It must have caused Sushma Swaraj to blush just a little bit. While introducing a rural audience in Vidisha to their incumbent member of parliament, Madhya Pradesh tourism minister Surendra Patwa recently said that Swaraj might just be the country’s next "deputy prime minister".
Patwa would do that again at other meetings in the constituency, prompting some chatter in the backrooms of the Bharatiya Janata Party days after the chief minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, said the same thing about Amritsar BJP candidate Arun Jaitley.
Of course, deputy prime minister would not be an inappropriate role for Swaraj. The 62-year-old veteran has done almost everything else expected of an Indian politician: she won her first election to Haryana’s legislative assembly by beating four-time chief minister Bansi Lal at the age of 25. She was then inducted into the state cabinet, the youngest minister India had ever seen.
She would go on to enter the Rajya Sabha, win a Lok Sabha election, become a Union Minister, become Delhi’s first female chief minister, contest against Sonia Gandhi, hold various cabinet positions in the Vajpayee government and, most recently, became the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
All that’s left — other than the big prime ministerial prize — are the Raisina Hill ministries: Home, Finance, External Affairs and Defence, one of which would be expected to come along with any potential deputy prime ministership.
But simply because something is appropriate in politics and in the BJP, that doesn’t mean it will happen (as Lal Krishna Advani and Jaswant Singh can attest). More than 38 years after Sushma Swaraj entered politics, it is unclear what is next for this one-time rabble rouser.
“She is in a foul temper,” said Poornima Joshi, political editor of Hindu Business Line and a long-time BJP watcher. “She has been marginalised. Everybody is marginalised in Modi’s scheme of things. If Modi forms the government, I don’t see her sitting on Raisina Hill.”
Before looking ahead to what might happen in a prospective Narendra Modi-ruled government, as everyone in the BJP seems to already be doing, the votes still have to be tallied in Vidisha, which went to the polls on April 24.
Unfortunately for the people of this huge constituency, which straddles four different districts, Vidisha is what’s often described as a stronghold.
Like Amethi and Rae Barelli in Uttar Pradesh, Vidisha is among those seats that has almost never switched hands. The BJP has won nine straight elections from here, with stalwarts like former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan having held it in the past. Swaraj first contested from here in 2009.
Because it’s a safe seat like the two Nehru-Gandhi strongholds in UP, it also seems to garner little serious attention between elections. Swaraj barely visited while she was MP and few are content with her claims to having improved things.
“You try bringing your car into the roads around my village,” said Pappu, an auto-driver in Vidisha. “There are boulders the size of my auto in some places, and I know that because I had to get out of the village — which everyone has to do — to look for some sort of employment.”
Swaraj essentially got a walkover the last time because the Congress messed up in its candidate's application, leaving only a weak Samajwadi Party contender. This time, she'll face Laxman Singh, brother of veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, which means Swaraj’s talk of bettering her 3.9 lakh margin in 2009 is pure bluster.
But Madhya Pradesh is still leaning substantially towards the BJP, and with CM Chouhan himself spending much of his time campaigning alongside Swaraj in Vidisha, the incumbent should be able to hold on to her seat.
Not that anyone outside Madhya Pradesh would know it.
Gone are the days when Swaraj grabbed headlines promising to shave her head if Congress President Sonia Gandhi became prime minister. This election has only seen Swaraj in the news when she decided to disagree with her own party: opposing the ouster of senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh and expressing her disappointment at the reinduction of BS Sriramulu, an aide of jailed Karantaka mining baron Janardhan Reddy. Meanwhile, she has refused to talk to journalists, local or national, until after the elections.
“She used to be one of the major people attacking the Congress, this time you wouldn’t have heard anything,” said Kay Benedict, a senior journalist. “Her objective is to win her own election and keep away from controversy, keep away from Delhi and the limelight. She doesn’t trust the national media and knows anything she says might be twisted.”
Essentially this situation has come about because Swaraj made it clear, early on, that she was opposed to giving Modi such a major role in the BJP’s campaign — putting her on the same side as Advani and Chouhan, among others.
She still holds some sway in a party that seems almost entirely controlled by Modi, particularly in her home state of Haryana. According to some, she managed to scotch a pre-poll alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal, and also prevented former Congress leader Venod Sharma from joining the party.
But in the case of a Modi government, Swaraj might have a difficult time finding a place for herself. Although the Delhi chatter has gone all the way from placing her in the Ministry of External Affairs (she wouldn't be in Delhi much) to suggesting that she will be made Speaker of the House (the death-knell for an active political career), most of it is idle speculation.
“There is a trust deficit between Sushma and Modi, so it would be surprising if he gives her something important,” Benedict said. “She will not take a small portfolio under Modi, and with his emergence she also has a problem with the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]. To get to Raisina Hill, you would at least need the RSS to support you.”
As with many others who have been pushed aside over the course of Modi’s rise within the BJP, Swaraj’s only hope is almost self-defeating. “If they don’t get that many votes, if Modi isn’t going to be the PM, then she can hope to play an important role… maybe even Deputy PM if they have to cobble something together,” Benedict added. “That’s why she’s quiet now. All she will do is wait and watch, until May 16.”
