IRREPRESSIBLE RAM JETHMALANI

          VS 

At the pinnacle of his career, Ram Jethmalani has nothing to lose and nothing to gain in politics. If the BJP leadership has shown some leniency in the past or in the latest action against him it is because of his age factor. He is in 90s. He has been expelled from the BJP for six years. In turn Jethmalani has said he would ‘teach BJP a lesson’.

People fear him for his outspokenness and for his acerbic tongue. Jethmalani does not hesitate in passing comments on the judges of the Supreme Court while arguing case; something that can invite contempt of the court. But he does not fear or bother. He shoots his missiles without caring for who is the person he is targeting at. Jethmalani has also made derogatory comments against Mrs. Sonia Gandhi but the Congress preferred to keep mum thinking who would throw stone at the beehive.

Ram Jethmalani is only an arm chair politician this is what he is now. But some 24-25 years back when he was comparatively young he hit the streets on a couple of occasion. V P Singh was Prime Minister. Jethmalani took umbrage of some remarks of Chandra Shekhar. He reached at the door of Chandra Shekhar with his supporters, pitched a tent outside his house in Delhi with placards and shouted slogans against Adhyakshji as Chandra Shekhar was popularly called in political circles. Guess what followed. Chandra Shekhar inquired what was going on outside his house. He was told that it was Jethmalani with his supporters who were protesting against Adhyakhsji. Chandra Shekhar maintained silence. But his supporters went outside and thrashed the protestors. Ram Jethmalani posed for the camera with his torn shirt to show how he was treated by the ‘goons’ of Chandra Shekhar.

In 2004 general elections to the Lok Sabha, Ram Jethmalani contested against former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee from Lucknow. He had scant regard for the fact that it was Atalji who got him into his cabinet as Law Minister. On the contrary he made defamatory statements against Atalji in poll campaign.

He was expelled then from the BJP but managed to stage a comeback and also got a Rajya Sabha seat as a BJP member. This time he invited trouble for himself- ‘Aa Bail Mujhe Maar’.

The Parliamentary Board of the BJP was left with no option but to act against him. Two charges made against the Party were of serious nature indeed. First, he charged Mrs. Sushma Swaraj and Mr. Arun Jaitley, leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively of opposing the appointment of Ranjit Sinha as CBI Director because ‘ the two leaders were pushing the case of Neeraj Kumar, the Commissioner of Police for the CBI Director and they have vested interests in that’.

The second charge he leveled against the leadership was that the BJP was ‘soft on Congress while dealing with the corruption charges against the UPA Government’. Mr Rajnath Singh, the BJP President took a firm stand and decided to act though Jethmalani claims that the BJP President had promised him to give an opportunity to defend his statements against the Central leaders of the Party. At the Parliamentary Board meeting of the BJP the issue of running a campaign against Nitin Gadkari when he was President of the BJP also cropped up. The Party finally decided to expel the irrepressible Ramjethmalani. The only lurking fear now is how many arrows laced with poison comes out of the Jethmalani’s quiver to hit the BJP and its leaders.

~ R. K. SINHA