Pramod Mahajan - A Hope cut short
It is hard to believe that Promod Mahajan is no more for a month plus now. The people, cutting across various spectra from politics to business to Bollywood to the public, who visited him in the hospital and his funeral clearly demonstrated his popularity and charisma. For a simple school teacher without any political connection in Maharashtra, his rise in BJP and then in national politics is astounding and legendary, especially in India, where political power is transferred through the sacred bloodline rather through leadership or other hard-earned qualities; from Tamil Nadu till Kashmir or from Maharashtra till Assam- literally.
This was achieved by his shrewdness in political management, in cultivating grassroot support and in easily building bridges with people, be it Ambanis or Bachchans (though its ironical that, he failed to have a good relationship with his own brother). Arguably, he was the best bet for BJP, plagued by internal strife among its second generation leaders. Who else one could think of as a future Prime Minister, if not Mahajan? He was one of a rare breed of leaders, who are characterised by dynamism, charisma, organisational skills and vision for the party and the country.
He brought a new style of politics to the traditionally controlled BJP, which was till then controlled by RSS. While RSS was probably sulking with his lavish lifestyle and gennext thoughts, chances are that, he was either busy talking with industrialists for party funds or strategising for some campaign or acting a troubleshooter for the party or defending the party in televised media shows. How many of us would have forgotten his traditional smirk and wondered about his cool even when he was pushing politicians from other parties to take cover in a debate in some satellite channel? If, you think about it, there are only two leaders, who had effectively used media in/ for their political career - Chandrababu Naidu and Pramod Mahajan.
In a sense, when he pitched for a BJP-Shiv sena alliance in Maharashtra way back in 1989, he probably foresaw the power of a simple mantra called coalation, which has now become the shortcut to political power in the country, where a new party is launched every month. Though, he might not had a popular votebase as that of Vajpayee or Uma Bharti or Narendra Modi, his organizational skills and innovative ideas compensated for more than his shortcomings.
The rise of BJP to the political peak, undeniably has the contribution of Mahajan, if not its fall in 2004. Many say that it is his India shining campaign as the reason for BJP's defeat, but I don't accept that quite (see Tail piece). Promod's untimely death is probably the worst thing (at least till now) to happen for BJP, which is being chased by bad luck after its shocking defeat in 2005. It will now be an impossible task for the party to find a successor, after all Chanakyas are not born always.
A great hope for the country was indeed cut short in the middle, in a tragic way. As many have already said/ wrote, it is unfortunate that India lost its future Prime minister. I guess, this is the biggest tribute to the man called Pramod Mahajan.
RIP Mr. Pramod Mahajan!
Tail piece: One important reason for 2004 defeat, is the strong coalation build by Congress, which clearly learnt the lesson from BJP's earlier victory. The unrest in left parties struggling to retain their identity in a fast growing economy as reflected in the growth of the Indian middle class and the political compulsions of regional parties as in the cases of AIADMK vs. DMK in TN, RJD vs. JD in Bihar, BSP vs. SP in UP; Congress became the natural choice for them all. They all knew well that Congress can never become dominant in their own turfs as is established in almost every state election held after 2004.
This was achieved by his shrewdness in political management, in cultivating grassroot support and in easily building bridges with people, be it Ambanis or Bachchans (though its ironical that, he failed to have a good relationship with his own brother). Arguably, he was the best bet for BJP, plagued by internal strife among its second generation leaders. Who else one could think of as a future Prime Minister, if not Mahajan? He was one of a rare breed of leaders, who are characterised by dynamism, charisma, organisational skills and vision for the party and the country.
He brought a new style of politics to the traditionally controlled BJP, which was till then controlled by RSS. While RSS was probably sulking with his lavish lifestyle and gennext thoughts, chances are that, he was either busy talking with industrialists for party funds or strategising for some campaign or acting a troubleshooter for the party or defending the party in televised media shows. How many of us would have forgotten his traditional smirk and wondered about his cool even when he was pushing politicians from other parties to take cover in a debate in some satellite channel? If, you think about it, there are only two leaders, who had effectively used media in/ for their political career - Chandrababu Naidu and Pramod Mahajan.
In a sense, when he pitched for a BJP-Shiv sena alliance in Maharashtra way back in 1989, he probably foresaw the power of a simple mantra called coalation, which has now become the shortcut to political power in the country, where a new party is launched every month. Though, he might not had a popular votebase as that of Vajpayee or Uma Bharti or Narendra Modi, his organizational skills and innovative ideas compensated for more than his shortcomings.
The rise of BJP to the political peak, undeniably has the contribution of Mahajan, if not its fall in 2004. Many say that it is his India shining campaign as the reason for BJP's defeat, but I don't accept that quite (see Tail piece). Promod's untimely death is probably the worst thing (at least till now) to happen for BJP, which is being chased by bad luck after its shocking defeat in 2005. It will now be an impossible task for the party to find a successor, after all Chanakyas are not born always.
A great hope for the country was indeed cut short in the middle, in a tragic way. As many have already said/ wrote, it is unfortunate that India lost its future Prime minister. I guess, this is the biggest tribute to the man called Pramod Mahajan.
RIP Mr. Pramod Mahajan!
Tail piece: One important reason for 2004 defeat, is the strong coalation build by Congress, which clearly learnt the lesson from BJP's earlier victory. The unrest in left parties struggling to retain their identity in a fast growing economy as reflected in the growth of the Indian middle class and the political compulsions of regional parties as in the cases of AIADMK vs. DMK in TN, RJD vs. JD in Bihar, BSP vs. SP in UP; Congress became the natural choice for them all. They all knew well that Congress can never become dominant in their own turfs as is established in almost every state election held after 2004.
posted by Baskaran Sankaran @ 11:59
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