What To Expect From Swamy, BJP’s Politically Incorrect MP

Subramanian Swamy, the maverick politician who takes the oath as a member of the Rajya Sabha tomorrow (26 April), is likely to shake things up in this Club of Elders. Reason: he is not only articulate, but also a social media powerhouse. In today’s media saturated world, the social media often dictates the agenda.

With a Twitter following of nearly 2.57 million as of Monday (Twitter handle - @Swamy39), his flock is five times as large as Rahul Gandhi (@Officeof RG - 574k), one of his pet targets of attack. Few politicians outside the power structure, barring possibly Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) with 4.12 million), have his kind of following on social media. Not even BJP president Amit Shah (@AmitShah), with 1.94 million followers, is that popular.

Political correctness has no meaning for Swamy. Most of his die hard loyalists like him precisely because of his ‘take no prisoners’ style of tweeting and speaking. If Swamy’s twitter followers were all in one Lok Sabha constituency, he would be clearly electable.

So what will Swamy’s entry into the Upper House portend? It is more than likely that he will not only speak regularly and get under Congress members’ skins, but also promote private members’ bills, some of them controversial. Here is what we think he could try his hand at.

#1: Sponsor a law to force the state to quit running temples, or taking them over.

#2: Pilot a private members’ bill to remove the special protections for minorities and their institutions, and make the law applicable to all people , majority and minority.

#3: Start a parliamentary discussion on evolving a uniform civil code , a process that could be kickstarted if the Supreme Court itself bans triple talaq.

#4: Initiative discussions on Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, especially their controversial takeover of the property laden National Herald, or Rahul Gandhi’s alleged British citizenship. He is likely to give them hell, as he is has done on social media.

#5: Force discussions on illegal immigration from Bangladesh, and also speeding up citizenship to Hindu refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

He could be doing more, but as a BJP nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, the BJP will be both chuffed and embarrassed by his outspokenness.