The RSS which catapulted Jagdeep Dhankar to national prominence after 21 years of hibernation could not come to his rescue when BJP higher ups decided to seek his resignation, points out Prakash Bhandari.
It was coincidence that Parliament was presided over by two natives of Rajasthan.
While Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar was chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Om Birla, the two-term BJP Lok Sabha MP from Kota, was the Lok Sabha Speaker.
The agony of the unceremonial exit as Vice President of the world's largest democracy will haunt Dhankhar for long as he could return to mainstream politics after 21 years of political hibernation.
He nursed an ambition to become the country's next President.
Before he was appointed West Bengal governor by the Modi dispensation, Dhankar served as a minister in then prime minister Chandra Shekhar's government. He later joined the Congress and served a term as a member of the Rajasthan assembly.
"It was Tau Devi Lal, who was Dhankhar's mentor," recalls Sooraj Khatri, a former Pradesh Congress secretary. "Devi Lal was impressed by the young lawyer's communication skills, his knowledge about the Constitution and his skills to communicate in English."
"He was given the Janata Dal ticket to contest from the Jat dominated Jhunjhunu seat for the 1989 Lok Sabha election," adds Khatri.
"He handled Tau's media and became popular with mediapersons. However, when the V P Singh government lost power, he ditched Devi Lal to support Chandra Shekhar and later joined the Congress."
He lost the 1991 Lok Sabha election to the BJP from the Ajmer constituency, but served one term as a Congress MLA, .
"As a Congress MLA from 1993, he was always at loggerheads with the Congress leadership," recalls Khatri. "When he was suspended from the Rajasthan assembly by the Speaker, he could not even muster the support of Congress MLAs for withdrawal of the suspension."
"He was a loner in the Congress and looked for an opportunity to join the BJP. He was inducted in the BJP in 2003, but Vasundhara Raje, who was a powerful chief minister, did not encourage Dhankhar and never nominated him to contest an election on a BJP ticket."
"Disillusioned by politics, Dhankhar took his job as lawyer more seriously," remembers Khatri. "He served as president of the Rajasthan Bar Council and was designated as a senior lawyer in 1990. He practised in the Supreme Court, primarily in the fields of coal, steel, mining and international commercial arbitration."
In the BJP, Dhankhar advised the party on various Constitutional issues, but the party did not favour him with a nomination to the Rajya Sabha nor found him worthy of contesting Lok Sabha elections.
Dhankhar then established contacts with the RSS leadership and was supported by two RSS functionaries, Indresh Kumar and Kamlesh Singh.
Dhankar was one of Indresh Kumar's lawyers when the RSS leader was named as an accused in the 2010 Ajmer bomb blast case.
The RSS lobbied for Dhankhar when the Modi government was looking for a governor for West Bengal. Indresh Kumar and Kamlesh Singh suggested Dhankar's name to Home Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah.
It was argued that Dhankar was well-versed with Constitutional law and would be able to check West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who was at loggerheads with the Centre.
He consistently picked up cudgels with Banerjee who, after several skirmishes, insisted that the Centre recall the governor.
When Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's name was floated as M Venkaiah Naidu's successor as vice president, the RSS suggested Dhankhar.
The BJP leadership believed Dhankhar's elevation would give the party electoral benefits in the Jat belts of Haryana, Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh.
Dhankhar is from the Jat community and the percentage of Jats in Haryana and Rajasthan is above 12 percent of the population in those states.
But after becoming the country's Vice President, Dhankhar could not muster the support of his community in his home state Rajasthan, Haryana or in western Uttar Pradesh.
Jat leaders would highlight the fact that Dhankhar had ditched Devi Lal -- a towering figure in the community -- in 1990.
During the 2023 assembly election campaign in Rajasthan, Dhankhar made several visits to the state, leading then Congress chief minister Ashok Gehlot to remark that the vice president was campaigning for the BJP.
The RSS which catapulted Dhankhar to national prominence after 21 years in hibernation could not come to his rescue when BJP higher ups decided on Monday to seek his resignation as vice president.
Dhankhar was not even given time to seek RSS help and thus ended his dream to become President of the country!
Dhankhar's wife Dr Sudesh Dhankhar has been his constant guide and he has always trusted her intellect.
The couple suffered the tragedy of losing their only son who as a student of the elite Mayo College died of a mysterious disease.
As it is unlikely that he will return to the Supreme Court having held the second most prominent position in the country, the Dhankhar couple will spend the rest of their days with their daughter Kamna and son-in-law Kartikeya Vajpayee.
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff
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