Indian Express
June 20, 2004
SET PIECE
Sanyasin Satellites
Uma Bharti may be the power centre in Madhya Pradesh but real power belongs to a few chosen men in her inner circle — Bhopal’s gang of five
HARTOSH BAL
Posted online: Sunday, June 20, 2004 at 0000 hours IST
BHOPAL: Digvijay Singh recently said that Uma Bharti needs to escape the influence of gau, gobar, gau mutra and Govindacharya.
While Digvijay’s own credentials for making such a statement, given his record on the cow, remain suspect, Govindacharya’s official status in MP continues to remain a source of much speculation. He certainly seems to have spent more time in Bhopal over the past four months than he has over the previous four years.
He remains the most important of Uma Bharti’s circle of advisors, formal and informal, and she admits to consulting him on every important issue.
Till the election code of conduct came into place, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch—Govindacharya is the co-convenor of the organisation—had become the arbiter of most things in MP.
The most recent example of his influence on her political life came when she rushed to Delhi to submit her ‘resignation’ as chief minister over the possibility of Sonia being sworn in Prime Minister. Just days earlier Govindacharya had launched his Rashtriya Swabhiman Andolan over the issue.
Having managed to do an unexpected favour to the Congress, Uma now claims her opposition to Sonia as PM is a personal issue.
By extension that would make the post of CM part of Uma’s personal concerns and perhaps that is where Govindacharya fits in. Ironically the charge the BJP now hurls at Sonia, power without responsibility, applies in equal measure to Govindacharya in Bhopal.
Former journalist and a Govindacharya acolyte, Atul Jain has traded in his right wing loyalties for governmental pelf. He appeared on the scene as the bridge between Uma and the media during the Assembly campaign.
His pitch to journalists was that he realised how badly Uma was misunderstood when he covered the Ram Janambhoomi campaign. Now as one of the four officially appointed advisors to the CM, he seems to be one of the main obstacles in the already tempestuous relationship that Uma has with the media.
TEAM UMA
Govindacharya: His is the
unseen hand that moves all things in MP. Official status: unclear
Atul Jain: One of the CM’s four advisors, he is the link between the media and her–a weak one
Shailendra Sharma: Advisor, works behind the scenes
Anil Dave: This RSS man had run Uma’s campaign. Is responsible for mobilising the RSS network
Siddharth Lodhi: CM’s nephew and bureaucracy’s favourite
As often happens, the blame for Uma’s inaccessibility is now laid at his door, with the state’s entire PR apparatus at his beck and call. He has not done himself any favour by recently barring the entry to the CM house for representatives of a national network, which also has a separate channel devoted to MP.
He comes from an old BJP political family to which Uma has been close through her political life. Shailendra Sharma was often seen with Atul Jain during the Assembly campaign. But ever since Uma has come to power and he has been appointed advisor, he has preferred to work behind the scenes.
Without clearly defined responsibilities in this post he is perceived to wield tremendous power within the administration.
With little background in electoral politics he was projected as one of the main claimants for the ticket to the Bhopal Lok Sabha in the recent polls. He claims that he was denied the ticket because state BJP president Kailash Joshi put forth a claim for the ticket. But the facts are otherwise, Kailash Joshi never wanted to contest.
Anil Dave, a senior RSS man, was the last of the political appointees to the post of advisor to the CM. Before the elections he had wielded together a team, including Atul Jain and Shailendra Sharma, that had run much of the Uma campaign and was widely credited with harnessing the large RSS network in the state.
For reasons that still remain unclear he had fallen out with Uma Bharti immediately after her victory and it was only the RSS’ insistence that led to his appointment to the post. He remains the only advisor who does not have a government office and operates out of the same set of room from where he had masterminded the campaign.
But while Uma continues to consult him, even the RSS has been unable to check many of her controversial moves. The next few months, could see this RSS man with a commercial pilot’s license take centrestage or make his exit.
Ever since the first days of the Uma regime, quips about two RSS have been doing the rounds. The first is the Sangh, the second was an acronym for the Lodhi triumvirate of Rahul, Siddharth and Swami—two nephews and a brother. But ever since it is Siddharth Lodhi who has emerged as the representative face of this RSS.
Siddharth is much sought out by the bureaucracy but unlike his uncle Swami, he had managed to evade the limelight till recently.
Now senior Congress leaders have alleged that it was Siddharth’s men who had kept a group of journalists hostage when they had attempted to expose illegal quarrying in Shivpuri district a fortnight ago.
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