Party of differences
by
AJ Philip |
When BJP has self-serving leaders it does not need enemies
The relationship between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is umbilical because it was the latter that gave birth to the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the forerunner of the BJP. That is why the BJP leaders remain eternally subservient to the RSS. Though the RSS does not usually “interfere” in the internal affairs of over 100 organisations, affiliated to it and are collectively known as the Sangh Parivar, its views are always sought and respected.
Therefore, when the RSS uses its mouthpiece Panchjanya, a weekly Hindi journal, to criticise the BJP leaders for their infighting, the party cannot but sit up and take notice. The criticism has come in the wake of the party’s two-day national executive meeting held in Mumbai. The deliberations at the party’s highest policy making body should have been reported extensively in the media. But what merited attention was the crass infighting Mumbai witnessed.
Even before the meeting started, speculations were rife about Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He had not been attending the national executive ever since his bete noire Sanjay Joshi was made its member. Joshi, who grew up in the RSS, was sent to Gujarat in the nineties to strengthen the BJP but he ended up as an enemy of Modi. So when Joshi was caught with his pants down in a video clipping distributed clandestinely, many saw the hidden hands of Modi behind it.
Joshi had to step down from his party post despite his protestations of innocence. After a few years when party chief Nitin Gadkari nominated him to the national executive, Modi became furious. It was to placate the Gujarat strongman that Joshi was forced to resign from the post. Leaders like former deputy prime minister LK Advani and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj were also upset that Gadkari was given another term and they preferred not to attend the public rally that followed the Mumbai meet.
Octogenarian Advani, who has not given up his prime ministerial ambition, and Swaraj who, too, wants to try her luck for this post are also upset over the growing clout of Modi and his projection as the leader under whom the BJP would contest the 2014 elections. It is a measure of the infighting that the RSS was forced to direct the party not to project anyone as the prime ministerial candidate and leave the choice to the elected members. The BJP had always been fighting elections with a clear prime ministerial candidate like A.B. Vajpayee and Advani.
The RSS knows only too well the risks involved in projecting anyone when a whole galaxy of BJP leaders aspires to be the prime minister. But is the BJP all set to grab power at the Centre? Ordinarily, the policy paralysis in New Delhi and the string of scams the Congress-led government had spewed should have benefited the BJP. Involved as its leaders are in petty politicking, they are unable to cash in on the government’s weakness. What’s worse, some of its allies like the Janata Dal (United) make bold to chastise the party, for instance, on its views on the presidential elections.
Old-timers in the party find a disconnect between the leaders and the cadres. The BJP was once known as a party with a difference as it was an ideology-driven organisation. Today it is known as a party with serious differences at all levels. Instead of ideology, it is selfishness that drives its leaders. The party worker no longer commands respect in the party where carpetbaggers and corporate lobbyists play a greater role. At party forums even chief ministers do not get the recognition they deserve, unlike in the Congress where they are always seated next to party chief Sonia Gandhi.
With less than two years left for the next Lok Sabha elections, it is time for the preeminent Opposition party to formulate policies and programmes that can capture the imagination of the people. Far from that, its leaders have been settling scores with one another.
The defeat the BJP suffered in a recent by-election in Modi’s “vibrant Gujarat” is a warning that the voters take a dim view of the ugly goings-on in the party. When the Congress party is riven by corruption, the CPM believes in the politics of murder and parties like the BSP and the Samajwadi Party promote casteism, there is certainly need for a right-of-centre party that can provide political stability and good governance. Alas, the BJP is in the grip of self-servers for whom party means power, pelf and perks.
Oman Tribune |
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