5/1/2016

HowSubramanianSwamyhasalwaysmanagedtobeinthelimelightthroughhismaverickwaysTimesofIndia

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How Subramanian Swamy has always managed to

be in the limelight through his maverick ways
ET Bureau | May 1, 2016, 09.47 AM IST

t was not long ago when Subramanian Swamy was a dear friend of
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, an upholder of secularism, an
opponent of communal politics of the Sangh Parivar and a sworn
enemy of the BJP. Swamy had single-handedly brought Tamil Nadu
chief minister J Jayalalithaa and Sonia Gandhi together to trigger a
political earthquake 17 years ago in April 1999 at the Ashok hotel in Delhi,
leading to the demise of the rst Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.
Very few individuals without ideological, or organisational, baggage can
claim to have achieved so much. So, when Swamy opened his new
innings in Rajya Sabha earlier this week attacking Sonia Gandhi and the
Congress, there was nothing personal about it. If it were anti-BJP politics
that served his purpose two decades ago, it is anti-Congressism that helps him now. It is as simple and opportunistic as that.
The Muckraker-in-Chief
For someone who wrote about disenfranchising Muslims in a newspaper article, there is a strange kind of consistency about
Swamy's character. He is a muckraker par excellence. He can hurl abuses, he can talk through his hat, attack iconic national
leaders and get away with it all. He had called Vajpayee a drunk, former CPI(M) general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet
corrupt and Sonia Gandhi a smuggler. He didn't need hard evidence to do any of this.
One reason why he gets away calling people names is that nobody has ever succeeded in suing him or getting him restrained.
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HowSubramanianSwamyhasalwaysmanagedtobeinthelimelightthroughhismaverickwaysTimesofIndia

Congress' leader in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad wondered whether there was any distinction between the language of the
street and the language of Parliament and this question assumes centrality while drawing the prole of the Muckraker-in-Chief.
No serious politician would want to get caught talking loosely about her political rivals or national issues. But Swamy has
always done that with great gusto.
The latest episode too is about attacking Sonia Gandhi over the AgustaWestland chopper deal without any hard evidence. The
Italian court has not indicted the Congress leader nor have the Indian agencies named her, despite the BJP government
pursuing this case for about two years. So, there is no proof of Sonia or other Congress leaders receiving a bribe from the
Italian company, Finmeccanica. But the mere Italian connection is enough for Swamy to link Sonia with the bribery scandal.
Very few 76-year-old politicians would do that. Well, that is what makes Swamy different in Indian politics.
Among my favourite parliamentarians of the last two decades at least is the late Dipankar Mukherjee of the CPI(M). He
was also a member of Rajya Sabha. He studied his subject thoroughly, investigated issues subtly, crunched numbers,
researched his rivals and arrived in Parliament loaded with evidence. He never uttered a foul word or made an unsubstantiated
allegation and was articulate in English, Hindi and Bengali. Unlike Swamy, the MP from West Bengal was from a desi university,
the Banaras Hindu University, but treated his opponents with great respect and courtesy.

Confronting the Gandhis

Former prime ministers Vajpayee and Chandrashekhar, former minister Jaipal Reddy, current nance minister Arun Jaitley and
external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj have all been brilliant speakers and persuasive parliamentarians. In fact, in
contemporary politics, there are hardly any high-prole mudslingers, who threaten TV anchors, claiming to expose their
colleagues' links with Niira Radia, the corporate lobbyist.
But that is the importance of being Swamy: somebody has to throw muck for it to stick. The Comptroller and Auditor General
of India had come out with its report on the spectrum allocation, but it was Swamy the litigant who turned it into a political
scandal that swamped the government and exposed it completely. His enemies may call him a blackmailer, but he has been an
effective litigant who has cornered the UPA government and, more so, the Gandhi family. Despite the National Herald share
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HowSubramanianSwamyhasalwaysmanagedtobeinthelimelightthroughhismaverickwaysTimesofIndia

switch not involving any loss of public money, Swamy was successful in scripting a high-prole political drama involving the
Gandhis. In political terms, he has been more successful than any other Sangh Parivar insider in cornering the Gandhis and
pursuing them relentlessly.

Now that Swamy has hitched his fortunes with the BJP, particularly prime minister Narendra Modi, he has to perform his role to
perfection. After getting richly recompensed with a Rajya Sabha seat for all his past litigations and accusations, it is his
assigned role to drag the Gandhis into all the scandals that tumble out of the UPA closet. But is he content with a mere Rajya
Sabha seat? He had achieved much more in his younger days. Will he turn against the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, yet again?
Well, these questions cannot possibly be answered even by Swamy because the answers lie in what the future holds for him.
Opportunity, not loyalty, is what drives India's maverick muckraker.

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