Master-strategist, Ruthless, Ambitious- the Indian media's coverage of Amit Shah

The News Minute| June 9, 2014| 1.50 pm ISTIt is official, Modi’s most trusted lieutenant, Amit Shah is now the man who will lead the Bharatiya Janata Party. From handling 10 portfolios in the Modi- Gujarat government to being hailed as the master strategist who clinched Uttar Pradesh for the BJP in 2014, Amit Shah has quite a chequered past. Over the years, and especially in the last two years, much has been written about Amit Shah- who has often been called as the modern day Chanakya by the media.Born into a business family, Shah was a biochemistry graduate who began his political days as an RSS Swayamsevak, and met Narendra Modi in the early 1980s. He joined the BJP in 1986. The Economic Times chronicles how Modi and Amit Shah’s bond dates back to many years. The paper says it was Narendra Modi who convinced then Gujarat CM Keshubhai Patel to appoint Shah chairman of Gujarat State Finance Corporation in 1995. Later when Modi was banished from the state a a few years later, it was Amit Shah who kept a vigil on the Gujarat BJP and Keshubhai Patel for Modi.The DNA in a report says that, “It was Shah’s high handed approach and tactical mindset, which was considered antagonistic to the Patel community that got him to oust then Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel from power in 2002.”In 2002, Amit Shah became the youngest minister in Modi’s cabinet. During the twelve year old reign, Amit Shah has handled ten portfolios, and was also the man handling Modi’s affairs. DNA goes on to say that, “Modi relied heavily on Shah, garnering support for him, when the then Minister of Home and Modi’s rival Haren Pandya refused to vacate his Ellis Bridge seat.”Twenty two fake encounter deaths in Gujarat from 2002 to 2006, when Amit Shah was Home Minister is under various stages of investigation. Shah was arrested and formally accused in three of these cases- Sohrabbuddin, Tulsi Prajapati and Ishrat Jehan case. While the CBI has said they have no prosecutable evidence against Amit Shah in the Ishrat case, he has been named an accused in the other two cases.Amit Shah also has the reputation of being cold-blooded towards his opponents. The Caravan in its profile of Amit Shah notes that,”Sanjay Joshi, an RSS pracharak who had orchestrated Patel’s 1998 election victory, was booted out of the state and sent to Delhi, just as Modi had been five years before. Patel, Vaghela and Suresh Mehta all left the party at various points. Haren Pandya, at one time a plausible political rival to Modi, was shot dead in his car in 2003; the crime remains unsolved.”Though till 2010, Shah was largely based out of Gujarat, it was in 2010 when he faced a two-year banishment from Gujarat by the Supreme Court in the Sohrabuddin fake encounter case that Shah looked beyond his state. The Mint in its articles quotes a person close to Amit Shah “This is when he utilised his time and channelized his energies positively by making several visits to Uttar Pradesh to understand the ground level situation and met experts in Delhi to plan for the 2014 elections.”It was the stupendous victory in Uttar Pradesh that seems to have cemented Shah’s position in the BJP, a man who has now risen to become the No. 2DNA further says Amit Shah’s elevation in the BJP’s top leadership is not very surprising. “It follows the same pattern as his rise from an RSS pracharak to becoming second in command in the Modi dispensation in Gujarat. Both Shah and his mentor ran Gujarat with a firm hand since 2003, when he was inducted as the youngest minister in his cabinet.”Caravan also says that the popular assumption that Shah is just a lowly lieutenant to the conquering general, that he harbours no ambitions of his own, is also misleading.Modi and Amit Shah have taken over reins of government and the BJP. While there are many watching the duo’s moves with skepticism, even dread, the supporters are celebrating the elevation of the modern day Chanakya.