Patil in Srinagar last month. (File picture)

Sept. 15: Deep inside, Shivraj Patil is hurt, so what if it doesn’t show through the sheen of his suits?

The Union home minister is pained and baffled by the BJP demand for his head just because he loves to be at his best in public, dressed impeccably whatever the occasion, changing three times a day if necessary.

His problem is, the BJP can see only the faultless crease on his kurta and not the pain inside. The Opposition party says Patil’s excessive attention to his dress on Saturday was unseemly for a home minister on a day blasts had killed innocent people on the capital’s streets.

BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad today demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sack his home minister immediately. Prasad had just one question for Patil: “What is more important, the lives of people or your sartorial elegance?”

On Saturday, Patil had attended a lengthy Congress Working Committee meeting in a cream-coloured bandhgala. By the time he reached home and picked up a fresh bandhgala — a black one — the news of the blasts was all over TV screens.

A round of the explosion sites followed. A tired and worried Patil returned home and changed into a spotless white suit to accompany Sonia Gandhi to a city hospital.

Since then, the local media has ripped into Patil, leaving him “depressed”, an aide said.

The home minister’s associates say Patil has always taken extreme care over his appearance since he was an adolescent of 14, and changed each time he stepped out of home. So on Saturday, he was merely following the routine of a lifetime.

“It’s just a habit. Some like to colour their hair, some can’t stop combing it. Some keep stroking their chin. If he had not changed into different suits, would the gravity of the situation have lessened?” asked a close associate.

Image consultants and psychologists suggested Patil’s repeated change of clothes on Saturday may have been an effort to gain extra self-confidence at a difficult time.

“People might keep changing their dress to feel more confident to deal with specific situations,” said Liz Scott, UK-based image consultant who helps people pick the right sets of clothes suited to their personality and occasions.

“The right kind of clothes can improve self-esteem; clothes can transform the way people feel about themselves.”

Some psychologists believe frequent changes in dress may betray insecurity and lack of confidence, particularly during challenging moments. Rajat Mitra, consultant psychologist in New Delhi, said: “A change of clothes is a way to take charge, to show you’re still in control.”

Which is precisely what the home minister is not, his critics say, and that compounds his gaffe. Patil has been under fire from every direction for bungling in Jammu and Kashmir and inept handling of terrorist and Maoist strikes and the attacks on Christians in Orissa.

The former Lok Sabha Speaker’s supporters, however, cite a long list of his cabinet colleagues who they claim are equally fussy about their appearance.

Arjun Singh is known to have turned down requests from cabinet colleagues for meetings because he was unwell. Although no official reason was ever assigned, many in the Congress claim it had to do with Arjun’s obsession about looking “fit and fine”.

Another Union minister, who is constantly travelling abroad, is known to dye his hair jet black in spite of having entered the mid-60s.

When Natwar Singh was in the cabinet, he was always seen in spotless white with a red handkerchief peeping out of his breast pocket. Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Praful Patel, too, bow to no one when it comes to sartorial taste.

Patil’s cabinet and party colleagues, however, argue that the home minister’s is an extreme case: he keeps changing even in hours of grief and before condolence meetings.

A source recalled that when Patil was Lok Sabha Speaker, one of his close associates passed away. Patil turned up at the hospital at 5am, dressed as impressively as ever.

A few hours later, after the body had been brought home, the Speaker turned up wearing a different suit. He was at the cremation ground too — in a third set of clothes.

Even Congress leaders sympathetic to Patil felt Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan had erred in handing him a portfolio traditionally reserved for a “number two” in the government.

Whenever exceptions were made, the sources said, the ministers had been provided with energetic ministers of state. During the Emergency, when K. Brahmanand Reddy was cabinet minister, the assertive Om Mehta used to call the shots.

But Patil has been saddled with juniors like Sriprakash Jaiswal and Shakil Ahmad, who are happier making statements than acting.