Sushma Swaraj can now relax in the winter sun. But despite the brave smile she presents to the world, you can see that here is a very hurt woman. Although she vociferously protests that she did not want to be a minister and is ready to do anything for the party, she also recites an Urdu couplet to say that "I was a victim of my own sincerity/ I have no complaints against any one".Sitting comfortably in her beautifully-appointed living room in her Tees January Lane residence, Swaraj is in a candid mood. "I have never played manipulative politics," she says. Ask her if it is the end of innocence for the BJP and she says: "No, that is why the party is surviving despite all this." The man who now occupies her former job, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Pramod Mahajan, was present when the PM asked her to "sacrifice herself for Delhi." The irony was not lost on her. SWATI CHATURVEDI met her late last week. Excerpts...
So where do you go from here?
I do not want anything.I sometimes think my party has given me so much. Neither was I a contender for a ministerial berth in the last expansion, nor will I be in the next expansion. I am very satisfied.
You have had a great past in the BJP. But where will the party lead you to now?
I am a Lok Sabha MP. Main kissi pad ki mohtaj nahi (I am not desperate for any post). I do not need the medal of a ministry. I have proved my worth, done everything so a ministry is the last thing I am desperate for. When I was chief minister, I do not recall a night when I slept for more then four hours. I am completely satisfied with my performance. So when people say that you have got nothing I feel very strange. After all they (the BJP) have given me so much. I was the first in everything, if you count the posts I have held. I was the first women general secretary, first lady spokesperson, first women CM of the BJP. Everything else will be a repeat performance now.
So how do you feel from being a topper to be suddenlytold you are not part of the class anymore?
No there is nothing like this. It is the Prime Minister's prerogative.
Has the PM spoken to you about a Cabinet berth?
No. The day I went to ask him about which seat to resign from, he told me clearly to retain my Lok Sabha seat. People who link my resignation from the Vidhan Sabha with the expansion of the Cabinet are wrong. I had been given time at 10 p.m. to see the PM. The expansion happened later. The only consideration was our numbers in Parliament. He told me you leave the assembly. I told him on my own that I do not want a ministry.
What about factionalism in the BJP. Is it still a party with a difference or differences?
Well, now it is a party with differences. We need some introspection.
Your omission from the Cabinet, is it a signal to women?
No, no. There is no omission or signals to women. If I am not there, it will be somebody else.
Weren't you the feminine face of the BJP? So isn't theBJP behaving like a very macho party?
(Laughs) There will be some other feminine face. I am not indispensable. We have a lot of women. Somebody else will benefit.
Have you encountered any chauvinism in the BJP?
No, even if I have to scratch my mind I cannot remember. NEVER. All capital letters!
Is there a conspiracy against you in the party?
People tell me this could be a conspiracy to oust me from national politics. But I know Vajpayeeji and Advaniji and my heart refuses to believe this. Offering me the Delhi chief ministership was a last-ditch attempt to salvage the situation.
So you think your competence worked against you?
I was brought in at a crucial juncture. At a time of crisis. It was a matter of satisfaction and honour for me. If at this hour of crisis my leadership asks me to lead, though I am reluctant to do so, I would still go since they are making me a general for this battle.
But is a general who has lost treatedlike this? You were there for only 40 days. What miracle could have you conjured?
Even I knew people were not expecting miracles from me but they wanted to benefit from my credibility and popularity.
You have said that the BJP defeated the BJP. Please elaborate?
I said that because even in this desperate situation if we had all worked together without sleeping, eating, drinking, with a do-or-die spirit under my leadership, things would have been different. If we had forgotten the past, if all the leaders had said -- we are behind her, you know Sushma Swaraj, please entrust Delhi to her. I always say Madhya Pradesh is an example. Things were pretty bad for the Congress. The Central leadership made all the factional leaders come together. Arjun Singh, Scindia and Digvijay exerted their influence. That's how the party improved and retained its base.
So what really happened?
Rather than everyone working together, the opposite happened. We could not present a united face. Ourvoters were disillusioned by our in-fighting.
After the elections results in Delhi, former chief ministers, Sahib Singh Verma and Madan Lal Khurana could not stop smiling even in front of TV cameras. Did it hurt?
Why only me? It hurt a lot of workers. But what can I do about it?
The attempts to link you with Romesh Sharma which were circulated by your own party?
The hurt I have undergone in 21 days in Delhi I haven't felt in 21 years of politics. I am a victim of my own sincerity.
How would you have handled the Fire controversy as I&B Minister?
I have not seen the film but it depends on the depiction. What message are you conveying? If you show the lesbian relationship as unnatural, it is all right. But, if you are glorifying it, or somehow or the other justifying it, that's not right.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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