August 17, 1998

Judge Vajpayee by what he does, not what he says

Prabhu Chawla

On August 15, India will complete 51 years as an independent nation. On that day, Atal Bihari Vajpayee will also have the honour of being the first genuine non-Congress prime minister to address the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort. Since his term in office so far -- all of five months -- has been a sordid saga of unfulfilled promises, the prime minister is finding it extremely difficult to build a credible and convincing case for the Government. As in the past, in his moment of uncertainty, Vajpayee has once again turned to his trusted aides and friends for counselling.

Vajpayee does not have to be told that history will judge him not by his oratorial skill, the ability to weave magic with words. His leadership will be measured by his ability to deliver. For the past few weeks, his advisors have dug into the archives to pull out Independence Day speeches delivered by prime ministers, beginning with Jawaharlal Nehru and till his predecessor, Inder Kumar Gujral.

Vajpayee is under tremendous pressure to be different, both in terms of content and emphasis. So far, he has carried crowds effortlessly. For over five decades, his acerbic speeches in Parliament and outside had earned him applause. It used to be said of him that Vajpayee was the best prime minister India never had. But now that he is the prime minister, Vajpayee realises it will take more than mere rhetoric to keep the people with him. One way to start would be to refrain from being platitudinous and making promises he cannot keep. Because millions of people who have seen and heard about ministerial misdemeanours, arrogance of allies and unresponsive bureaucrats are not likely to be taken in.

From the Red Fort, Vajpayee is therefore unlikely to even talk about the insurmountable problems of coalition governance. But he will boast about his commitment to the coalition's Gita -- National Agenda for Governance (NAG) -- and his government's success in implementing some of the important promises made in the NAG.

What perhaps is bothering the prime minister more than anything else is the Government's plummeting popularity. How will he explain to the nation, for example, the reasons for the sudden economic slowdown, the international isolation, the worsening law and order situation and rising communal tensions in the BJP-ruled states? How will he convince the BJP's middle-class vote bank that nuclear explosions have made India much secure, safe and self-reliant?

When he began his tenure, Vajpayee was expected to evolve a strategy to pull the nation out of its current depths of despair. But after nearly 150 days in office, he and his advisers are still burning the midnight oil trying to find a way out. Unfortunately, he is perceived as a leader who is afraid of taking risks, succumbs to blackmail, avoids direct interaction with people and his colleagues, and above all hates to take any unpopular decision. But he still has a chance. On August 15, people will be looking for some sort of sign from Vajpayee that will demonstrate that he has liberated himself from the grips of the Jayalalithas, Mamatas, Badals, Thackerays and the VHP. If Vajpayee succeeds in swaying his listeners from the Red Fort, it may be no more than a small step for the nation. But for Vajpayee, it will be a giant leap.

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