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RACE COURSE ROAD
Know Thy EnemyVajpayee must meet
his enemies to know their psyche.
By Prabhu
Chawla
A man is known by the company he keeps. But Prime Minister
Atal Bihari Vajpayee is more known for the kind of company that he deliberately avoids. A
loner in politics and a poet by temperament, Vajpayee's list of acquaintances has largely
remained unchanged despite holding the post of the nation's chief executive for over 10
months now.
Vajpayee abhors durbars. He is uneasy with drawing-room
small talk and can't suffer sycophants. Left to him, he would prefer a 10-to-5 day at the
office, then go home to spend the evening with his 10-year-old adopted granddaughter Neha
and his pet dogs. Here's a list of people that he likes to keep at arm's length:
- Office-bearers of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Since he
took office, he has scrupulously avoided them. Barring the party's mandatory meetings at
its 11 Ashoka Road headquarters, Vajpayee considers the confabulations with his party
colleagues an extremely unproductive exercise since they have little original to
contribute to the complex art of governance. In the past 10 months, he has not invited
them to his official residence for a formal meeting. The primary reason for the uneasy
relationship lies in the fact that most of the office-bearers are either too young or are
personally hostile towards him.
- The other Sangh Parivar: His hatred for the Sangh Parivar is
known. And mutual. None of the prominent office-bearers of any of the leading RSS frontal
organisations have free access to 7 Race Course Road. The Prime Minister's Office is
particularly wary of entertaining requests for appointments or his attendance at public
functions emanating from any of the Sangh-related organisations, though he is known to be
soft towards those who have been his contemporaries and share his views on life and
politics.
- The Bureaucracy: Vajpayee has no love lost for the babus.
Not only does he find civil servants uninspiring, he also believes a majority of them are
mere time servers and file-pushers. Unlike Indira Gandhi and P.V. Narasimha Rao, both of
whom had an excellent rapport with the bureaucracy, Vajpayee is yet to strike a
comfortable relationship with officialdom. For the first five months, he refrained from
meeting them individually or in groups. If of late he has begun to interact with some of
them, it is only because he realises that he cannot do without their active involvement in
administration.
- The Media: It is ironic that a political leader whose
biggest asset is his oratorical skill prefers to avoid both the print and the electronic
media. All requests by journalists are rejected outright by his advisers. A few chosen
ones are allowed to submit their questions in advance, to which Vajpayee replies in
writing. Occasionally, brief personal audiences are granted to journalists who may want to
ask a few supplementary questions or seek clarifications.
There are of course a few trusted civil servants,
politician friends and others who have free access to the prime minister's residence. But
for most, his doors are shut. This self-imposed aloofness perhaps has something to do with
Vajpayee not being able to evolve an effective strategy to deal with coalition politics.
Vajpayee should know that to neutralise your enemies, you have got to understand their
psyche. For that, you have to meet them more often rather than avoiding them altogether. |
