Maneka's new found saffron zeal: How Amit Shah's rise has changed UP politics

Maneka Gandhi’s sudden concern for ‘pink revolution’ betrays the intense war of ambitions within the Uttar Pradesh BJP and the growing belief within its leaders that the only way to get the emperor’s approval is by outperforming each other in the dangerous game of hardline Hindutva he is watching from his pedestal. The febrile frenzy that is visible in the party, ironically, to raise the temper of the state further is a symbol of the infectious undercurrent that is sweeping through the party, and not just through the veins and arteries of those like Maneka Gandhi. [caption id=“attachment_1713533” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Maneka Gandhi. AFP[/caption] UP today looks like a territory that the BJP high command has conquered and is now eager to retain at all costs. The experiments in Muzaffarnagar and their aftermath have irrefutably established that at the moment nothing pays more in UP than lighting up the communal cauldron and stirring it up every now to keep it warm till the party is over. Having raised the temperature in the state, the BJP can’t afford to douse the flame by putting at the front a leader who is seen as a moderate. It is the BJP’s compulsion to make a hardliner the face of the party. Things could have been slightly different in the state if the party had established leaders like Shivraj Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje or Raman Singh. But since it is headless, everybody is just trying to ape the Amit Shah model. This, exactly, is Maneka’s headache, and that of others coveting the top post in the state after the elections. Before Shah’s advent in UP, the BJP had more or less resigned to the fact that politics of Hindutva can’t take the party any further. Recall LK Advani’s metamorphosis into a Jinnah fan and the tie up Kalyan Singh’s party had with arch ideological enemy Mulayam Singh. With the demise of communal politics in the state, many BJP leaders had made conscious efforts to move away from their past and turn into moderates. You can count Varun Gandhi too in this list. But Shah’s success has reinvented the wheel. So, if the trend till recently was towards moderation, now there is a mad rush towards the other extreme. Since the winner takes it all, nobody wants to stay behind. Uttar Pradesh was once the state of stalwart leaders from across the political divide. Most of them, like Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, VP Singh and later Atal Behari Vajpayee had the aura, stature and the ability to set the agenda of politics in this important state. But now, being the minnows they are, most BJP leaders of UP have no other option but to toe the line drawn by the high-command. The current crop of leaders within the BJP are like actors auditioning for a role. They have been given the lines, the stage is set and the camera is rolling. The best performer gets the CM’s role once the director gives his nod. Maneka’s concerns are real. When a Gandhi is about to retire, their concern immediately shifts towards the anointment of the next generation. Since the family has had a tradition of passing on their legacy to the next generation, Maneka’s anxiety can be understood. Till a few months ago, Varun was seen as a front runner for the CM’s job—it was meant to be a succession battle between him and Rajnath’s son. And then he fell out of favour. What option does Maneka have but to put her son back in contention by singing in her political master’s voice. The cow has have always been a favourite symbol of the saffron parivar. Gau mata, as the saffron brigade reverentially refers to her, may be seen strolling around on roads, thirsty and hungry; scrounging around for waste and polythene bags that satiate her appetite in the short run but kill her in eventually. But for the parivar and followers of its brand of politics, cows are emblems of our cultural idealism and liberal values. So, Maneka’s attempt to invoke the symbol that still has the potential to enrage a large number of votaries of the parivar is understandable. But it is unlikely that her concern for the well-being of cows and fears that they are being killed to fund terrorism will resurrect Varun’s career. Having built a career on the anti-dynastic plank, Narendra Modi is least likely to give his critics the satisfaction of taunting him for advancing the career of another Gandhi scion. Maneka can keep worrying about the fate of cows. But in the politics of UP, the calf has already been butchered.