The Hindu Business Line : In life and death

Pramod Mahajan's untimely demise — and what happened immediately afterwards — suggests one thing, namely, that circumstances can inject a totally different dimension to the memory of a man, at least at that point of time which (in this case) closely follows the cataclysmic events. In real life, Mahajan was just another good politician going about his business pulling all the strings at his disposal in the world of Maharashtra politics and BJP politics, even on the national scale.

Without doubt, he held an important position as far as the "new generation" of BJP leaders was concerned, specially in view of his ability to influence people across a wide spectrum which was directly traceable to his engaging political personality.

It is said that he truly shot into the BJP political limelight when he accompanied Mr L. K. Advani on his "rath yatra" in the early 1990s. When the controversy over the Jain Diaries exploded, leading to the withdrawal of Mr Advani from the "driver's seat" of the BJP and the consequent ascendance (in practical terms) of Mr A. B. Vajpayee to the position of the party's mascot, it is said that Mahajan "switched his allegiance" to Vajpayee's star. He remained in that position till such time when the need again arose for him to reorient course.

In short, while being a loyal and very resourceful party worker, Mahajan was a politician first and last, using all his skills to be near the centre of intra-party power for as long as he could. This is what a good politician should be, but the short point is there are quite a few like him in the BJP itself and also in the other national parties, including the Congress. Why then did the media go overboard while covering his funeral and last rites?

The State's involvement in the proceedings is also a point of interest raising the issues of subjectivity and objectivity, which assume importance in view of future possibilities.

Ranabir Ray Choudhury

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