Aditi Phadnis: Courage of conviction

PLAIN POLITICS/ Vasundhara Raje Scindia has come a long way from being the BJP's little girl

Vasundhara Scindia

When Rajasthan Chief Minister and Finance Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia presented her first budget ever, she read out a sher (a short poem) that went "aandhiyon se keh do, zara aukaat mein rahen/hum paron sey nahin, hausalon se uda karte hain".

Loosely translated, this means: "Tell the storm raging outside to understand its limits/ we soar in the air on the strength of the courage of our conviction, not our wings".

This could have been Scindia describing herself. The BJP is now in power in six states. She is the chief minister of one of the biggest, responsible for actually increasing the BJP's tally from the state in the Lok Sabha from 15 to 21 out of 25 seats.

Before this, Scindia had led the BJP to an unprecedented victory in the 2003 Assembly elections, netting 120 seats out of 200, something even stalwarts like Bhairon Singh Shekhawat were unable to manage. All this for a first-time chief minister, who was never active in state politics, is not bad going!

But the reactions to her budget speech illustrated the political challenge she now faces as she moves on to the consolidation phase of her tenure.

In a budget that was clearly drafted with an eye to panchayat elections due in a few months in Rajasthan, she presented a deficit of Rs 334 crore, achieved without much difficulty as she cut sales tax on a slew of items including kerosene and cooking gas, slashed stamp duty from 11 per cent to 8 per cent, cut luxury tax from 10 per cent to 8 per cent, abolished turnover tax and surcharge by replacing it with a new scheme and cut tax on IMFL from 35 per cent to 20 per cent.

Through these measures, the state government stands to lose revenue to the tune of around Rs 200 crore, in addition to the existing deficit. But think of all those lovely votes the BJP will get as a result!

The reaction from the Congress to the 'dream budget' was that it was populist. The BJP, however, has been unable "" or unwilling "" to launch full-throated praise of the budget. There lies the rub.

When Vasundhara Raje Scindia became chief minister, no one seriously thought she would last. The perception was that she was a flighty dilettante. When it looked as if she might actually be in Rajasthan to stay, several BJP state leaders found their position seriously threatened.

Before the assembly election, when Jat leader and former union minister Sahib Singh Verma was invited to address a public meeting in Rajasthan and he announced that Vasundhara Raje would become the chief minister, Hari Shankar Bhabhra, Mahesh Chandra Sharma, Ghanshyam Tiwari and Ramdas Aggarwal did their best to publicly contradict the claim.

Bhabhra and co had powerful allies. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been historically powerful in Rajasthan and as chief minister, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat managed the Sangh in various ways. Initially, the Sangh was patronising about Scindia's appointment. She was a daughter of the Sangh "" how could she not listen to it?

But gradually, the RSS realised that not only did Scindia have a mind of her own, but also that she was not going to be the pushover they had imagined.

The denouement came when a candidate backed by Scindia, Pratap Singh Khachariyawas, was to have been given a ticket for the prestigious Bani Park Assembly constituency and pressure from the Sangh led him to turn rebel and join the Congress.

At around this time, relations between Scindia and the organising secretary of the Sangh in Rajasthan, Prakash Chand, hit an all-time low. Few know that Scindia, who arrived to attend an election meeting with the RSS, was so angry with Chand's behaviour and rudeness, that she actually got up and left, announcing that she was "not accustomed to hearing this kind of language". This,when the organising secretary of the RSS is supposed to be the man who is tasked with ensuring a friction-less Sangh-BJP relationship.

This was not the only problem.Although former chief minister and vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat had technically taken leave of active politics in Rajasthan, Scindia found him a natural court of appeal for dissidence against her.

Here too, she found that firmness was the only policy that worked. Shekhawat's son-in-law, Narpat Singh Rajvi, was among the first lot of ministers who was inducted by her. When she decided to expand her cabinet immediately after the Lok Sabha polls, he did everything possible to get his portfolio changed from Industry to Finance or Public Works Department (PWD).

Scindia, instead added Labour to his portfolio. Rajvi said he didn't want Labour because it was in conflict with Industry. Fine, shrugged Scindia, and took away Labour. Rajvi has not hit back yet.

But although Scindia has managed to float so far, she is still the only BJP chief minister who has to put up with ministers attending a durbar held by the party president. Every week, the BJP president of Rajasthan, Lalit Chaturvedi, takes a class where ministers sit in a row and hearings are held by the party president of various grievances "" real and imaginary "" of BJP legislators.

As a result, Scindia can't depend on ministers entirely so she has to rely heavily on her bureaucracy. This has created some heartburn.

The next test will come a few months later when the Panchayat and Municipal elections are due. Non-party only in theory, these elections will show whether the Scindia magic has permeated to where it matters. But this much is certain: for the young woman who started out as the BJP's little girl, Vasundhara Raje Scindia has made her son an MP, ensured the BJP's lineage and managed to create political enemies. This can only be a good thing.