Need to reinvent BJP
by Sandhya Jain on 01 Sep 2009 8 Comments

If anything has changed in the BJP, it is that after five years of sustained denial from the defeat of 2004 to the debacle of 2009, the party has finally admitted it is in crisis. This breaks the mental blockade that vetoed honest assessment of poor performance and barred corrective measures.


The high command remained frozen in status quo, with RSS-backed president Rajnath Singh failing to break into the charmed circle of Advani acolytes. He remained the classic outsider, spurned at every turn, and will doubtless feel relieved when expected purges sweep the top leadership away, in a manner reminiscent of the late 1970s when the Jana Sangh leadership of Nanaji Deshmukh & Co. walked into oblivion, making way for the rise of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani. 


The present crisis boils down to L.K. Advani remaining unreconciled to his failure to become Prime Minister in 2004 and 2009, and unable to continue after senior members of his own coterie descended to a no-holds-barred attack on him. As Advani’s exit is certain, some points are in order.


Advani, his friends and foes will have to leave the judgment of his role in public life to history which, as the successive Jinnah episodes demonstrate, is open to revision and perversion. Hanging on to the office of Leader of the Opposition after his public life is effectively over is neither edifying nor useful. His autobiography proved more deleterious than helpful to his image; the needless controversy over Kandahar hostages has damaged him irreparably.


The anxiety to ensure succession by a crony further undermined his credibility as BJP is an ideology-driven party with little patience with personality cults. The fact that several prima donnas have been tolerated, even pampered, is something BJP and RSS will have to rectify. Declining performance in bye-elections, including municipal and cooperative elections, have chastened Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has quit the race for central leadership. But despite shoddy performance in the State Assembly and recent Parliamentary elections, former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje has tormented the party on the issue of stepping down.


A new ‘gang of four’ is now the cynosure of public attention. Unmindful of the Sarsanghachalak’s August 18 interview to Times Now, suggesting BJP look beyond four ‘approved’ names, Messrs Arun Jaitly, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, and Ananth Kumar (replacing Modi), jointly met Mr. Mohan Bhagwat to press their suit. They emerged smiling before media cameras, followed by blatant ‘plants’ about how all leadership positions were being apportioned among them, to the utter surprise of the RSS and the BJP!


Barely half a day later, Venkaiah Naidu muttered denials about the purported ‘coup,’ blaming media invention (what else?); Advani made his way to Keshav Kunj to finalise his retreat strategy. The suspense in the BJP is truly awful. Mr. Bhagwat said he could suggest 75 candidates for top party positions; there was never a better time to reinvent the party.


RSS knows Arun Jaitly, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, and Ananth Kumar are unsuited for BJP leadership as none is a mass leader or vote-catcher. Worse, each is perceived as distant from, if not inimical to, the Hindu ethos. They are seen as folk who rose in the hierarchy on account of patronage and factional affiliation, rather than merit and hard work. Their parliamentary performance has been mediocre, no matter how self-congratulatory their self-perception. Imposition of any one of them would aggravate the BJP’s problems as the rank and file would refuse to cooperate with them. This caused the 2009 defeat in no small way, and scuttled Mr. Advani’s plans for a new yatra to reconnect with the people.  


The ball is now in the court of the RSS whose chief, on August 18 and again on August 28, directed the BJP to recover from the ‘jolt’ of the recent elections, stop the infighting, and quickly settle the leadership issue. He hinted at ideological deviation when he said the RSS remained committed to the construction of the Ram mandir at Ayodhya.


In this connection, the new RSS chief must appreciate that ordinary Hindus never acquiesced in the RSS-BJP accord to sacrifice the three core issues of Ram Mandir, Art. 370, and the uniform civil code, for the sake of power in New Delhi. Many Hindus have asked me why BJP could not sit in opposition for another five or ten years; they ask why the party failed on so many other fronts, most notably terrorism, the plight of Kashmiri Hindus, and correction of the distorted historical narrative.    


