Nov 15, 1999

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Having got his revenge on the Shiv Sena, Chhagan Bhujbal has his work cut out as deputy chief minister.

By V Shankar Aiyar

It was a typical day. A typical function. A clutch of politicians -- -- including Bal Thackeray -- -- gathered to inaugurate yet another park in what was then Bombay on March 23, 1991. Congressman Ramrao Adik cut the ribbon and praised the city's Shiv Sena mayor for his good work. Thackeray was not amused. "He is good at cleaning up. You should take him to clean up the kachra in the Congress," the Sena chief barked back.

Coming from Thackeray, it was nothing unusual. But worse, the same day the Sena mouthpiece Samna had a cartoon depicting Christ on a donkey with the caption: "The donkey should not mistake that the flowers falling on Christ were meant for him." The reference was to Chhagan Bhujbal, a Thackeray loyalist since 1966 who had helped build the Sena across the state and played no mean role in the Sena chief's transformation from "Bal Thackeray" to "Balasaheb Thackeray".

What raised Thackeray's hackles that day was Bhujbal's desire to be anointed the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly. The ire was meant to make Bhujbal see reason. It did. "I realised then that I was being told to take what was being given and not what was due to me. I vowed that if I could build, I could also destroy." Eight months later, Bhujbal split the Sena and walked over to the Congress. There has been no looking back since. His combative nature was most visible when the Sena-BJP alliance was in power. As a one-man demolition team -- -- with some help from Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar -- -- Bhujbal unleashed a series of campaigns starting with the Kini murder case to ensure the Sena's ouster from power and his own rise in 1999.

It is this determination more than anything else that marks Bhujbal's personality. Born in 1947 to a couple engaged in the vegetables business at Mumbai's Byculla market, Bhujbal was orphaned at the age of five and brought up by his grandmother's sister. He candidly confesses that from a very early age "I was consumed by this desire to lead". At the Padamseewadi Municipal School he topped his class, at the Elphinstone Technical Institute he led the naval cadet corps and at the Veer Jijamata Technical Institute, where he earned his diploma in mechanical engineering, Bhujbal was the secretary of the students' union. It was 1966 and politics became a passion. It was also the right time as Bal Thackeray held the first meeting of the Sena.

While Bhujbal was an instant convert to the Thackeray slogan -- -- the right to employment for the sons of the soil -- -- the Sena chief was quick to see the potential in the young man. What emerged was an unbeatable combo: Thackeray's intellect riding Bhujbal's muscle. For close to 25 years, Bhujbal worked ceaselessly to spread the Sena message -- unquestioningly. Whether it was the cause of the mill workers, renaming Bombay, Hindutva or the Belgaum agitation -- -- when he masqueraded as Sheikh Al Bhujbal to enter Belgaum and spent a month in jail -- -- Bhujbal led from the front. From municipal corporator in 1973 to mayor of Mumbai in 1985 and the party's lone voice in the state assembly, Bhujbal grew steadily.

But the seeds of dissent were germinating. "You know he (Thackeray) never called or enquired about me even once when I was in jail." The next jolt came when Thackeray opposed the Mandal Commission "after winning all those seats helped by the backward classes". But soon dissent turned to disgruntlement when Thackeray made Manohar Joshi party leader in the state assembly. And then came the Adik incident. Leaving the party he had served and built over 25 years was not an easy decision to make. Meena Bhujbal remembers trying to dissuade her husband. But he said: "If I have to live with respect I must do this." Worse, he could not ignore the fear of reprisal from the Sena. For many months, fearing his safety, Bhujbal scampered from one safe house to another. "I used to call up journalists pretending to be in Nashik one day and Pune the other," he laughs. But he adds in a sombre vein: "It was the most fearful time of my life." While on the run, he even thought of giving up politics for an undisturbed life on a farm he had acquired in Nashik.

In May this year, when Pawar walked out of the Congress, Bhujbal found it easier to follow him than many other Congressmen. In the new formation he was soon in his elements and matched the guerrilla tactics of Pawar. Congressmen as well as those from the BJP admit to Bhujbal's methodical approach and organisational skills. He is also known for his repartee. When asked about former colleague Pramod Navalkar's forecast that Bhujbal would taste his own medicine at the state assembly's Nagpur session in December, Bhujbal shot back: "History can repeat itself and the Sena could split yet again."

But it isn't all brawn and bravado that marks his politics. For four years Bhujbal planned and conducted the attack on the alliance with a cunning that would have done Machiavelli proud. Tactic I: corner the Sena, leave the BJP alone. Tactic II: focus on Balasaheb's nephew Raj Thackeray by raising the Kini murder issue as Raj has the masses support. Tactic III: reduce the aura of Bal Thackeray. "He had said you can't deify a stone by applying tilak on it. My aim was to remove the tilak and expose the stone. It removed the terror of Thackeray and knocked off the aura from people's mind. And the Sena was thrown out."

True. But Bhujbal has a new challenge to meet. The new deputy chief minister has to prove his leadership qualities. Says Navalkar: "He was a true Sainik, a fighter. But I don't agree with his style any longer. Now that he is in the saddle I hope he knows his responsibilities or else he could fall off the horse." A senior Congressman believes Bhujbal will be the future face of the NCP. But BJP leader Gopinath Munde feels that it will not be easy: "He was an impressive opposition leader. But he has yet to prove himself in power."

The big question is: will he? But the bigger personal challenge before Bhujbal is one of acceptance. Despite his best efforts and commitment, he has been dubbed an outsider. In the Sena he had the outsider's tag because of his backward-caste status. When he joined the Congress, he was considered a Shiv Sainik. Ditto with some sections of the NCP. But with Pawar keen to establish himself in Delhi, Bhujbal has a chance to show statesman-like qualities. Navalkar offers a clue: "Personal vengeance and politics don't go together. It only affects your own cause." Having got his revenge, perhaps it is time Bhujbal fought for the cause of the people. He could yet become the leader he has always wanted to be.

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