Patwa would do that again at other meetings in the constituency, prompting some chatter in the backrooms of the Bharatiya Janata Party days after the chief minister of Punjab, Parkash Singh Badal, said the same thing about Amritsar BJP candidate Arun Jaitley.
Of course, deputy prime minister would not be an inappropriate role for Swaraj. The 62-year-old veteran has done almost everything else expected of an Indian politician: she won her first election to Haryana’s legislative assembly by beating four-time chief minister Bansi Lal at the age of 25. She was then inducted into the state cabinet, the youngest minister India had ever seen.
She would go on to enter the Rajya Sabha, win a Lok Sabha election, become a Union Minister, become Delhi’s first female chief minister, contest against Sonia Gandhi, hold various cabinet positions in the Vajpayee government and, most recently, became the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
All that’s left — other than the big prime ministerial prize — are the Raisina Hill ministries: Home, Finance, External Affairs and Defence, one of which would be expected to come along with any potential deputy prime ministership.
But simply because something is appropriate in politics and in the BJP, that doesn’t mean it will happen (as Lal Krishna Advani and Jaswant Singh can attest). More than 38 years after Sushma Swaraj entered politics, it is unclear what is next for this one-time rabble rouser.
“She is in a foul temper,” said Poornima Joshi, political editor of Hindu Business Line and a long-time BJP watcher. “She has been marginalised. Everybody is marginalised in Modi’s scheme of things. If Modi forms the government, I don’t see her sitting on Raisina Hill.”
Before looking ahead to what might happen in a prospective Narendra Modi-ruled government, as everyone in the BJP seems to already be doing, the votes still have to be tallied in Vidisha, which went to the polls on April 24.
Unfortunately for the people of this huge constituency, which straddles four different districts, Vidisha is what’s often described as a stronghold.
Like Amethi and Rae Barelli in Uttar Pradesh, Vidisha is among those seats that has almost never switched hands. The BJP has won nine straight elections from here, with stalwarts like former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan having held it in the past. Swaraj first contested from here in 2009.
Because it’s a safe seat like the two Nehru-Gandhi strongholds in UP, it also seems to garner little serious attention between elections. Swaraj barely visited while she was MP and few are content with her claims to having improved things.
“You try bringing your car into the roads around my village,” said Pappu, an auto-driver in Vidisha. “There are boulders the size of my auto in some places, and I know that because I had to get out of the village — which everyone has to do — to look for some sort of employment.”
Swaraj essentially got a walkover the last time because the Congress messed up in its candidate's application, leaving only a weak Samajwadi Party contender. This time, she'll face Laxman Singh, brother of veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, which means Swaraj’s talk of bettering her 3.9 lakh margin in 2009 is pure bluster.
But Madhya Pradesh is still leaning substantially towards the BJP, and with CM Chouhan himself spending much of his time campaigning alongside Swaraj in Vidisha, the incumbent should be able to hold on to her seat.
Not that anyone outside Madhya Pradesh would know it.
Gone are the days when Swaraj grabbed headlines promising to shave her head if Congress President Sonia Gandhi became prime minister. This election has only seen Swaraj in the news when she decided to disagree with her own party: opposing the ouster of senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh and expressing her disappointment at the reinduction of BS Sriramulu, an aide of jailed Karantaka mining baron Janardhan Reddy. Meanwhile, she has refused to talk to journalists, local or national, until after the elections.
“She used to be one of the major people attacking the Congress, this time you wouldn’t have heard anything,” said Kay Benedict, a senior journalist. “Her objective is to win her own election and keep away from controversy, keep away from Delhi and the limelight. She doesn’t trust the national media and knows anything she says might be twisted.”
Essentially this situation has come about because Swaraj made it clear, early on, that she was opposed to giving Modi such a major role in the BJP’s campaign — putting her on the same side as Advani and Chouhan, among others.
She still holds some sway in a party that seems almost entirely controlled by Modi, particularly in her home state of Haryana. According to some, she managed to scotch a pre-poll alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal, and also prevented former Congress leader Venod Sharma from joining the party.
But in the case of a Modi government, Swaraj might have a difficult time finding a place for herself. Although the Delhi chatter has gone all the way from placing her in the Ministry of External Affairs (she wouldn't be in Delhi much) to suggesting that she will be made Speaker of the House (the death-knell for an active political career), most of it is idle speculation.
“There is a trust deficit between Sushma and Modi, so it would be surprising if he gives her something important,” Benedict said. “She will not take a small portfolio under Modi, and with his emergence she also has a problem with the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]. To get to Raisina Hill, you would at least need the RSS to support you.”
As with many others who have been pushed aside over the course of Modi’s rise within the BJP, Swaraj’s only hope is almost self-defeating. “If they don’t get that many votes, if Modi isn’t going to be the PM, then she can hope to play an important role… maybe even Deputy PM if they have to cobble something together,” Benedict added. “That’s why she’s quiet now. All she will do is wait and watch, until May 16.”
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!