Will Vanzara's letter hurt Modi?

M K Tayal Former IPS officer DG Vanzara blamed Narendra Modi and his close friend Amit Shah for the Gujarat ‘killings’ ostensibly to hurt the man who Sangh parivar and the Bharatiya Janata Party are pinning their hopes on to occupy the raj darbar in Delhi. But given the overall situation, it is unlikely that Vanzara’s letter is going to impact Modi’s prospects, if any, of becoming the Prime Minister. What the letter will do is get good media attention and subsequently take the BJP down by a few crore more. It is being rumoured that BJP has got a budget of Rs 300 crore to deal with pre-election handling of the media. And during elections too, they have double or triple amount up their selves. So most media houses, journalist-cum-owners, and middlemen are vying for a slice of the cake. The more noise they create at 9 pm prime time news, the more they can expect the BJP to shell out to calm them and get a favourable slant. So any anti-Modi rant in the country gets huge attention. In that context, Vanzara’s letter comes as a boon for the ‘secular’ media, which finds this too as a reason to celebrate by stressing that the letter would pin Modi down. Everyone knows the open secret that Modi ‘sorted’ out Muslims during the riots. That is why he is Modi today and what Advani couldn’t be even after demolition of the Babri Mosque. A fact is that Modi is hated and feared too by many Muslims. That is why he is not going to get more than two Muslim votes (apart from Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz). The BJP just pretends that it is saddened by Gujarat riots. BJP president Rajnath recently said something to the affect that Modi resents all that has happened in the state. Advani went down in Sangh parivar partly because he cast sideways glances towards Jinnah’s grave. Modi will spell his death knell if he wears the skull cap now. Vanzara did not speak all these days and revealing the truth at this stage is not going to change the status quo in the courts, where he may be required to provide direct proof of Modi’s orders to assassinate terrorists as a zero tolerance policy in eliminating terrorism. He will have to clarify why he was quiet for so long and spoke about so late. It is anybodys guess at whose behest Vanzara wrote that 10 page letter. Vanzara knows that ‘they’ can ever pin Modi down and thus acted as a fool today by opening his mouth after having gone to jail for the crimes ‘he was ordered’ to do so by Modi and Shah. If Modi actually did what people think he did and Vanzara comes out with proof before the elections, Modi will shine more. Importantly, if Modi becomes the Prime Minister, he would naturally get his case all cleared up. Lack of patience exposed the weakness of Vanzara. And even if he does not become, PM at least he would have been in the good books of a few people. By opening his mouth, Vanzara has exposed himself.

Subramanian Swamy: From Sonia to Sangh

He can put even the Sangh’s loony fringe to shame with his unabashed Hindutva rant and embarrass the BJP still cagey about its core ideology. Taking on the high and mighty across the political spectrum with chilling regularity, Subramanian Swamy may now just be a breath away from merging his one-man Janata Party with the Modi-fied BJP.

And he has a blueprint ready for BJP to storm back to power. Recently Swamy expounded his strategy, which is both intriguing and bone-chilling — consolidate the Hindu vote, divide the Muslims.

"India is 80% Hindu. If we rally the Hindu vote and wean away 7% of the Muslim population to our side, we will win the elections. There are sharp divisions in the community. The Shias, Barelvis and Ahmadis are already aligned with the BJP. There’s nothing called a consolidated Muslim vote-bank. Look at the brutal persecution of Shias in Pakistan. The strategy should be clear. Unite the Hindus under one flag and divide the Muslims."

But, the NDA cannot capture power on its own. With a polarizing figure like Modi at the helm, BJP remains an untouchable for its former allies — BJD, Trinamool Congress and TDP. Swamy is quick to rebut this theory. “Don’t forget, Naidu, Mamata and Patnaik joined the NDA bandwagon just after the Ayodhya movement and the Babri demolition. It’s all about coming close to the magic figure. The wind is blowing in NDA’s favour.” he said. And while party president Rajnath Singh does a deft balancing act on Hindutva, Swamy minces no words on espousing the Ayodhya plank. “If Modi becomes PM, the Ram temple will definitely be built in Ayodhya. There’s no going back on this issue. We will take the legal route and convince Muslims. The temple was always on BJP’s agenda and Ayodhya was a rallying point for the NDA in 1998.”

Swamy may now be a darling of the Sangh, but he remains a political paradox, having swiftly switched political allegiances in the past.