By Parth Gupta
Subramanian Swamy, probably the most politically incorrect personality, has been a popular shake-up in the BJP since he made his comeback. More than a firebrand politician, he is an economist, mathematician, scholar, and a person who can have anyone on his hitlist. Looking back at his political career, one can observe how he changed sides and owing to his intellect and substance, is both an aid and a danger to his party.
A volatile academic background
Throughout Swamy’s academic career, he has held a number of positions. However, he has also faced termination from several due to his political, legal, and social views. In 1965, when he was invited by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen to occupy his chair on Chinese studies at the Delhi School of Economics, his appointment was cancelled due to his views on Indias nuclear programme. His position as a full Professor of Mathematical Economics at IIT, Delhi was also terminated by its board of governors in the 1970s.
Even in 2011, his only two courses were cancelled at Harvard University after more than 400 students signed a petition demanding Swamys removal following his “reprehensible” articles. The article in question was in response to the 2011 Mumbai attacks. He wrote an editorial in Daily News and Analysis (DNA) which allegedly propagated the idea of Hindus being targeted, removal of the mosque in Kashi Vishwanath temple, and prohibition of conversion from Hindu to any other religion.
Making his mark in Indian politics
Swamy was the President of the Janta Party and within a period of five years from 1974 to 1999, he was elected Member of Parliament five times. Seventeen years later, in 2016, he was nominated as a member of the upper house. During 1990 and 1991, Swamy served as a member of the Planning Commission of India and as a Cabinet Minister of Commerce and Law.
His relations with the Gandhi family have traversed an acute hairpin bend. Once close to Rajiv Gandhi, he soon became a bitter critic of the Gandhi family. Swamy had even alleged that Sonia Gandhis family members in Italy received money from the KGB in Ondo-Soviet trade deals, which was ultimately used in the 1989 general elections. His grudge came out clearly when he filed a 206-page petition to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to implicate Sonia Gandhi in the 2G scam. He publicly asked Rahul Gandhi to affirm his religion after the latters visit to temples in his Gujarat tour this September. Let Rahul Gandhi declare that I am not a Christian, but a Hindu, then we will believe him“, he commented.
Switching between the camps
Subramanian Swamy is a social media powerhouse and he dictates the battlefield in his own way against the Gandhi family. Parties opposing the Gandhi family have always wanted him on their team. In 2014, WikiLeaks released information about how the United States managed to gather details about the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s election strategies and health details during the Emergency in 1977 from Subramanian Swamy. In the same year, he also came under fire when he claimed Ravana and his wife were Dalits from Uttar Pradesh, in a seminar on I and my India hosted in Varanasi, without any archaeological proof.
Swamy is a complete package as he brings to the table knowledge on both legal and economic fronts, wit, and a good hold over the media. Having said that, he is still a liability for the Modi government. The BJP tries their best to distance themselves from the infamous Hindu supporting tag but Subramanian Swamy, in his interview to the Huffington Post said, The PM is a pracharak (apostle) of the RSS. So, if you peel off his exterior, its all Hindutva. What came as a surprise was his plan to challenge the GST as being anti-national.
Muddying the waters with the government?
He even claimed that Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has time and again said that Swamy is corrupt, illiterate and a fool behind his back. While responding and highlighting failures of Modi government, Swamy did what he does bestattack Arun Jaitley. The economy is in a bad shape, maybe because Mr Jaitley is not an economist, he said. He further added that he would love to be the finance minister and would be able to turn things around.
While the Modi government is already facing a lot of heat because of the economic slowdown and railway accidents at regular intervals, it should try to avoid a member of their party joining Yashwant Sinha. Subramanian Swamy has been a long time rebel, and if given a portfolio, he would do what he wants to do, not what the Prime Minister wants. A position to Swamy would rather create a rift within the party and the council of ministers, considering that Jaitley would then become his colleague.
Featured Image Source: President Mahinda Rajapaksa via Visual hunt / CC BY-NC