The Ram Janmabhoomi movement gifted Advani the unique opportunity to bring the Hindu idiom to the public arena, and advance Hindu consciousness on a national scale. It was simultaneously a civilisational and sub-continental project; responsibility for its fizzling out will have to be apportioned among the leading lights of the Sangh Parivar, though Advani’s personal conduct following the triumphant demolition of the Babri superstructure was less than edifying. The then RSS chief Balasaheb Deoras singularly failed to address Hindu sentiment that fateful day.


Hindu society, however, did not disown the BJP, and the party was in office from 1998 to 2004. Its tenure was less than satisfactory. Poor understanding of the nature of contemporary jihad and the training, arming and funding of jihadis for Western geo-strategic ends, coupled with a foolishly romantic attitude towards America and Israel, intensified jihadi assaults on India. These climaxed in the attack on the Jammu & Kashmir Assembly in Srinagar and Parliament in Delhi; which was succeeded by an ill-considered opening to Pakistan (at US prodding) and the utterly scandalous Agra Summit, where Gen. Musharraf thought he was going to be gifted the Kashmir Valley!


Currently Washington is encouraging an imploding Pakistan to foment trouble in Kashmir because it plans to further dismember the Islamic Republic. An independent Baluchistan will help America control Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, and provide a base to confront Russia in Central Asia. America also wants an excuse to get a base near Tibet to overlook China.


BJP is asleep to these grim threats at a time when the UPA is making dangerous compromises with Pakistan, a western stooge or non-NATO ally in Washington terminology. The sooner a new leadership speaks for Akhand Bharat, the better. 


The author is Editor, www.vijayvaani.com

User Comments Post a Comment
It doesn't look like BJP leaders will ever come to their senses. What's the future of this party? Who will emerge as an undisputel leader, if at all? India, under UPA rule, will surely disintegrate in the next 5 to 6 years. A Chinese attack also seems to be imminent.
Desi
September 01, 2009
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First the RSS leaders have to spell why they went public in announcing that they were not happy with Kandahar action. Telling that they have nothing to do with politics, and peeping their big nose ends up loosing credibility. Why Sarsanghachalak has to spend 4 days talking to BJP people, if Sangh has nothing to do with Politics?
Nagaraj
September 01, 2009
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What BJP really requires if it wants to be a party of Hindus and for protecting Sanatana Dharma, are not politicians and political leaders who think in terms of coming to power like Congress without any principles, but sincere persons with ideology and principles who think of Hindutva first and are not ready to sacrifice the principles for votes and coming to power.
Vasant
September 01, 2009
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Superb article Ms. Sandhya Jain!! No one else could have expressed the current state of political affairs (both internal and geo-political) affecting India.

I am absolutely believe in Koenraad Elst's view that a new party should be formed which calls itself Akhand Bharat (or any other prefix) Hindu Communal party and take up the Hindu cause unabashedly and without feeling diffident or defensive.

If Hindus have been labelled as 'COMMUNAL AND INTOLERANT' inspite of showing extreme tolerance - which borders on cowardice; towards other communities, then it is time that we indeed lived up to those labels these communities / religions - namely Christianity & Islam have cast upon Hindus and act in a truly communal, intolerant and ruthless manner. That is the only language (of intolerance and ruthlessness) they will understand.

Harish
Harish
September 01, 2009
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Look at the deadly challenges that India is facing,. as a nation, especially the external threats. Hindus here are equally under pressure.
At this critical juncture, how can you have a party whose "senior" members dislike each other so much?
Why could they not have had a n-holds-barred discussion at their "chintan baithak" and then gone with an internal vote?
The above scenario implies:
1) No strong leadership.
2) No vision, no targets.
3) No neutral observers to advise and guide the party.
4) No procedural guidelines, or code of conduct.
5) There are only 2 scenarios: (1)agree with the coterie in charge or (2)get out.

