Nudged out of limelight, a quiet exit for Arjun
The lion, in his winter, had been forgotten. Pushed to the fringes, the once powerful figure in Congress politics, former Central minister and Madhya Pradesh chief minister died in relative anonymity on Friday. And this wasn’t only due to his failing health as the man known for his shrewdness and political acumen was gradually eased out of the political limelight by his party.
The slide into oblivion in the last two years — he was a minister in UPA-I, but was dropped from UPA-II — may not have been easy for a man who had also held the posts of governor of Punjab during the height of militancy as well as communications minister at the Centre. Indeed, it was during his tenure as Punjab governor that the important Rajiv-Longowal accord was also signed.
Besides the soft-spoken and yet forceful Thakur from Madhya Pradesh also held important posts within his party, among them president of the Congress working committee (CWC). His last stint at the Centre was as the Union minister for human resource development.
His health already failing, he was unable to regularly attend office. But this didn’t deter him from springing the caste-based quota surprise on the government in 2006 by introducing reservations for backward classes in institutions of higher education.
The wily politician that he was, Arjun Singh had even tried to pitch his hat in the ring for Prime Ministership. It was in 1991, soon after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination — he was close to him — that he became a contender for the Prime Minister’s post. Sadly, the rivalry between him and Sharad Pawar, who was then with the Congress, saw P.V. Narasimha Rao becoming the PM instead and in Madhya Pradesh, his protégé Digvijay Singh became the chief minister.
Later in 1992, soon after the demolition of Babri Masjid, Singh tried to displace Rao as the PM but the latter found backing from the Congress.
Post new comment