NEW DELHI : Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Sunday broke his silence on the sordid Mahajan-Moitra episode of June 2 indicating that he wanted to come to the aid of the embattled Mahajan family hit by a double tragedy within a month.

Referring to Rahul Mahajan, the son of deceased BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan, who has hovered between life and death in Delhi's Apollo Hospital for two days, Mr. Vajpayee reportedly said: "Young people do make mistakes. We will help him take the right path." Mr. Vajpayee made his comments to a television channel in Manali where he is holidaying.

Two views

With Mr. Vajpayee's comments clearly two views have emerged in the party. One was articulated by general secretary Sushma Swaraj on Saturday that the suspected drugs and alcohol combination that resulted in the death of Bibek Moitra, who had been personal secretary to Pramod Mahajan since 1995, and had seriously threatened the life of Mahajan's son, Rahul, was the personal tragedy of the Mahajan family and "everything should not be linked to the party".

Significantly, Ms. Swaraj had said this after a meeting of party leaders at the residence of Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani, suggesting that this was the Advani view on how the problem should be tackled: BJP should distance itself from the episode.

Mr. Vajpayee's comments represent the other view: that the party should not be seen to have deserted the family of a leader who had served it for nearly three decades.

The comments of Mr. Vajpayee and Ms. Swaraj are being seen as two opposing viewpoints, and two different ways to handle the crisis.

A minority view

There is another, and as yet a minority view that the kind of culture that allowed "shady characters" easy access to powerful politicians in the party "should never have been allowed".

It is voiced by saner voices in the party, and the hope is that this voice may now be heard. It was said that the episode — it has not yet become clear whether it was a case of drugs overdose or even poison being administered — has come as a "shock therapy" for the party.

It was pointed out that the BJP had virtually decided to give party membership to a politician who has many criminal cases registered against him.

That was stopped after several party leaders protested.

All kinds of shady characters were given easy and permanent access to very senior party leaders.

That was bound to backfire some day. The happenings in the Mahajan house at 7 Safdarjung Road on the night of June 1 and 2, it is being hoped, will make some party leaders sit up and take note of the saner voices.

Munde for restraint

There is also the view expressed most prominently by Maharashtra leader Gopinath Munde that at least the party should refrain from jumping to conclusions before the police complete its investigations. "Even if someone is used to taking drugs, would they be taking them in front of unknown characters?"

This question was posed by one senior party leader, who also added: "If both Moitra and Rahul were regular drug abusers, as alleged by some, would they both be affected by an overdose? That was a highly unlikely coincidence unless something else was mixed in the drug supplied, and if that was the case, some mischief was intended."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail