Big Fight was among the most popular current affairs
programs those days. NDTV was the only English channel of note and there
weren’t too many current affair programs. In a way, for many like me, Big Fight
was the only way to watch televised opinions on important issues facing the
nation. Conversely, it was the only noteworthy platform for public figures with
an opinion to be heard.
Big Fight used to host debates on multiple subjects with
eminent figures from different walks of life participating in them. But the
ones on politics mostly used to have only one figure at the center of the
debates representing the BJP government – the bespectacled man. And every
participant in those debates would point their barrels at him.
In the spirit of the times, everyone had a bone to pick with
the government – journalists, activists and of course opposition leaders. But
there was something uncommon happening here. The bespectacled man was out arguing
everyone in smooth English laced with legal intricacies and in a suave manner. After
sometime I came to know it was Arun Jaitley.
It was uncommon those days because erudition, sophistry and
elegant arguments were expected only of people defending the left liberal side
of the fence. Arun Jaitley changed that perception in me and I guess in many
others. How he would defend some of the things that were quite indefensible
back then leaving a trail of outsmarted co-debaters gasping for words and ideas
– looked like a superhuman act those days. Nowadays the BJP line prevailing
over other lines of political thoughts, in TV debates, has become a common
sight and to do so, you don’t require Jaitley’s finesse anymore.
But Jaitley’s superhuman acts wouldn’t save his party in 2004
general elections nor in 2009. 10 years would be a long time out of power. The first five years in the opposition would
be rather uneventful for BJP. A Congress-led UPA 1 would gain momentum under a
somewhat steady leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. There would be occasional
hiccups but none big enough to upset the momentum. (The 2008 Mumbai attack didn’t
rattle the UPA government much.) In fact, by the time the Congress-led UPA came back to power
in 2009 to serve its second term, some of the pet BJP issues like the real
center of power being the Congress party president Sonia Gandhi and not the PM,
Congress being a family oriented party etc – had lost their traction on a pan
India level.
Then the scams came – one after another – 2G and many others
- and the momentum started slipping away. The rising chorus over the scams and
the opposition finally getting its act together set in motion a series of
things – leadership crisis caused by internal
bickering among Congress leaders, leaders making their ideological leanings and
disagreement with the PM public, Gandhi Family loyalists looking for scapegoats
to blame everything on to protect the reputation of the Family etc. This led to
a rattled Government failing to function properly (which later came to be known
as policy paralysis). This is the time Arun Jaitley came into his own.
In this chaos, there were many mainstream political parties
and activist groups (including Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement) trying
to monopolize the anti-Congress / anti-government space.
And if BJP eventually emerged as the only face of public
anger against the Government, it was largely due to the brilliance of Arun
Jaitely, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha then. His sharp
attacks on the Government both in the parliament and media made sure that in
public perception the Government always looked like a house caving in. This
public perception of a fumbling government only got stronger with time.
In a way, Arun Jaitely was a politician of the television
era. He was never a mass leader. His core competency was being a spokesperson
and backroom strategist. In pre television days, such a leader would be permanently
in the shadow of another mass leader like Vajpayee, Advani or Modi. What helped
him step out of the shadow of a big mass leader and be known was TV. His
ability to give long interviews explaining BJP’s stand on complex issues, present
a sound political perspective on something, deliver sharp soundbites together
with his pleasant personality – made him very media friendly – and probably
that’s why we know him so well today.
When he passed away last week, I was finding it difficult to
imagine an unfolding political situation without a sharp Arun Jaitely observation
on it. I am sure many would have felt the same way. As time goes by we would
get used to his absence. A lot more is coming to my mind but the blog has to end
somewhere.
