Before PM, Amit Shah had ticked off Swamy

NEW DELHI: It was at the instructions of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) central leadership that an event commemorating the anniversary of the Emergency in Mumbai on Sunday was cancelled. Party Rajya Sabha memberSubramanian Swamy was to be the chief guest at the event organized by the BJP’s Maharashtra unit. The central leadership had also nixed a similar plan by its Tamil Nadu unit to host Swamy for a speech on the Emergency.

Middle rung party leaders had for the past couple of days tried to convey to the media that the leadership disapproved of Swamy’s comments. However, they were also pointing out that only Prime Minister Narendra Modiand party president Amit Shah could make Swamy fall in line.

Before the PM ticked off Swamy in his interview to a private news channel that was broadcasted on Monday, the BJP leadership, led by president Shah, had got party units in Mumbai and Chennai to cancel events featuring Swamy. One senior leader, who has until now been a fervent supporter of Swamy, was also spoken to and asked to convey to Swamy the message that he should restrain his attacks. The Mumbai event to mark the 41st anniversary of the Emergency was to take place at a private college in South Mumbai. Swamy was to be the main speaker on the topic “Emergency: Lessons for the Future”. Maharashtra BJP chief Raosaheb Danve and Mumbai city president Ashish Shelar and other leaders had been invited to the event. On Sunday, local BJP sources had attributed the cancellation of the programme to Swamy’s inability to reach the city due to unavoidable circumstances. However, party sources in New Delhi today said that the event in Mumbai as well another one in Chennai were asked to be cancelled by the central leadership. Sources said it was a message to Swamy that his attacks on Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian and other finance ministry officials, as well as disparaging remarks on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, were not welcome.–BS