The Hindu : The 'law purush' cometh

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 27, 2003

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National

The 'law purush' cometh

By Harish Khare

New Delhi July 26. First we had a "vikas purush" (development man); that was supposed to be the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee. Then, there was the "loh purush" (the iron man); the salutation, of course, was meant for the Deputy Prime Minister, Lal Krishna Advani. Now, we have a "law purush" (the law man).

And, no prizes for getting it right: Arun Jaitley. The official "announcement" came in between the lines of the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha's reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha two days ago. According to Mr. Sinha, India would be represented at next week's WTO mini-ministerial in Montreal by the other Arun, Mr. Shourie, Minister for Disinvestment. What Mr. Sinha could not tell the House was that Mr. Jaitely would be needed to be at hand to mount a defence of Mr. Advani in Parliament next week.

Mr. Sinha merely confirmed what has been the best-kept secret in the capital — that Mr. Jaitely has emerged as the legal Mr. Fix-It for the NDA Government. He has accumulated very many brownie points by his willingness to use his considerable legal talent and acumen to pull the Government out of politically embarrassing spots.

It was this robust sense of partisanship, combined with legal skills, that has made Mr. Jaitely indispensable. Nobody was in fact surprised when Mr. Jaitely returned to the Government within seven months; his appointment as the party's general secretary was tom-tommed as a re-affirmation of the BJP as a "party with a difference", with the partymen willing to give up ministries to work for the organisation. As it turned out, the regime had too many political-legal problems that needed to be "fixed" and a Mr. Jaitely out of Government was like a prize-fighter working the ring with his one arm tied behind him. So, Mr. Jaitley got his Cabinet job back ;the party's needs could wait.

The "law purush" is useful not only to the Mr. Advani in his unending Ayodhya troubles. Whenever the intricacies of this or that compromise on globalisation front has to be explained to the intractable RSS crowd, the Prime Minister requisitions the services of Mr. Jaitley. When a swayamsevak explains a "compromise" — and Mr. Jaitely is a dedicated RSS man — this defence is instantly deemed to be credible.

The "law purush" is also a loyal party man. Be it the matter of defending Narendra Modi's police inaction during the Gujarat riots or be it the matter of picking an argument with Digvijay Singh over the nature of development in Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Jaitley, the "law purush" cheerfully invokes his legal resourcefulness to plug the BJP line.

Despite his "unapologetic saffron partisanship", the new "law purush" is eagerly sought out by the capital's glitterati and wheeler-dealers. He has come to provide a symbolic bridge between the votaries of su-raj (good governance) and those who habitually like to find a way around the law.

The "law purush" may not have the organisational savvy of a Pramod Mahajan. Nor does he have the "charisma" of a Sushma Swaraj. But entirely on account of his knowledge of law, Mr. Jaitely has come to stay at the top of the "second generation" pile.

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