Over a month ago, senior BJP leader L.K. Advani told a visiting Gujarat politician that he would like to contest the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. If all goes according to the plan, at 91, he is likely to be the oldest candidate to be part of the electoral campaign. But the hectic election campaign schedule does take a toll on health. And for this reason, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, 66, declared that she won't contest the next general elections.
Her surprise admission, but not entirely unexpected, during the election campaign in Madhya Pradesh caught many off the guard. Swaraj, within a few hours, clarified that she was not retiring from active politics. “...I am not retiring from politics. It is just that I am not contesting the next Lok Sabha election due to my health issues,” Swaraj said on Twitter. Her explanation put to rest the likely multiple readings to her statement. Swaraj has been part of those senior leaders' camp who, after the advent of Modi and Shah in Delhi, has kept a low profile.
Swaraj had a kidney transplant in 2016 and she has been actively attending office and even undertaking foreign tours as part of her diplomatic engagements. However, she had kept away from election campaigning.
At the end of her term as Lok Sabha member, the route of entering the upper house would still be wide open. She had been a member of the Rajya Sabha thrice in the past.
Interestingly, her decision to stay away from the Lok Sabha race has been most appreciated by her husband, Swaraj Kaushal, who jokingly said that even Milkha Singh stopped running.
“This marathon has been on since 1977 – that is 41 years. You have contested 11 direct elections. In fact, you contested all elections held since 1977 except twice, when party did not allow you to contest...,” Kaushal said on Twitter.
Known for her oratorical skills, Swaraj has been one of the best known politicians to emerge from the BJP. As a women politician, she had carved her own identity as she handled diverse administrative and political assignments.
Though her name figures in the party’s star campaigners' list in the current round of assembly elections, she may refrain from addressing many rallies.
Ironically, Sushma may not be the only one who would stay away from electoral politics, but even her “rival”. There is a buzz that Sonia Gandhi may not contest the next Lok Sabha elections owing to her health.
When Sonia had decided to contest her first Lok Sabha election in 1999 from Bellary, Sushma was fielded by the BJP to challenge her. It was the most high profile election as the battle was between a 'foreign bahu' and 'bhartiya beti'. Sonia won the elections. Sushma again challenged Sonia in 2004, when there was a possibility of the latter becoming the prime minister, saying she would shave her head and wear a white sari if the Congress leader won the polls and that she would not let a foreign origin person sit at the top post.
The 2019 elections may witness a lot more veteran politicians staying away from polls as campaigns are becoming even more hectic every five years.
