not have done without politicians like Mahajan. And the party needs him as much now – the first faint drumbeats of the next general elections have started becoming audible.

The next round of political battles is crucial for Mahajan personally, too. One among the “second generation” BJP leaders, his hat will be in the ring for party and/or government leadership. His recent political calculations have been based on clearly siding with the Sangh Parivar in the absurd RSS-fomented “ideological” battle over LK Advani’s remarks on Jinnah. His intra-party loyalties are with the current president, Rajnath Singh. But Singh is surely seen by Mahajan, as by other aspirants to the BJP’s big prize, as a stopgap, an arrangement born out of desperate expediency and liable to be broken the very moment a “real” winner comes through. Those who know Mahajan will never bet against him, although Mahajan himself must know that the impression that has gathered over the years – that he’s perhaps vulnerable to certain kind of questions – will be something he has to factor in before he makes his next big move in politics.

Whatever strategy Mahajan adopts and whatever its results, for his party and for him, one thing is guaranteed: it would be interesting. Indian politics is not blessed with too many genuinely interesting practitioners. Mahajan is one of a handful of politicians whose involvement in anything political grants it an a priori degree of newsworthiness. Which BJP leader would have had the chutzpah to organise an unabashedly grand show for a mentor who was getting marginalized in day-to-day party politics – the “thousand moons” gala for Vajpayee was just one demonstration why Mahajan can so easily make it to headlines. This newspaper therefore has an additional vested interest in wishing Mahajan a quick recovery. Get well soon Mr Mahajan, you make our job that much more interesting.