Chhattisgarh: Why Raman Singh reminds analysts of Indira Gandhi

Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh, a state fond of repeating history, is increasingly reminding the analysts of Indira Gandhi of the late 1960s.

When the state of Chhattisgarh came into being in 2000, Digvijay Singh of Congress was sent in to oversee the election — a euphemism for ensuring the one selected by the high command is elected. Ajit Jogi was duly elected. When, after the election, Singh went to meet the sulking VC Shukla, a strong contender with more MLAs than Jogi to back him, Singh was manhandled by his supporters. Singh came out of Shukla’s residence with a torn shirt, a hurt face and a bruised ego.

Three years later the action shifted to the BJP office.

A leader had to be elected to be the chief minister. Narendra Modi was sent in as the party high command’s representative to Raipur to ensure a smooth election. Dilip Singh Judeo, the only true mass leader the party had in those days, was a natural leader till a few weeks back when a sting operation, just before the elections, made his lines “Paisa khuda to nahi par khuda ki kasam, khuda se kam bhi nahi” got him out of the Vajpayee cabinet where he was a minister for Forests and Environment, and effectively took him out of the contention for the Chief Minister’s post. But he had a following amongst the newly elected MLAs - more than any single leader in the state.

One of them was Brij Mohan Agarwal, who emerged as the strong contender from this camp, a hangout for those who generally believed that their rise and status in public life had more to do with their personal appeal and charm and following among the masses than the political life-support system provided by the organisation.

Agarwal, a student leader of his days had just won his fourth election in 2003 in a row from Raipur urban seat which, before Agarwal came into the scene, had never gone out of the Congress fold. In fact Agarwal was the first BJP nominee to take the vote share for his pary from around 25% to 45%. This share has only gone up and up in the six elections that he has won so far. He had been a minister in the Patwa cabinet in Bhopal too. His election on the basis of a head count was almost a certainty, or so believed Agarwal.

It came as a rude shock to his supporters when Modi opened the organisation’s cards and the name of Dr Raman Singh came out of it. Agarwal’s supporters stormed and ransacked the BJP office. Modi who famously hid under a table, was rescued and taken to safety along with other leaders. History was kinder to Modi.

Agarwal remained suspended for a few days before he was made the home minister under Raman Singh. Soon he earned the sobriquet of “Super Chief Minister”. In the last ten years that he remained a minister he continued enjoying plum portfolios.

The qualities in, or rather perceptions about, Raman Singh that won the day for him in 2003 reminded those fond of history, the process of Indira Gandhi’s selection as the Prime Minister after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966. He, like Indira Gandhi in the Sixties, was preferred by those holding the strings for the perceived qualities of mostly keeping quiet, a non-confrontationist and amenable nature, and most importantly for raising expectations bordering on belief of toeing the organisation’s line without raising too many questions.

Indira Gandhi begged to differ when the time came to elect the new President for the country and Raman Singh has indicated in 2013 that he is not that amenable after all. He has a set of priorities and interests that is his own.

Brij Mohan Agarwal, became the carrier of his message across. Scores of hoardings that came up with Brij Mohan’s image in Raipur before the elections had proudly given out the length of roads (59673 Kms according to his blog) and number of bridges, credit for which ostensibly went to Agarwal. Towards the end of the second term in office, apparently, alarmed with a threat, Raman Singh had started trimming Agarwal’s influence in the administration. After the party won a hat-trick, his supporters raised a demand for him to be made the deputy chief minister.

Raman Singh responded by allotting the portfolio of Agriculture, Animal husbandry, Fish Rearing and the likes. The departments hardly leave a scope for Agarwal to be generous with patronage amongst his largely urban constituents.

The top three high profile and senior ministers in the Raman Singh cabinet have a few things in common. In addition to the fact that all three belong to the Vaishya community, they all represent urban constituencies like Raipur and Bilaspur. The portfolio of urban development which had been rotated between the three in the last ten years was most sought after and lobbied for. Raman Singh, for a change, kept it for himself.

Saroj Pande, the Lok sabha member from Durg is also the national president of the party’s women wing. An ex-Mayor, she was elected to the state assembly in 2008. She is perceived to be closer to the organisation than Raman Singh is and has been seen by an increasing number of people as a chief minister material. Till before the elections she was the tallest leader in Durg. Not anymore.

Prem Prakash Pandey, her bête noire in the local politics, has been made a cabinet minister. As if one was not enough, a lady MLA from Durg rural constituency, Ramshila Sahu has been included in the cabinet too. They would have an important role to play in the lok sabha elections.

This only leaves Ramesh Bais, the six-term MP from Raipur who was a colleague of Raman Singh in the Bajpay cabinet. Priority for Pande and Bais, however, would be to concentrate on efforts to win the coming Lok Sabha polls.