Crisis @ BJP (From Bad to worse): The expulsion of Jaswant Singh

To my mind, BJP could have done without this Jaswant Singh episode. At a time, when the party is not able to come to grips with its identity in shaping India and RSS still tugs at the umbilical cord of ideology, the expulsion of Jaswant Singh who has been a BJP stalwart could be the beginning of the end of BJP. The reason of expulsion is cited as criticism of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, a BJP icon and praise of Jinnah which supposedly has irked the Sanghis and BJP leaders. Jaswant Singh had earlier criticized L K Advani for the poll debacle. The top brass in BJP are hoping that this action would serve as a warning to the deviators from the RSS-BJP ideological line.
Jaswant Singh’s book, Jinnah: India-Partition-Independence, upset the Sangh and the BJP not for its attempt to give the founder of Pakistan a flattering makeover, but for showing Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in a poor light in the process. Allegedly, Jaswant Singh has blamed Patel for allowing the partition, backing the two nation theory and adopting a hard stand that “alienated” muslims. This is the second time someone in BJP has suffered on account of Jinnah. L K Advani lost his job as the party chief in 2005 for praising Jinnah while on a tour of Pakistan.

If the BJP was hoping to project itself as a democratic, moderate party which could accommodate differing points of view, this expulsion puts paid to all that.In an earlier post sometime back , I had written about how BJP and CPIM need to look beyond the hardline ideologies in order to stay relevant in changing times. This action goes to prove that BJP is still heavily biased by the RSS. After its electoral defeat, BJP simply is not able to get its act together. With squabbles among its leadership, BJP seems to have forgotten its duty to the country: that of holding a responsible chair of opposition. Sticking to Hindutva hardline could be a ploy with diminishing returns in the long term for the saffron party. For once it has to emerge from its Saffron mould and probably go green.

http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-it-time-for-bjp-and-left-to-rift.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/bjp-imploding-part-i-lack-of-coherent.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/bjp-imploding-part-ii-lack-of-electoral.html
http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/bjp-imploding-part-iii-lack-of.html

Liberhan commission report and its impact on the BJP

It took the Liberhan commission 17 years, 100 witnesses, 399 sittings, 48 extensions and 9 crores to floor its report on the Babri Masjid demolition. It could not have come at a more worse time for BJP. Already under seizure and disarray for its electoral debacle, and under acute identity crisis seeking to re-define its fundamentals from a right wing hardcore Hindutva base to a more relevant pedestal, the findings could push them a little closer to tatters. As a part of its strategy, Congress would use this as its knock out punch for the down and beaten BJP. The list of accused include L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Sadhvi Rithambra, Ashok Singhal and more. Is this then the death of BJP?

I would view this knock out as a opportunity for BJP to clean up its tainted past, cut its umbilical cords with Hindutva and the Sangh, refresh its leadership completely, review its own partners and part ways with dubious ones and resurrect itself from its core. BJP has some good results to show in terms of its efforts for business and economic development (remember Vajpayee’s Golden Quadrilateal or Modi’s Gujarat) and it has to build these platforms to showcase its stand for progress, development and prosperity. This probably is the nadir in BJP’s political history. It runs the risk of disintegrating and collapsing totally or it can resurrect itself from the shadows of the past. I hope for the later. Politically, India needs BJP as an right wing moderate alternative against the Congress.

Ref:

http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-it-time-for-bjp-and-left-to-rift.html

http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/bjp-imploding-part-iii-lack-of.html

http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/bjp-imploding-part-ii-lack-of-electoral.html

http://newspaper-posts.blogspot.com/2009/06/bjp-imploding-part-i-lack-of-coherent.html

Is it Time for BJP and Left to rift away from its ideological twins?

Post the general elections, the BJP camp has been a veritable mess with accusations and counter accusations flying thick and high. While many theories are going around on the reasons of loss of stature of BJP, my personal belief is BJP lost because of its inadequate agenda. BJP failed to count on their noteworthy successes in governance and fell back on the Hindutva ideology. This has to do with the roots of BJP which are firmly grounded in the RSS and the “Sangh” which are fundamentalist Hindu by nature. Taking the Hindutva platform alienated the BJP from the minorities and the cause was not helped by the Gujarat Muslim pogroms and the Kandahar Christian massacres. Ultimately, the uncharismatic Advani tried to balance the image of a progressive BJP, with its plans for India and the radical Hindu beliefs of its parent, the RSS. The rest is history (as the word goes)

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ringsideview/entry/how_bjp_lost_the_plot
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/clicklit/entry/leave-hindutva-bjp-left-it
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/BJP-situation-now-volcanic-Sushma/articleshow/4658037.cms
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/BJP-cant-give-up-Hindutva-RSS-Joshi/articleshow/4663136.cms
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=e9c731c5-d28e-442b-8b58-db89d142d300&Headline=Lok+Sabha+debacle+haunts+BJP+as+party+National+Executive+meet