This is the best opportunity to re-organise, revitalise, prioritize. Make your changes and stick to them. Work hard for the elections in Maharashtra and take it from there.
Volunteers, anyone?
seadog4227
September 01, 2009
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A complacent RSS is solely responsible for the current mess in BJP. It (RSS) never took care to restrict the rise of of the coterie now aka "Gang of Four" or chastise the Mentor for drifting away from ideology. The people who vote or support BJP want the party to proudly espouse Hindu cause. But its leader Mr L.K.Advani had other ideas. He wanted the party to resemble Congress. And the RSS reticence was disgusting. RSS Chief's recent attempt to set BJP's house in order reminds me the opening lines of a golden oldie - Sab Kuch Loota Ke Hosh Main Aye to kya Hua. But even then better late then never.
Kuna Mohanty
September 01, 2009
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SandhyaJi,

I agree with Shri Kuna Mohanty. I have little hope that RSS will be able to help
BJP rise from the ashes because RSS itself lacks clear thinking. I have seen, worked and interacted with many RSS workers and it amazes me that they have no keenness to think independently and see the truth about violent ideologies like Islam, Christianity, Communism and others.

A classic example is the case of the word "Pseudo Secularism" which is purported to have been coined by Shri L K Advani and made popular by the BJP and RSS. I have seen that even senior pracharaks use the above word with such glee to refer to the congress, communists. What do they mean by that? They mean that they are the true secularists meaning they know to treat the so called minorities better.
But is treating the minorities more important than uniting the Hindus? Secularism (Sarva Dharma Sama Bhaava) in India is an intellectual subversion of the secularism of Europe and America. Secularism of Europe and America is the separation of the Church and the State. This should have been clearly understood and defined before harping on the word pseudo secularism. I haven't seen any discussions on this either in Organizer or Panchajanya or any major Sangh publications. Only the repetition of the word pseudo secularism over and over again. Has the Sangh or any of its intellectuals helped clear the confusion over the term secularism? The word Sarva Dharma Samabhava is itself wrong. As if there are many Dharmas. Dharma here is used as a synonym for the word religion. But is it right to equate Dharma with religion? Dharma is such a profound word which has no equivalent in the English language. Religion is man made whereas Dharam is never man made. There may be many religions but there is only one Dharma that is the Sanatana Dharma.

The Sangh has neither any interest or acumen to identify and clearly spell the concepts like secularism. Neither do they have the acumen to see, understand and process the violent ideologies of Islam, Christianity and Communism. I have heard about RSS intellectuals coming down hard on the muslims, but speaking in glowing terms on Islam. It is exactly the opposite of the truth. The problem is not muslims, the problem is Islam. And therefore unless it is understood as such, we will not be able to tackle the muslim problem or the christian problem or the problems related to confronting other totalitarian ideologies.

Which is why the BJP is anything but a Hindu party. And the RSS continues to pretend that it is not to blame for the problems and the mess that the BJP has gotten into.
Guru Charan
September 01, 2009
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To corroborate what i said in the previous comment, here is a snippet of an interview of Shri Guru Golwalkar by Shri Kushwant Singh

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Read how Khushwant Singh introduces the Sangh’s supreme leader: “There are some individuals whom we start to hate without even bothering to know them. Guru Golwalkar comes first in my list of such persons.”

Khushwant Singh: What are your thoughts on Muslims’ issues?

Golwalkar: I have not the slightest doubt that historical factors alone are responsible for the divided loyalty that Muslims have towards India and Pakistan. Moreover, both Muslims and Hindus are equally to blame for this. Nevertheless, it is not right to hold the entire community responsible for the guilt of some people . . . We have to win over the loyalty of Muslims with love. I am optimistic and I believe that Hindutva and Islam will learn to co-exist with one another. (Emphases mine.)

Muslims to be “won over with love”? How is this approach different from Mahatma Gandhi’s? Yet, sadly, there are quite a few Pravin Togadias in the Sangh Parivar itself whose conduct betrays anything but love towards Muslims. No less sadly, the RSS is not doing enough to convey to Indian Muslims, clearly and unambiguously, that Golwalkar and Gandhi — and not Togadia — will guide its attitude vis-à-vis Indian Muslims.

In next week’s column, we will address the other two interviews and delve deeper into Golwalkar’s views on Muslims.
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The URL of which the above is a part is
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/the-bjp-and-muslims-the-twain-can-meet/32561/0

Now, i ask you can Hindutva and Islam coexist as Guruji is purported to have responded?
Guru Charan
September 01, 2009
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