The Vaghela episode affected the BJP like a cancerous growth, says Dina Nath Mishra.

The BJP, ultimately, has expelled its Gujarat rebel leader Shankersingh Vaghela. The whole Vaghela episode was affecting the BJP like a cancerous growth, for what Vaghela did had no parallel in the BJP or Jansangh history. The dramatic event of dispatching 47 party MLAs on a chartered place to Khajuraho without letting anybody know, had given a shock to the BJP high command in particular, and the masses in general. Even in our Parliamentary history of five decades, one can rarely find a parallel to this treacherous political drama. As the perception about the BJP is that it is a disciplined party having a different culture, the intensity of the shock was manifold. The self-image and self-confidence of the BJP were damaged, by its own assessment. What astounded the people was the Vaghela claimed that he had RSS background.

The RSS people are generally disciplined and imbued with a spirit of sacrifice, nourishing no personal ambitions. The fact is that Vaghela does not have a worthwhile background of working for the RSS, though his family has produced a veteran RSS worker. Shankersingh Vaghela cashed in on this relationship. But the fact remains that Vaghela's relationship with Jansangh and BJP dates back to the early sixties. Also, he is rightly considered one of the big leaders of the Gujarat ream and has occupied even the presidentship of the state unit. Nobody could have imagined that a person of such big a standing would stab the party on the back. Insiders knew that Vaghela had undergone a cultural change in the last one decade. He started functioning in the Congress style, indulging in groupism and literally trading in personal loyalties.

Enter Congress. The whole conspiracy was masterminded by Shankersingh Vaghela and V C Shukla. Keeping in mind the impending general elections and aware of the frustration of the over ambitious Vaghela, Shukla hatched a conspiracy to topple the Gujarat government. He took Vaghela to the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. After getting a nod from Rao, Vaghela opted for the time when chief minister Keshu Bhai Patel was to be on his long foreign tour.

The Khajuraho drama called for instant expulsion of Shankersingh Vaghela. It appeared that the Congress would have its desired shot in the arm to foil the rising BJP. It would give them the chance to say that the people gave two third majorities to the BJP in Gujarat. And yet it couldn't run the government. This scenario compelled the BJP high command to make cool calculations. Saving the government became the main agenda of the Gujarat crisis. The high command did not make individual prestige an issue. It agreed to a humiliating compromise to save its government. Keshu Bhai Patel offered to resign from chief ministership to make way for the compromise candidate Suresh Mehta. Vaghela too agreed.

Since then Vaghela had been like a thorn in the heel. He had become the most hated man in BJP and other organizations of the same school. Throughout the country, a debate among the cadre started. It was concluded that the leadership, in order to save its distinct character, should not have taken back Shankersingh Vaghela. The high and mighty image of BJP high command suffered a setback.

Before the general elections, Vaghela acquired tremendous blackmailing capacity.

At the time of the biennial Rajya Sabha elections, he tried a couple of tricks by proposing rehabilitation of Keshu Bhai Patel as chief minister and himself as the deputy chief minister. Keshu Bhai could not be lured. In the Lok Sabha elections, the state VHP took upon itself the task of defeating Vaghela in his own citadel, the Godhra constituency, and ensured it.

There is a tendency in such movements to finish off the rebel. Balraj Madhok had a gigantic ego problem. He was thrown out of the Jansangh, in 1973 by L K Advani, the then President. It was feared that he would vertically split the party. He was not only a top-ranking national leader of the Jansangh, but also had a hold over the Delhi unit for decades.

Madhok too had a conference for launching a new party similar to Vaghela's scheduled meeting for August 20. Madhok had series of conferences in many states. On paper perhaps he is the president of Jansangh even now, but where is the party?

During the Janata Party rule, Dr Subramaniam Swami, whose political stature had skyrocketed during the emergency, attacked Atal Behari Vajpayee a number of times. He was curtly told by S S Bhandari not to attend the conference on the launching of the BJP, which marked the split of the Janata Party. Earlier, Moli Chandra Sharma was expelled when he was the party chief. No rebel of this organization has ever succeeded, once he had been turned out.

This may well happen with Vaghela too. At the peak time, he had 47 MLAs. This gave the impression that he commanded one third of the strength of the Gujarat BJP. Thirty-five of them were enrolled in the party, during the last two years from Janata Dal and other parties. After the installation of Suresh Mehta's ministry, Khajuria MLAs started pouring into New Delhi to meet the party president, Advani. All of them said that they were not at all with Vaghela to split the party and explained how they had been trapped. They also assured that the blunder would not be committed again.

Recently, Vaghela tried to mobilize the support of MLAs and got signatures on a blank paper. The number could only rise to 26. Majority of them reported back to Keshu Bhai Patel saying while they could not say 'no' to Vaghela, they would remain firmly with the party. According to the most informed sources, Vaghela today may have at best 11 MLAs at his command. He has two district presidents with him, one fro Khera and the other from Gandhinagar. Lest it be misunderstood, Gandhinagar district has one assembly segment out of the seven that constitute the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Of course, the so-called split may affect a few nagar-panchayats of the BJP and a couple of municipalities.

An illusion may remain for a few years that - Kshatriyas would side with Vaghela till it is tested in the elections. Vaghela is a shrewd politician and an expert in press 'management'. He may create a lot of sound and fury, and carve a larger press image disproportionate with the ground realities.

After the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP high command was in search of a perfect occasion to expel Vaghela in a manner that would convincingly justify the expulsion. For months, Vaghela did not give any. When he came out with a plan to form a regional party, it was a perfect occasion to expel him.

Courtesy: Observer, August 15, 1996