The rise and rise of Amit Shah

The rise and rise of Amit Shah

FPJ BureauUpdated: Wednesday, May 29, 2019, 12:14 AM IST
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By all accounts, it was a dazzling show. Everybody who is anybody in the ruling alliance was present on the occasion in Gandhinagar in solidarity with the powerful man. The only exception was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But that appeared to be by design, not default. The occasion was to show Amitbhai Shah as the tallest organisational leader, who is literally making the NDA work.

The filing of nomination by the BJP president from Gandhinagar was no ordinary occasion. It unmistakably signalled that Shah is formally Number Two in the BJP scheme of things and a natural successor to Modi whenever the Prime Minister hangs up his boots.

In political circles, there was never any doubt about Shah’s clout but sometimes, it is necessary to tell ‘de jure’ what the ‘de facto’ position is. A hardcore organisation man, Shah does not suffer fools gladly and wanted to send home the message that he would be in overall command of the party and the government after Modi.

Whether in Gujarat or at the Centre, Modi and Shah have been together through thick and thin. Modi’s Man Friday in Gujarat has now become a leader in his own right and is playing the perfect foil to the Prime Minister in the organisation. He is the nitty-gritty man on whom Modi depends, as he focuses on statecraft and roams around the world to build bridges.

It must be remembered that Shah was never made a cabinet minister in Gujarat, but was known as one of the closest to Modi. (Strangely, the talk is that no one close to the chief minister was made cabinet minister, to facilitate better coordination.) Notwithstanding the controversies and the court orders that took Shah out of Gujarat, the bond between him and the CM remained as strong as ever.

So it was but natural that when Modi became Prime Minister, Shah would go from strength to strength. Shah has become more powerful than any cabinet minister and some even claim, he is more powerful than all the cabinet ministers put together, some of whom are known to enjoy their position due to Shah’s blessings.

The present Gujarat Chief Minister is seen as a proxy of Shah. Right or wrong, some in the BJP even say privately, he is more powerful than ‘the boss’.  Gandhinagar is no ordinary seat. In the last two decades, it was represented by BJP veteran L K Advani, who had brought the party to the centrestage of national politics by being at the vanguard of the Ayodhya movement thirty years ago.

BJP patriarch Atal Bihari Vajpayee too had represented the seat at one point of time. So the stage for succession was set by the denial of ticket to the 91-year-old Advani, who has become a pale shadow of himself after Modi rode to power at the Centre virtually single-handedly, on the back of a wave in May 2014.

Shah had made a key contribution to the unprecedented task as he was in charge of the BJP in key Uttar Pradesh. He was handpicked by Modi, who knew well that the road to Delhi goes via Lucknow. Ever since, Modi and Shah have been calling the shots at the Centre and in BJP-ruled states and the duo personifies power, for admirers and detractors alike.

The rise of Shah has been phenomenal after May 2014, as the PM zeroed in on his known associate from Gujarat to head the organisation. The incumbent, Rajnath Singh was kicked upwards as home minister to make way for Shah. Being a former stockbroker, Shah knows well that one must always up the curve. One must be on top of the political sensex to reap the rewards of one’s hard work and therefore, one has to hold the winning stocks.

In the Modi era, the BJP may not have remained the ‘party with a difference’, but under Shah, it is being proclaimed from the rooftops that it has become the ‘world’s largest party’. So Shah is playing the game at the next level and Modi does not appear to be unsympathetic to the cause of the party chief.

This, however, does not mean that ‘all is well’ within the BJP. It means everyone wants to keep his or her views to oneself when Modi-Shah have total control over the organisation. Such a grip has never been seen in the history of the saffron party, where Advani and Vajpayee were at the helm for several years, alternating as party chief.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls, everyone who is anyone in the BJP first wants to get elected.
Modi is already 68 and as per BJP’s scheme of things no one should hold elective office after 75 and therefore the issue of leadership could come to the fore after 2024. Leaders like Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis have recently said that there is not bound to be any vacancy for the Prime Ministership for the next ten years.

The shape of things to come politically would be clear on May 23 when the results of the Lok Sabha polls would be out. Shah has made his move. At 54, he is the youngest of the senior leaders of the party. Other leaders in the BJP are having a keen eye on how things unfold. Sushma Swaraj has declared that though she is not contesting the Lok Sabha polls on health grounds, she is not out of active politics.

Gadkari and Rajnath Singh are in the thick of elections. They are seniors to Shah in party affairs having been the party chiefs before him. Post-Pulwama, Modi and Shah are working more in tandem to puncture the plans of a disparate opposition. But everyone still feels that 2019 is not 2014.

(The writer is former political editor, Press Trust of India)

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