Subramanian Swamy loses round one against Jaitley, gets rap on knuckles from PM Modi

In the Subramanian Swamy versus Arun Jaitley war, Narendra Modi has emphatically come out on the Finance Minister’s side, endorsing the latter’s assertion on basic discipline and public propriety. For a long time now, the Prime Minister has been telling his party leaders to contain their hunger for publicity and desist from talking to the media, or ‘address the nation’ on all subjects, including those which don’t concern them. But this is for the first time that he has come out so strongly in public against one particular leader—Subramanian Swamy in this case. In an interview with Arnab Goswami on Times Now, the Prime Minister categorically asserted, “whether it is in my party or not, I think such things are inappropriate. This fondness for publicity is never going to do any good to the nation. People should conduct themselves with utmost responsibility. If anybody considers himself above the system, it is wrong.” Modi didn’t name Swamy but the reference to him was more than clear, just as Swamy didn’t name Jaitley but the reference to the FM was more than clear. Without taking the name of Swamy, Modi was asked about the appropriateness of the comments of “your Rajya Sabha MP” in the context of Raghuram Rajan. [caption id=“attachment_2858870” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of Subramanian Swamy. PTI[/caption] The PM’s message to Swamy was as stern as it could get, at least publicly. He also strongly defended Raghuram Rajan, rejecting Swamy’s contention that the RBI chief was more of an American than an Indian. Modi said that “Rajan was as much a patriot " as anyone else. “My experience with him has been good and I appreciate the work that he has done. He is no less patriotic. He loves India. Wherever he will work, he will work for India and he is patriotic,” he said in a clear rebuttal to Swamy’s attack that Rajan was “not mentally fully Indian”. What’s more, a day ago, Swamy’s event in Mumbai where he was to speak on 41 years of imposition of Emergency by Indira Gandhi was cancelled at the behest of BJP president Amit Shah. Incidentally, Swamy’s barbs against Rajan, Arvind Subramanian, Shashikant Das and Arun Jaitley had come even after Modi’s address to party leaders at the national executive on 13 June at Allahabad, in which he had urged restraint to all. He had given a seven-point mantra to his party men and women: sevabhav (service), santulan (balance), saiyam (restraint), samanvaya (coordination), sakaratmak (constructive), samvedana (sensitivity) and samvad (dialogue). “These should reflect in your behaviour and policies…To us, power is not for enjoyment but responsibility. Every bit of us should be devoted to fulfill this responsibility”, he had said. Responding to a question from Arnab to that effect, Modi said “My message is very clear. I have no confusion about it.” Jaitley was very unhappy with Swamy, and on his return from China, he was to take up the issue with leadership in the party. Swamy’s frontal attack against the Finance Minister of his own government and other senior functionaries didn’t augur well for the Modi government and the BJP. But question was who would tame Swamy. It had to be either PM Modi or party chief Amit Shah. Earlier, Jaitley had made a statement on Twitter while he was still in China for bilateral talks—“An unfair and false attack on a disciplined civil servant in the Finance Ministry”. He had also said, “The government has full confidence in chief economic advisor Mr Arvind Subramanian. His suggestions from time to time are of great value. The party has said that we don’t share Mr Swamy’s view…The constraints of their offices prevent some people (the CEA) from responding.” However, Swamy in a dismissive tone had said, “What do I have to do with what Jaitley said or did not say? I speak to the Prime Minister and the (BJP) party president when required.” By standing for Jaitley and against Swamy, PM Modi has indicated that the ’nominated’ Rajya Sabha MP may have access to him, but he wouldn’t tolerate public spewing of venom against a senior minister and other senior functionaries and wouldn’t mince words in letting the world know of his position. Swamy had crossed the thin line of propriety and decency when he responded to Jaitley tweet with disdain:“People giving me (unsolicited) advice of discipline and restraint don’t realize that if I disregard discipline there would be a blood bath.” Swamy had also said, “The BJP should direct our ministers to wear traditional and modernised Indian clothes while abroad. In coat and tie, they look like waiters.” Jaitley was the only Indian minister then touring abroad and was seen wearing suit and a tie. While some senior leaders off the record had expressed their displeasure with Swamy, they all had refrained from speaking on record about the same. There was confusion within the party’s rank and file , as nobody was quite sure whether he was a lone ranger or whether he had the backing of someone in the Sangh Parivar. He had been the RSS’s darling for his commitment to the Hindutava cause. For now Swamy is silent. Perhaps tomorrow will be another day for him. For now, he has lost this round to Jaitley.