In another news this morning P Chidambaram, the Union Home Minister has asked the West Bengal CM Budhadeb Bhattacharya to do the obvious: Ban the Maoists from the state. Questioning the wisdom of Left-ruled West Bengal for not banning CPI (Maoists) in the state, home minister P Chidambaram said, "I believe there are voices in West Bengal which have raised this issue. We think they should be banned in West Bengal as in other states." Security and intelligence agencies have been raising the issue for long, arguing that West Bengal has become a shelter for Red ultras who take refuge there after committing violence in neighbouring Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa and also in faraway states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Why-arent-Maoists-banned-in-WB-asks-PC/articleshow/4675711.cms

Both these cases reflect the same fact: A relationship between two siblings (Marxists / Maoists and BJP / RSS). The difference being that one sibling has a progressive developmental perspective while the other is a more radical extremist ideology. Unfortunately, at this point of time, the road ahead presents a dilemma as these ideologies cannot have the same common identity and must part. It is time for the BJP leadership to recognize the fact that Hindutva is not a long term and sustainable platform (and instead it should look to eulogize its infrastructural achievements in Gujarat and else where). For the Kolkata based Left Government the choice is to dissociate with the Extreme Left Maoists to present itself in the right light to the people, for whom it stood for 32 years.

BJP Imploding (Part III): Lack of Leadership and Way Ahead

Post Reference:
Bharat Karnad:professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. http://www.livemint.com/2009/05/31212229/BJP-finding-the-right-centre.html
Ramesh Thakur: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/TOP-ARTICLE--Press-The-Reset-Button/articleshow/4600720.cms

Anti-incumbency, a nondescript track record in office and an insufficiently thought through nuclear deal should have drubbed the Congress in this general election. The botch-up by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up increasing Congress’s margin in Parliament. But a larger truth lurks behind the BJP’s failure, beyond supposed lapses in electoral strategy and a misreading of the public mood. It even surpasses the little noticed irony of the Congress party acquiring a youthful sheen only because the dynast Rahul Gandhi hand-picked young men and women as candidates, something which L.K. Advani—heading a less autocratically run outfit—could not do. Its failures include lack of vision, leadership and strategy.

Lack of leadership
Taking a swipe at Advani, Karnad says, the problems of the BJP are manifested in the persona of Advani. An ineffably sad man who strived mightily to invent and reinvent himself—in his last stretch, as a latter day “ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity”—he was flatly rejected by the people as much for his pretensions as, perhaps, for his lack of conviction. Wanting to be prime minister is no bad ambition to have; but, tethered to a nebulous set of beliefs, it became a liability.

The likely successor to Advani, Narendra Modi, too frittered away the opportunity to influence the public consciousness positively and to position himself as a leader of substance for the 2014 general election. Rather than talk about his success in providing power and water 24x7 to Gujarat—the only state to attain this—or his well-founded reputation for incorruptibility and, as its downstream effect, a clean administration at the grass-roots level, Modi heckled the ruling party as a “budhiya” (crone).

What Could be the way ahead?
Moderating its “Hindu” image (Influenced by the Saffron led RSS Militant Hinduism), replacing its intellectually exhausted and morally compromised leadership and returning to the virtues of party discipline, conviction and values that promote national integration and equality for all; pro-growth economic policies that encourage and reward entrepreneurship yet institute compassionate social safety nets; and a foreign policy that rests on confidence in India's ability to compete with the world all of this will position the BJP to capture a significant chunk of India's growing middle class. It can then capitalise on government shortcomings and the corruption issue, by forging winning coalitions with regional parties whose loyalties between the two national parties will continue to fluctuate.

BJP Imploding (Part II): Lack of Electoral Strategy

Post Reference:
Bharat Karnad:professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi. http://www.livemint.com/2009/05/31212229/BJP-finding-the-right-centre.html
Ramesh Thakur: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/TOP-ARTICLE--Press-The-Reset-Button/articleshow/4600720.cms

Anti-incumbency, a nondescript track record in office and an insufficiently thought through nuclear deal should have drubbed the Congress in this general election. The botch-up by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up increasing Congress’s margin in Parliament. But a larger truth lurks behind the BJP’s failure, beyond supposed lapses in electoral strategy and a misreading of the public mood. It even surpasses the little noticed irony of the Congress party acquiring a youthful sheen only because the dynast Rahul Gandhi hand-picked young men and women as candidates, something which L.K. Advani—heading a less autocratically run outfit—could not do. Its failures include lack of vision, leadership and strategy.

