30.11.12

Sanjiv Bhatt's Lost Rebellion

Sanjiv Bhatt with wife Shweta


There is a school of thought about fighting the system from within. It rarely works. The system eats you before you can even bring out your fork or finger it.

There is also the halo-giri, where it is assumed that the fight is being done for honour. One such instance is now before us.

Suspended Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife Shweta on Friday announced that she will contest the State Assembly elections on a Congress ticket against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from Maninagar constituency in the city.

This is most certainly not a decision she took on her own. She has the backing of her husband, who in turn is backed by the Congress now. I emphasise ‘now’ because he did depose before the Nanavati Commission against Narendra Modi when he, Bhatt, was part of the IPS cadre in Gujarat and wrote to the Supreme Court indicting Modi for complicity. He was suspended.

Shweta Bhatt says:

“We have moved far away from democracy in Gujarat and to restore it, everyone has to do whatever they can. Fighting election against Modi is the logical step in our quest for democracy and to curb anti-democratic forces.”

Electoral democracy means people going to vote and whoever wins is accepted. So Gujarat is a democracy in that limited sense. She could have chosen a word like secularism. Or even dictatorship. But, these are loaded terms and can apply to the party she is now with. By pitting his wife against Modi, he has lost the moral spine of a real dissenter. He stands bare, as one more opportunist willing to sleep with the enemy’s enemy.


Despite some obfuscation and delay on his part, Sanjiv Bhatt did offer a little hope for those who do believe the chief minister owes responsibility for what happens in the state he governs. In a state where Modi is master, the Congress has had no major role to play and, therefore, prove. It knows Modi will win. It does not matter whether they put up a lamp-post against him or Sanjiv Bhatt’s wife. That should concern the officer and gentleman. It will in no way help diminish the crimes he has been fighting against. If anything, he has placed himself in an awkward position where his wife losing could well be used by the Congress as evidence of martyrdom, of having suffered because her husband is a hounded creature.

Well, that is not the case. And Bhatt is probably doing this to keep his options open. A quid pro quo cannot be ruled out, with the Congress promising a Rajya Sabha seat or other goodies. These are political gains.

Modi must be happier than usual. The man who ‘took him on’ on a matter of principle is now playing ball on another court. 

(c) Farzana Versey

8 comments:

  1. FV,

    QUOTE: "..Sanjiv Bhatt did offer a little hope for those who do believe the chief minister owes responsibility for what happens in the state he governs."

    Actually Sanjiv Bhatt offered hope only to the Muslim-appeasing cabal desperately trying to salvage a tattered, near-decimated, post-2002 p-sekulaarism which was becoming harder and harder to defend in the public domain. For the others however, there is nothing surprising in the action of the Messiah Of Sekulaar Jehadis. This did not happen before, for the simple reason that it is the first election after Bhatt's chest-thumping commitment to bleedin-heart sekulaarism! Long live democracy, warts and all!

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    QUOTE: "The man who ‘took him (i.e. Modi) on’ on a matter of principle..."


    Ha ha ha!! Nice joke! Keep ém coming!

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  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Isn't it funny that when pseudo secularists & Muslims find themselves on the wrong side their articles get short & sweet. Imagine if this was the day if something had gone against Modi. Woah! Tha would have been early Eid for Versey with 50,000 words as a minimum. Anyway, sulk and sulk more in ur sad world.

    And yes Modi was right. "God is Great"

    Bubyeee

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  4. >>Electoral democracy means people going to vote and whoever wins is accepted. So Gujarat is a democracy in that limited sense.

    Democracy part mostly just means that. There are other qualifiers put in place; like secular, constitutional checks-and-balances etc to keep the distinction from the mob rule.

    >>There is also the halo-giri, where it is assumed that the fight is being done for honour.

    >> By pitting his wife against Modi, he has lost the moral spine of a real dissenter. He stands bare, as one more opportunist willing to sleep with the enemy’s enemy.

    So, he lost the "moral" spine he used to have or he never had any because all halo-giri is shallow. which one is it?

    Being a career bureaucrat, I think he is just a survivalist but then who isn't. If he is not tainted then I rather that he survives whether he is able to battle Modi successfully or not.

    About the "enemy's enemy" thing, would you rather he allied with Keshubhai?

    or he launch a party made up of himself, wife and few NGO activists and stick it to them zen style(tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound)?

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  5. F&F:

    Just in case you haven't figured it out, I am questioning Sanjiv Bhatt. But you have no time for that. He is seen as a 'Muslim messiah' (how conveniently you forget that Muslims don't believe in any odd messiah, according to their 'medieval' faith when it suits you) or your usual rant against p-secs. That Bhatt came out and spoke should be heard by everyone, and then take or reject it on merit. But you don't see the Hindutvawadis do so because he is against the CM.

    I had raised issues about him, and some others as well, earlier too. It makes no difference. Yes, I do think he fought on principle to begin with. Or is only Lord Modi a principled man?

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    To the other comment...since I know where you are coming from, and I mean it literally, if you stopped counting my words, you'd probably be able to read. It must be a sad life if you keep track of other people's output on various subjects.

    God is great? And you need someone to tell you that? Kind of knavish...

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  6. Hitesh:

    I obviously meant some of us assumed he had a moral spine. The halo does not let people see clearly what happens under its shadow.

    If we use the survival argument, then someone would say it could be applicable to chief ministers too. 'As long as he is not tainted' again raises questions of veracity.

    Why has he chosen the bureaucratic route at all? When you ask who he should have aligned with and if that would be better, we are dealing with precisely what I am talking about. Moral spine. Should he go along with anyone?

    or he launch a party made up of himself, wife and few NGO activists and stick it to them zen style(tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a sound)?

    I don't believe electoral politics is the only way out. His voice was heard, though it must be noted he took his time raising it. Besides, the forest he is now in will just hype this. Nothing we don't already know about Modi.

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    Rizwan:

    "Covered by media 24/7". I rest my case.


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  7. Errata: It should read, Why has he chosen the *electoral* route at all?" not "bureaucratic" in my reply to Hitesh.

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  8. FV,

    The other comment (presumably you mean the one under the name Mark) was not by me. Your reply sounded like you were berating me for it :)

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