Search the Internet           Tips

The Rediff Special/ Ramesh Menon

The chief minister as caricature

One would expect one of India's most powerful politicians to head a state like Uttar Pradesh. Why then did the Bharatiya Janata Party install an almost retired politician like Ram Prakash Gupta at the helm in UP? Why did it look the other way as the state degenerated into chaos? How did Gupta survive for so long in this most volatile political state? Roving Editor Ramesh Menon analyses Gupta's controversial reign which ended on Tuesday, with the BJP's decision to replace him with Rajnath Singh.

Meet Ram Prakash Gupta. If you do not know much about him, don't whip yourself. Even hardened political reporters had forgotten about him. He was rescued from the cobwebs of the state's political history when the BJP leadership in New Delhi made him Uttar Pradesh's chief minister.

The BJP, which admires itself on strategy, put its bet on Gupta after Kalyan Singh was asked to quit the chief minister's office. The game plan was to avoid controversy. A high-profile leader would invariably have cliques working against him.

But Ram Prakash Gupta, who had almost retired from politics at 76, had no enemies.

He was virtually catapulted from his cold seat to a very hot one. Overnight. In fact, the police in Lucknow reportedly spent two hours searching for his two room flat in the state capital after his elevation.

It may sound like a bizarre way to run a state which has a turbulent political history. And have such a lacklustre leader heading one of India's largest states (294,411 sq km). But that was how the BJP logic went.

Uttar Pradesh, reeling from under-development, an exploding population of over 150 million, and low literacy, was crying out for an able leader to give it some direction. The BJP's answer to this was Ram Prakash Gupta.

As many as 47 per cent of its small and cottage industries are sick. But Gupta coined a new phrase for UP. He wanted it to be known as Udyog Pradesh. How he intended to achieve this, he never spelt out. When Microsoft chairman Bill Gates came to India, various chief ministers flocked to him. Impressed, Gupta's idea of an information technology revolution was to gift laptops to every MLA.

Even if he could create jobs, he had no money to pay salaries. As it is, government employees like teachers were not being paid regularly. In a desperate move, Gupta allowed shops selling beer to open without licences if a lump-sum of Rs 200,000 was paid to the government as a fee.

After seeing the party's image plummet after Gupta took over, the BJP's central leadership repeatedly tried to replace him. He had become an embarrassment. Each time, it failed. Not because of any sterling qualities of the antiquated, forgetful -- he once asked an embarrassed cabinet minister who he was and why he was often found hanging around his office -- chief minister. It was just that no consensus candidate emerged.

Six months ago, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in favour of putting Union Surface Transport Minister Rajnath Singh in the saddle. But he was unable to do so as there was stiff opposition against Singh. A former state party chief, Singh was tough and could survive, thus ending the dream of many others in the running for the office. Political circles in Lucknow joked that if Gupta could be chief minister, anybody could run for the post.

When Vajpayee hastily called Gupta to Delhi in early July, political observers predicted he would be axed. Vajpayee was reportedly upset by the BJP's humiliation in the state panchayat election. But again, that did not happen.

Uttar Pradesh is bankrupt. The bureaucracy is either divided or demoralised. Ditto for the police force. Begum Noor Banu, the Congress MP from Rampur, told rediff.com: "The BJP does not seem to have any policy to run the state. Ram Prakash Gupta could not handle anything. All that was happening was the transfers of bureaucrats and police officials. How can the bureaucracy or the police perform in such an atmosphere? It is a sorry state of affairs."

Rampant corruption was racking the state. Government officials paid bribes to get postings they wanted. Police officers paid huge monthly sums just to keep their jobs. If the police was not in cahoots with criminals, the politicians were holding hands with them. Numerous members of the legislature had criminal records.

Gupta's favourite line was that he was fighting corruption. But not a single official or minister was punished.

Nothing highlighted this more than the protest staged by members of the state rural engineering services to draw attention to their plight: They sat in front of the Vidhan Sabha with begging bowls for many days, saying they wanted to collect money to meet the demands of Gupta's minister for rural projects. They alleged the minister was demanding a regular monthly bribe.

Nothing came of it as Gupta did not even inquire into the matter. The chief minister did not want to rock his coalition government. Initially, there was a drive to clean up the polity, saying ministers must declare their assets and be transparent.

Only Baleshwar Tyagi, the minister of state for primary education, declared his assets. The issue was given a decent burial.

The state BJP was riven with in-fighting. There were too many groups and too many contenders for the throne. The notables: state BJP president Kalraj Mishra and Lalji Tandon. Also in the running was former state party chief Om Prakash Gupta. All of them hated Rajnath Singh's guts and stiffly opposed his becoming chief minister all these months.

Janeshwar Mishra, the Rajya Sabha MP from the Samajwadi Party and a former railway minister, told rediff.com: "Uttar Pradesh is functioning without a government. The infighting in the BJP is destroying the state. The BJP can never win the coming election."

Three months ago, the BJP started seeing red. In a by-election to the Soron assembly seat, former chief minister Kalyan Singh, who quit the BJP to form his own party, won the seat. The BJP candidate was far behind, in fourth position. After his victory, Kalyan Singh said he would ensure that the BJP never came to power in the state again.

Where did Gupta come from? Old timers can jog their memory to remotely remember that he was one of those lacklustre deputy chief ministers to Charan Singh in 1967. Ten years later, in 1977, he was the state industry minister. Ever since, he has been in semi retirement, other than contesting the 1993 assembly election. He was denied the BJP ticket in the 1996 assembly election as no one thought he would win.

But Gupta was free of controversy. He had no black mark on his persona. He was corruption free. And lived a simple life.

The other contenders were problematic. Kalraj Mishra was a Brahmin. Caste leaders like Mayawati would have raved about this and increased her voter base that is greatly influenced by caste and creed. Om Prakash Singh was from a backward caste. But the fear was that the Brahmins would then run back to the Congress. The same reason applied to Kesri Nath Tripathi, a Brahmin. Then there was Lalji Tandon who did not have a grass root base and would not be able to garner votes for the party.

Gupta has had a tough time holding on to his chair. Before he said goodbye to office, he ensured that he would have a furnished house to stay after his removal. He spent a great deal of time with astrologers wanting to know how long he would last, what he should do and when.

Now he can say goodbye to the astrologers and go back to a retired life.

ALSO SEE
UP governor accepts Gupta's resignation
'There is no dissent in the BJP's Uttar Pradesh unit'
'Gupta could not give the government proper direction'
The Rediff Specials

Tell us what you think of this profile