Lack of Electoral Strategy

The BJP's blistering attacks on Manmohan Singh as a weak and vacillating prime minister taking orders from the Gandhi family, turned the election into a referendum on Singh. Manmohan Singh’s a calming influence amidst terror attacks and the financial crisis and his qualities- decent, honest, unassuming, mild mannered, soft-spoken and likeable are rare qualities in politicians that sit agreeably with voters. So too did the renunciation of political office by Sonia and Rahul in contrast to the clutch of wannabe PMs from other parties. The squandering of economic opportunities over the past five years was blamed by voters on obstructionist coalition parties, not Singh. Attacking him provoked a backlash. Rahul and Priyanka presented younger Congress faces to the BJP's 81-year-old L K Advani. The moderate majority was repelled when fundamentalist Hindus attacked Christians in Orissa and young girls in a Mangalore pub. The BJP alienated its core constituency by hypocritical opposition to the nuclear deal with the US. Strenuously opposed by China, Pakistan and the non-proliferationists, the sweetheart deal was one the BJP would have grabbed in office. Yet it joined the communists with their long history of favouring foreign fellow-ideologues over national interests. Opportunity was squandered also with 26/11 when initial unity collapsed into shrill squabbling at a time of national peril. Attacked for his record on terrorism, Singh counter-punched by recalling Advani's hand-wringing as home minister during a string of terrorist attacks, including on Parliament; release of hardcore terrorists to the Taliban in Kandahar; the year-long military mobilisation against Pakistan that led nowhere; the Babri masjid demolition; and the anti-Muslim pogrom in Gujarat.
The BJP's reputation for communalism distanced allies from the rhetoric and agenda of Narendra Modi and Varun Gandhi. The BJP's only vision was that of the rearview mirror. As India changes, the Indian voter's profile changes. The BJP could neither embrace nor repudiate Varun Gandhi's virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric. It could not reach a broader constituency while appealing to militant Hinduism. On the other hand BJP would/will have lost its core Hindu base if it diluted its ideological purity. The tension will affect its search for fresh leaders. It was entrapped also in the disastrous strategy of trying to win an election on the basis of fear and divisiveness. Hope, generosity of spirit and optimism usually triumph over grievance and negativity.

The BJP’s impressive record of good governance in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as well as issues where it holds the whip-hand—such as strong national defence, and an economy speedily unshackled from the remnants of the licence-permit raj—were left adrift. A sustained campaign to pillory the nuclear deal in terms of the “Indian bomb in danger” would have left the Congress utterly on the defensive. The BJP, however, talked of “renegotiating” it, leaving the Congress to walk away with the game.

BJP Imploding (Part I): The lack of a Coherent Vision

Post Reference:
Bharat Karnad:professor at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi . http://www.livemint.com/2009/05/31212229/BJP-finding-the-right-centre.html
Ramesh Thakur: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/TOP-ARTICLE--Press-The-Reset-Button/articleshow/4600720.cms

Anti-incumbency, a nondescript track record in office and an insufficiently thought through nuclear deal should have drubbed the Congress in this general election. The botch-up by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up increasing Congress’s margin in Parliament. But a larger truth lurks behind the BJP’s failure, beyond supposed lapses in electoral strategy and a misreading of the public mood. It even surpasses the little noticed irony of the Congress party acquiring a youthful sheen only because the dynast Rahul Gandhi hand-picked young men and women as candidates, something which L.K. Advani—heading a less autocratically run outfit—could not do. Its failures include lack of vision, leadership and strategy.

No Ideological Core apart from Hindutva / Lack of a coherent vision

That truth relates to the BJP’s having no ideological core. There is space for a centre-right national party alongside the Congress on the centre-left, around which politics can be structured and coalition governments formed. Instead of basing itself on any progress and development led idealogical core, BJP went alongwith Hindutva and Congress bashing as its electoral idealogy. After BJPs losses in the 6 state assembly elections (including Delhi), it was expected that BJP would reconsider its electoral USP and communication strategy. However, BJP clung on to its Hindutva platform and demeaning the Congress (instead of exulting its own agenda or achievements).

BJP's challenge was to preserve Hindutva loyalty and yet reach out to a broader social coalition. For the aam aadmi, Jai Shri Ram is increasingly passe. The BJP had a choice: Cling to the past the glory that was India with a shrinking voter base or embrace a vision for the future the glory that awaits India which appeals to the growing voter cohorts of the young and urban.

The Congress at least offered the solace of rhetoric, regardless of whether the condition of the “aam aadmi” (ordinary citizen) is ever bettered by the party’s exertions in power. Election slogans encapsulate the promised thrust of government. It does not matter if the end state is never reached. Recall Indira Gandhi’s “Garibi hatao” (End poverty)? It did little for the poor but kept the Congress party in clover for nearly a generation. In this context, faced with the BJP’s campaign, the average voter would have concluded that it was disconnected from reality.

Social order and stability were the preconditions for the rights and freedoms enjoyed by the citizenry as well as for a free market. It is these principles that the BJP should associate with.