Vajpayee offers a sense of stability

If there is one man who can influence the Indian politics in 2004, it is Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As the Lok Sabha elections draw near and political scenario appears muddled, Vajpayee despite his age (He turned 79 on last Tuesday) and doubts about the health, offers a sense of "stability". This irony alone brings into sharp focus the growing popularity of Vajpayee.

As 2003 rolled by , political parties cutting across the ideological line have discovered the "relevance" of Vajpayee in more than one way. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav called on him and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convener George Fernandes to keep his options open for a future tie-up with the NDA.

Obviously, Yadav is too ambitious to commit himself to the Congress brand of "secularism" and burn his boats with the BJP. On December 31, he gave a subtle message that he would prefer Vajpayee to Sonia Gandhi.

It is indeed an index of Vajpayee's acceptability that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is running around to find friends among various political parties.

She tried to sew up an alliance with Dravidian parties""the DMK and the MDMK""a proposition that was unthinkable because they are known as supporters of the LTTE, an organisation responsible for Rajiv Gandhi's assassination. But Gandhi knows that she has not option but to come out of the "political isolation" to counter Vajpayee's influence.

That Vajpayee has led the NDA government for six year has given an aura of invincibility around the Prime Minister. In the present political scenario, he is seen as the only leader who can lead the coalition and rule the country.

His latest initiative on patching up with Pakistan is being seen as a shrewd move to take the issue of "terrorism" out of the domain of domestic politics.

The obvious fallout of the detente between India and Pakistan is expected to tone down anti-Pakistan rhetoric in Indian politics.

"This will considerably lower the communal tension and invalid the communal agenda of politics," said highly placed source in the government.

Similarly, Vajpayee has countered the rabble-rousing by the Sangh Parivar by building up a case for "shining India" during his regime. In the international forum also, he deftly projected India as "rising economy and self-reliant nation", a scenario that attracts the urban middle-class voters.

This coupled with certain economic measures to generate the feel-good factor is expected to stand in good stead for Vajpayee in particular and the BJP in general. Thu it will be apt to say Vajpayee has far outgrown the BJP.