Z-Plus Security for Amar Singh, Part of Amit Shah’s Chanakya Neeti

The BJP is using Z-plus security cover to lure dissenters, will Shah’s Chanakya Neeti work, asks Jyoti Malhotra

(Photo: Lijumol Joseph/ The Quint)

There’s something about the top BJP leadership’s obsession with showmanship that accompanies security detail. Only three months before Bihar went to polls in October 2015, the Narendra Modi-led government in Delhi upgraded breakaway Janata Dal (United) leader Jitin Ram Manjhi’s security to the highest Z-plus category.

By then, Manjhi had been removed as the chief minister of Bihar by his former colleague Nitish Kumar and formed his own party, the Hindustan Awam Morcha.

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Ploy of Security Cover

With the prime minister and BJP party president Amit Shah’s photos on all the posters in Bihar, in retrospect, it seems clear that the security cover of 36 security personnel, including 10 or more NSG commandos, was a not-so-subtle way of flattering former insiders like Manjhi. The BJP hoped it would help him impress the people and persuade him to corrode support from within the parent party.

Small wonder then that Samajwadi Party MP Amar Singh’s security detail was upgraded to Z-plus only a few days ago, at the exact time the battle for Uttar Pradesh between father and son, Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav, had reached its zenith. It has long been rumoured that Amit Shah has been trying to meet Amar Singh, Mulayam’s close confidante, even as this new-age ‘Mahabharata’ raged in Lucknow and Delhi.

Now it seems that the orders for upgrading Amar Singh’s security detail came from none other than the BJP president. Having convincingly won the war for his leader in the 2014 general elections, with one-fourth of seats coming from Uttar Pradesh, Shah knows that the upcoming elections in the state will have an enormous impact on the rest of Modi’s tenure.

(Infographic: Lijumol Joseph/ The Quint)

Hard Task of Finalising Tickets

In fact, the result in UP is as much a litmus test of Shah’s control over the party as it is a vote on Modi’s reign. Demonetisation blues aside, the party’s biggest problem these days is the insurrection it is facing from the rank and file over its decision to give tickets to the so-called “outsiders”.

For the last few days, buses have been disgorging supporters of various candidates in front of Amit Shah’s house as well as the party headquarters in the heart of Delhi.

The protest against the so-called “outsiders” is a real one. In Uttarakhand’s 70-member Assembly for example, the BJP has given tickets to about 20 “outsiders”. Similarly, in UP, the troika of Shah, Modi and Om Mathur, the party-in-charge of Uttar Pradesh and Modi’s childhood friend, have been having a tough time finalising tickets for its 403 seats.

Sowing Seeds of Dissension

What is even more interesting is that at least a dozen sitting MLAs in Uttarakhand have also had their security upgraded, in their case to Y status, which gives the person a cover of 11 personnel, including one or two commandos.

Just like in Manjhi’s case, the upgradation in Amar Singh’s case doesn’t seem to have really worked. Akhilesh Yadav has won the battle against his father as well as his uncle Shivpal Yadav, and has now offered his son a ticket. Yadav Jr seems to have drawn a lakshman rekha around Amar Singh, however – and to extend the Mahabharata analogy, refused to have any dealings with this Shakuni-like figure. Singh, meanwhile, has fled to London, having abandoned his attempts to divide and rule.

So what was Amit Shah’s motive in using the security upgradation as quid pro quo? Apart from the obvious attempt at sowing dissension within the Opposition’s ranks, it is clear that if Shah loses Uttar Pradesh, his own credibility within the party will be at stake.

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‘Friendly Fire’ Within the BJP

Modi’s closest aide and alter ego, all rolled into one, is easily the most powerful man in the BJP – of course, after the prime minister. Nor does he easily suffer fools. He has commandeered large parts of the media for the last couple of years because he wants to put out his side of the story. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Except for the fact that other players in the BJP, unhappy with the power play in the party which recognises little-known men and catapults them to the top – like Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and Jharkhand Chief Minister Raghubar Das – are now beginning to make a few noises, even if it still is off-the-record.

These party leaders point out that it is far easier to control those with indifferent power bases of their own, such as the above named chief ministers.

That is why the protests at Shah’s home and the BJP headquarters are important. To be sure, it would be over-dramatic to call it an insurrection. Certainly, it is not even a revolt. One media outlet has termed it as “friendly fire.”

Will Shah’s Chanakya Neeti Work in UP?

If Shah pulls off a victory in UP, he will become invincible, and all these demurrals will disappear. But if he doesn’t, some of that friendly criticism could turn against him. No one knows better than Modi’s closest aide that the PM detests a lack of meticulous preparation in which nothing is left to chance.

Certainly, Shah cannot be blamed for not being able to anticipate Akhilesh Yadav’s rediscovery of his own spine. His successful stand against his own father also indicates that he has taken a leaf out of Modi’s book – development and more development. UP’s caste credentials may continue to occupy primary space, but the new glue that sticks it all together is certainly the appeal that UP could join the rest of the country in becoming an aspirational state.

It is unclear if Yadav Jr can pull off the impossible – especially if the Congress party continues to behave as if Uttar Pradesh is a former fiefdom. Meanwhile, Amit Shah knows his reputation is on the line. Between the class warfare unleashed by his boss through demonetisation and his own attempt at invoking Chanakya Neeti, the UP election just got more interesting.

(The writer is a journalist based in New Delhi and writes on the overlap between domestic politics and foreign affairs. She can be reached @jomalhotra. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

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