Issue 6 Vol I, December 31, 2005

editorial

BJP at 25 is Bruised and Bereft and nearly Lost

Bhartiya Janata Party is discovering at its silver jubilee celebrations in cash rich Mumbai that it has lost its mooring along with power.  How would otherwise one explain when it blames ‘Congress culture’ for its parliamentarians accepting cash for asking questions or its General Secretary Sanjay Joshi forced to quit after a video allegedly showing him in bed with a woman?  “It is all because of Congress culture. We have this bad patch in our glorious history otherwise,” bemoaned the ageing retiring president, L.K.Advani. He could have easily said that the Congress is responsible for his downfall and is dictating to Rashtriya Swaym Sewak Sangh too, the  ideological mother of the BJP to out him.

No one expects any serious introspection from a communal outfit that claims to have achieved its major victory in the demolition of Babari Masjid and killing innocent people in Gujarat. Advani’s Rath Yatra that divided the country on communal lines and caused lot of bloodshed also provided seat of power to the BJP. Advani again emphasised the importance of construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya as major political plank. With a little hindsight, he could have noticed that there could be no political dividends second time from such issues, howsoever important these may be. Roti, kapda aur makan- food, clothing and shelter count for mortals more than anything else and India is still struggling to achieve these. Also, Advani’s repeated attempt at redefinition of secularism and pseudo secularism too is a stale affair. He made some belated attempts to endear himself to the people in the sub continent by praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Karachi, Pakistan. This backfired, forcing his ultimately fall from grace with the Sangh Privar. 

Advani who has been forced  to relinquish the Presidentship by the RSS and has bargained hard to keep his status of leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha, could not look beyond and offer any thoughtful explanation as to  why the party with  difference was so deep in sleaze and sex escapades. Only last month former Madhya Pradesh chief minister fire brand backward caste leader Uma Bharati was forced out of the party when she challenged the selection of chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. So much of inner party democracy.

BJP had been yearning to bring two party systems in India; the Congress and itself. It has been a wish like Akhand Bharat, without realising the multi cultural, multilingual and diverse India. While it was able to rule the roost with the help of regional parties which did not share much of its Hindutava brand of politics, it now finds itself greatly isolated. Two regional parties, Janata Dal Secular and the Telgu Desam voted with the Congress and the Communists and others to throw out the corrupt parliamentarians as BJP walked out. Four of the corrupt had come from RSS. Similarly Joshi, the RSS point man in BJP whose assignment was bring discipline and ideological coherence and supposed to be guarding his celibacy all the time   was allegedly caught by camera while having sex with a party worker.  As one newspaper wryly commented: grow up RSS; people have sex, grow up BJP; people have votes, the party has not only to assure itself of maturity at 25, but also the people of the country. Is it not time for some introspection.  If BJP can disapprove RSS supreme commander K.Sudershan’s advice to Hindus to produce more children and outdo Muslims, It could sure think beyond communal politics and offer moderate leadership committed to the Indian constitution and have a broad agenda for economic and social transformation.  Silver jubilee could have been used to hark that. Alas!  For the present leadership it may not be possible.

BJP continues to play second fiddle  to RSS, the self proclaimed representative f the Hindus and claiming to be puritan. If RSS mouthpiece Organiser invented arguments to support the corrupt MPs as it had four from its cadres, Advani fell in line and followed the same argument.

Here is what Organiser wrote" The poor MPs, mostly back benchers did not get even the usual chance that our democracy generously grants to even the most despicable criminals like Abu Salem or Shahabuddin. Even MPs like Afzal Ansari, accused of murdering the BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai and eight others could evade the law and attend Parliament—no questions asked.  But the collective disdain for the bribe-scared MPs sets one thinking of the famous Biblical caution “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone" (New Testament, John, VIII, 7). The godly commandment may not be a practical device for imparting justice in our globalised polity. But spare a thought. The first casualty of the expose was the Volcker report, and the BJP’s demand for probe into Sonia Gandhi’s involvement in it. The timing is significant, for according to their own admission, the sting operation was on for the last eight months. That majority of MPs caught on camera are from BJP could be accidental. But it has irreparably blunted the BJP’s response to Volcker and even its silver jubilee celebration blitzkrieg.”[ December 25,2005 issue] What skewed logic and BJP followed suit. Since other thieves are not punished why punish these.

At the end of the jamboree, again a la Congress style, the tallest BJP leader, Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced his sanayas from the electoral politics and power. He had it earlier in 1999, just as a ploy to rake up demand for him, made similar proclamation. He would be available to party all the while for political work. Known for many strokes in one go, he anointed second leader Pramod Mahajan as the next leader, totally ignoring the incumbent president Rajnath singh. Advani and Mahajan would be new Ram and Lakshman duo of the BJP, he proclaimed. Some cool politics indeed.

For BJP it was only inner party power struggle all through the jubilee and Sushma Swaraj was left asking for introspection and to get rid of moh, lobh aur swarth, lust, greed and selfishness and could say that her head hangs in shame what her party MPs had done while accepting bribe for asking questions or commission from their development funds.