LEADER ARTICLE
Catch Me if You Can: Uma & Diggy Start the Big Fight

Bhopal: Digvijay Singh versus Uma Bharati. It’s the kind of big ticket battle not witnessed in an Indian state in recent times. One a chief minister, and the other a contender for the job. Youthful, bright, charismatic: Adjectives that would describe one would equally describe the other. Yet, the two could as well make for a study in contrast.
Diggy Raja is suave, accessible, and a strategist par excellence. Politicians on either side will vouch for the magic of his smooth-as-silk manner. Indeed, his charm offensive has ensnared many unsuspecting opponents, including a sizable section from the BJP. So, when you meet an esteemed member of Uma Bharati’s party, you don’t quite know whether he/she is with her or with him. The latest on Diggy’s victim list is Uma Bharati’s own brother, Swami Prasad.
The incredible thing is Digvijay Singh’s candid admission of it all. Quiz him on the PR stuff and there is no pious denial, not even an attempt to put a moral gloss on it. “What is politics, but winning friends and influencing people. Dale Carnegie,� he says with disarming openness, adding that he never loses his temper, and never offends anyone, not even his worst enemy.
Convey the charge that he has been winning elections on the strength of political mana-gement, and again there’s no obfuscation: “No election is won on performance alone. Political management definitely helps. But there are other things, social engineering, emotions and so on.� Ask him about the Swami Prasad coup, and he laughs uproariously: “He asked to do a Bhagwat Katha in my constituency, and I told him to go ahead.� Gone ahead the swami certainly has, with Digvijay himself supervising the show and turning up for it.
There are stories and stories about how he quells opposition, in the BJP and within his party. With BJP MLAs, he is the picture of courtesy and accommodation. In the Congress, a dissident woman deputy chief minister is effortlessly neutralised — not by employing threats but through the simple technique of letting her say what she wants and exhaust herself. Says Madan Mohan Joshi, former editor of Nai Duniya, “Had Dale Carnegie met Digvijay, he would have added two more chapters to his book.�
Uma Bharati, in contrast, might be his polar opposite. She is temperamental, where he is cool. She is impulsive where he is measured. She is restless where he is rock steady. She is sectarian and arouses passions. His preferred method is to defuse tensions through co-option. When she speaks Hindutva, he speaks it himself, indeed argues that what he believes in is the real Hindutva. In many ways that is what makes Digvijay a frustrating opponent for the BJP: How do you fight an enemy who is ever unruffled and who runs through your rank and file? How do you employ Hindutva against a man who wears his Hinduness on his sleeve? Who goes to temple, builds goshalas, advocates banning cow slaughter, funds institutes that research cow urine, and admits to sampling the drink himself? Worse, who arranges for his Hindutva rival’s brother to perform a Bhagwat Katha in his constituency?
But, Bharati is far from being a pushover. She shares her competitor’s boundless energy and steely determination. And when she wants, she can turn on the charm. As the Hindutva lot will tell you, she can hold any audience spellbound. Not surprisingly, improving on her PR has become Bharati’s immediate objective. “I have always been too much of an individual. So, it’s going to be painful and difficult to build a con- sensus. But I’ll do it, even if it means folding my hands and bowing my head before every worker.�
And what should help Bharati is Digvijay’s ten long years in office. Winning a third term is not an easy task for any chief minister, and Digvijay, for all his reputation as a consensus man and shrewd administrator, is up against enormous challenges. To be sure, under him, Madhya Pradesh has gained a high profile, and many of his schemes have won international acclaim. MP is also that rare state with a ‘right to recall’ Panchayati Raj Act. Most importantly, MP has shaken off the BIMARU tag.
However, come elections and it is anti- incumbency that looms large. Suddenly, what matter are things more immediate. Power, water, roads, infrastructure, not to mention issues that could explode overnight, swaying emotions, clouding judgment. Today, power cuts are rampant in MP, including in the capital. Naturally, in the pitch darkness of Bhopal’s nights, it makes little sense to discuss Digvijay’s achievements.
Yet, this drawback could pale before the two, far bigger problems that could await the chief minister. One, the Election Commission. And two, serious communal trouble. What better ammunition for the BJP than the EC’s warnings to Digvijay on the alleged irregularities in the electoral rolls? Thus far, Digvijay has characteristi- cally avoided a confrontation with the EC, diplomatically conveying to the latter that collectors cannot be summarily suspended. But should he fail to convince James Michael Lyngdoh, the fallout could spin out of control.
It is the communal situation that should worry him the most, though. Bhojshala is waiting to go up in flames, thanks to a small twist in a communication sent to the state government by Union culture minister Jagmohan. If Jagmohan has his way, Hindus will be allowed to carry puja material into the complex, overriding all orders to date prohibiting any kind of Hindu religious activity on the site. Add to this massive Sangh preparations for a Modi-type offensive, and Digvijay could have his hands full, ensuring that MP doesn’t go the way of Gujarat.