Bachchan-Congress war

Neerja Chowdhury
First Published : 30 Mar 2010 12:25:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 30 Mar 2010 12:41:22 AM IST

The Amitabh Bachchan-Congress war has heated up again and there can be three reasons for it. The controversy was kicked off with the presence of Bachchan on the dais along with Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan at the inaugural of the Bandra-Worli sea link. The CM came under attack from his own partymen for sitting next to the brand ambassador for Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. Chavan, who was slated to share the stage a few days later with Bachchan at a literary function in Pune, cried off and it was extraordinary that the chief minister should change his programme. Then came the ‘blacking out’ of the audio visual of Abhishek Bachchan, who was WWF’s official ambassador for Earth Hour this year.

To say that all this is happening because of the feud between the once close Gandhis and the Bachchans does not offer an explanation which makes political sense, for their feud goes back two decades. There has been curiosity and speculation in the political circles about the reasons for these differences but neither side has spoken about them.

Sonia Gandhi had lived with the Bachchans in the days before she got married to Rajiv. On the other side, Indira Gandhi, then prime minister, had specially flown down to Mumbai to enquire after an ailing Amitabh at the Breach Candy Hospital after he was seriously injured during the shooting of Coolie. Amitabh’s election from Allahabad and his stint in politics was courtesy Rajiv Gandhi.

When Amitabh Bachchan’s father had died, Rahul Gandhi had gone to commiserate with the grieving family. Last week the more outspoken of the Bachchans, Jaya Bachchan, when asked about the differences between the first family of Indian politics and the first family of Indian cinema, had refused to comment saying it was a personal matter.

In fact, she had ticked off a young reporter who posed a query (at the Indian Women’s Press Corp) about the Congress president, referring to her as “Sonia.” Jaya Bachchan told her to be more respectful as she was not only talking about an older person but the head of a party.

Both families have been circumspect and dignified in their differences. Whatever be the Gandhis’ view of the Bachchans today, they have not uttered a word against them publicly. Initially it had seemed — and this could be explanation one — that Amitabh Bachchan became a political football in the intra-Congress and the Congress-NCP tug-of-war in Maharashtra. It was the Mumbai Congress Committee chief Kripa Shankar Singh, known to be unhappy at not having been taken into the State Cabinet — who led the charge against the chief minister for sharing the dais with Bachchan because of his ambassadorship for Narendra Modi’s Gujarat. It seemed that Congressmen, aware of the differences between the Gandhi family and the Bachchans, were trying to curry favour with the first family, whether or not the family wanted such a display of ‘loyalty’.

There are several Congress leaders who would like to embarrass the Maharashtra chief minister, particularly after the way Ashok Chavan handled Rahul Gandhi’s tour through Mumbai in the face of Shiv Sena’s threats. Chavan had also earned brownie points with the party high command by cocking a snook at the Sena and ensuring the successful screening in Mumbai of Shah Rukh Khan’s My Name is Khan.

There was also the NCP angle to the controversy. There are some in the Congress who believe that Bachchan was invited by the NCP minister in order to embarrass the CM. Tension has been brewing between the CM and the NCP on a host of issues, with Chhagan Bhujbal on the one hand and Ajit Pawar on the other. There was reportedly an open exchange between Ashok Chavan and Ajit Pawar in a Cabinet meeting recently, when Chavan had asserted that it was he who was the CM and if the NCP was threatening to quit, they could talk to their leaders.

The controversy involving Amitabh Bachchan was however not limited to Maharashtra and was followed up by the ‘blackout’ of his son Abhishek’s clip, viewed as being too much of a coincidence. Of course, it is possible that Congressmen in Delhi followed the lead given by their Maharashtra counterparts in what could be termed as a bandwagon effect, a bhed chaal, bending over backwards to do something that might go down well with the party leadership. Or to play it safe and not be seen near the Bachchans, lest it create trouble. There was the instance of a Congress minister calling off his TV appearance last week because Bachchan was going to be on the programme and the minister had to think of his renomination to the Rajya Sabha. This could be explanation two.

The third explanation is that though the Gandhi-Bachchan differences are not new, the new element in the picture is Amitabh’s association with Narendra Modi. The Congress may not approve of Modi’s politics, nor large sections of Indians, and an enquiry is going on against the Gujarat Chief Minister.

Would, for instance, the prime minister, if he visits Gujarat, refuse to share the dais with Narendra Modi — Bachchan is one removed from Modi — who will be required to receive him as CM, as part of a federal principle of governance? By that token the prime minister would have to boycott many in the opposition.

Is the Congress hype against the Bachchans therefore coming not from the ‘feud’ but from somewhere else? And is it aimed at preventing Amitabh Bachchan from going with the BJP?

The Bachchans’ bonhomie with the Samajwadi Party is ending, with the exit of Amar Singh. In the last days, Amitabh Bachchan has been defending himself personally, something that Amar Singh used to do for him in the past.

SP MP Jaya Bachchan’s Rajya Sabha term also comes to an end in early July. It was Amar Singh who had brought her into active politics. The buzz in the SP circles is that Mulayam Singh Yadav may be wary of repeating Jaya Bachchan in the upper house not only because of her Amar Singh connection but also for fear of sending the wrong signal to the Muslim community, whose support he is desperately trying to retain in UP, given Amitabh’s espousal of Modi’s Gujarat.

On the other hand, the BJP has adopted Bachchan. It has also come to his rescue, with Narendra Modi charging his opponents of being ‘Taliban’, and V K Malhotra speaking up for him. Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray has written in his favour. The Congress may want to prevent this tie-up from taking place.

neerja_chowdhury@yahoo.com

About the author:

Neerja Chowdhury is Political Editor, The New Indian Express