(Ashok Malik is a columnist and writer living in Delhi)Released on Sunday, April 28, is the BJP film and dossier on Robert Vadra's land deals revelatory or is it merely re-packaging? There are two new points in the dossier. First, it has long been insisted upon by Congress spokespersons that even if Vadra's transactions are dubious, they concern private individuals and no legal case can be made out. The BJP claims this is not so, and has cited specific clauses and sections of the law that it says can be invoked.
Second, the BJP is now openly alleging a Congress cover-up. The case of Chhatar Singh, the Haryana cadre civil servant who it is believed exonerated Vadra, is being mentioned. Singh was subsequently named a member of the Union Public Service Commission by the UPA government.
A caveat needs to be entered here. Vadra's land purchases concern primarily Haryana and Rajasthan. In the latter, the BJP has been in power since December 2013. For its dossier to gain credibility, the party will have to very quickly come out with a status report as to the findings, if any, by the new government in Jaipur.
What does the Vadra affair mean in the context of the election campaign? For BJP supporters, it has come as a shot in the arm and is being interpreted as confirmation that Narendra Modi is the outsider determined to break the clubby, cross-party nexus in Delhi. With three rounds - and 194 seats - to go, reinforcing this political positioning cannot but be useful.
The BJP has also negated the perception that its campaign was tiring and becoming complacent, and that senior party politicians were already discussing cabinet posts. The mocking of Vadra as "Damad Shree" - an epithet that will no doubt be played up on social media in the coming days - and the attempt to put Rahul and Sonia Gandhi on the defensive has added a new energy to the last lap.
In a long, nine-phase election, parties inevitably look to creating blockbuster events before key phases to ensure voter interest is sustained and turnout stays high. The BJP hopes the "Damad Shree" episode will serve it on April 30 and to some degree May 7. Many states and seats going to polls on these dates see contests between the BJP and Congress. In the May 12 phase, on the other hand, the Congress is not quite in the game.
As of now, only Priyanka Gandhi has defended her husband; her mother and brother have remained silent. While this will no doubt be redressed soon and the Congress will defend Vadra forcefully, some in the ruling party are clearly uncomfortable with the First Son-in-Law. His domestic land transactions and the accusations of insider information arbitrage - buying farmland where he knew economic projects would be announced - are recognised as an Achilles' heel.
That apart, there have been reports in political circles in Delhi of Vadra's apparently unexplained investments in Singapore and London, and his business relationship with a Chinese airline company that has previously - and independently of Vadra - been charged with money laundering. If even a routine investigation is started into all this by a new government, Congress spokespersons could be at sixes and sevens.
For the BJP, the challenge is to nuance the war of words with Priyanka. It is true that the Vadra issue escalated after Priyanka rushed to defend her husband and emphasised he had done nothing wrong. This is what she seems to have repeated, with stronger, harsher language, after the BJP media conference. Is she a wife standing by her husband? Is she a would-be politician going on the offensive and trying to anticipate the one controversy that could trouble her from the moment she enters formal politics? Nobody is sure.
In 2014, however, the BJP's battle is against the UPA government and the Congress led by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. While there is little public sympathy for Vadra, there is, at the same time, no evidence of mass hostility to Priyanka. She is seen as outside the electoral fray, at least for the time being. As such, the BJP may end up treating her with kid gloves in the coming fortnight, while assailing her mother, brother and husband.
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