Subramanian Swamy: The man who gets to have the last laugh

Subramanian Swamy is an enigma, not only for his fans and detractors, but probably to his party leaders as well.

Of late, the mercurial Swamy has been known for trading guns with high profile political leaders when he is not busy rabble-rousing on social media. A revered figure to his fans and despised by his detractors, Swamy remains undaunted in his political sojourn. Along the way, he has made casualties out of many a high profile person. 

Saturday, September 27 was another red letter day in Swamy's life as a political activist when Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalithaa was sentenced to four years' imprisonment in the disproportionate assets case, the complaint for which was lodged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP 18 years ago. 

But this is not the first time a chief minister has had to resign because of Swamy's crusade. Way back in 1988, Swamy released a letter alleging that a former intelligence chief had asked the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) to tap the phones of many businessmen and politicians. In the resulting controversy,  Karnataka Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde had to resign. 

That was a long while ago, but the activist gene in Swamy has refused to die down. He effectively brought the 2G scam to public notice by writing letters to the prime minister. Swamy filed a case in the Supreme Court which lead to a CBI investigation in the matter and the reverberations of the probe were felt long and wide. 

The most unique thing about Swamy is he is not intimidated by the reputation or stature of his political opponents. In fact, the more fancied his adversaries have been, Swamy has traded charges with them with more gusto. He has also taken on P Chidambaram, albeit unsuccessfully, for his alleged involvement in the 2G scam. There have been cases where he has gone completely off the mark, like in the case of EVM tampering. But the occasional errors have not wavered him. Rather, they have further emboldened him to go after leaders perched in high places. 

Swamy has dared to rush in where even angels have feared to tread, and he is no fool, rather an astute economist. He has even attacked the Gandhis and embarrassed Sonia and Rahul in the National Herald case. Swamy may have been denied a ministership or a plum position in the Modi administration, but that has hardly daunted him. With his legion of fans, mostly from the extreme right, Swamy soldiers on, taking down one target at a time.

Bold and not so politically correct, Swamy can support Israel and mercilessly bash Tamil politicians. Many don't take him seriously, especially for his rant against the Gandhis. But as Swamy has shown time and again, he has the capability to surprise people in unpleasant ways even by completely remaining within legal parameters. Love him or hate him, you certainly cannot ignore Subramanian Swamy.