Political Diary

New Delhi, 27 October 2012

BJP Stuck In Quagmire

CAUGHT IN SLEAZE RAM! RAM!

By Poonam I Kaushish

Skeletons are tumbling out so thick, fast and vicious in political Delhi that it is becoming virtually impossible to keep track of them. The latest ‘caracass’ is BJP President Nitin Gadkari’s. Thereby, not only embarrassing but also reducing his Party from being a mascot for anti-corruption and paint the Congress corrupt, to a talisman for the corrupt resulting in BJP vs. BJP. The tragedy is that it has none but itself to blame!

The allegations against Gadkari’s Purti group are serious, ‘suspicious transactions’, showing his driver, peon and other household employees as directors in 18 ‘front companies, money laundering, tax evasion et al while he was PWD Minister in the Maharashtra Government in 1995-99. Though Gadkari has denied any wrongdoing and is trying to disassociate himself from the fracas by stating he resigned as the company's chairman 14 months ago, he is yet to come up with any serious explanation of what occurred under his watch.

Pertinently, it has also put a big question mark over Gadkari getting a second term as President. Even the RSS, which till yesterday backed him, has made plain its abhorrence against sleaze. Although, an immediate change of guard is being ruled out till the Assembly Elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The Party’s dilemma is compounded since it can neither abandon its President nor can it concede to the pressure created by Congress and, more particularly India Against Corruption (IAC) founder Arvind Kejriwal. It may happen that Gadkari himself opts out.

It would be stating the obvious that something is rotten in the State of Denmark. Ironically, the BJP has been aware of it for sometime. But for reasons best known to it till date it has behaved ostrich-like---refusing to see that rot was piling up in its backyard. In fact, since its two consecutive defeat in 2004 and 2009, the Party has increasingly looked an agglomerate of factions whose composition keeps altering according to the interests of ambitious individuals who make for the so-called central leadership.

Witness the cat and mouse game between its Gen Next leaders. The Rajya Sabha Opposition Leader Arun Jaitley is a consummate politician but lacks mass base, his counter-part in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj is a good orator and a woman to boot who enjoys some degree of mass support but her overall profile remains low. Others in the race Rajnath Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Venkaiah Naidu et al do not ignite cadres.

Moreover, as it stumbles from crisis to crisis, the Saffron Sangh’s problems continue to multiply---ideological, factional and organisational. Part of the BJP’s quandary is its fallacy of what it stands for. What is the core of the Party? Is it Hindutva or being an all-inclusive right centrist Party? No one knows. Not the leaders, nor its cadres. Ironically, a Party which carried forward the reform process today resembles a moribund and regressive organization.

This is not to say that the BJP does not have modern leaders. Some of the best examples of governance and reform emit from its ruled State. Three of its Chief Ministers Chhattisgarh’s Raman Singh, Madhya Pradesh’s Shivraj Chauhan and Gujarat’s Modi’s are lauded by even their arch rivals. In Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh is running a food subsidy scheme which has earned accolades from even Maoists and their sympathizers.

Though Modi remains BJP's most formidable leader, even his supporters agree that he has perhaps as many detractors within the Party as without. Even as he is feted for his administrative skills and development winning him admirers across the globe, he is scarcely seen as a leader who can prove a magnet for potential allies.

Already the JD(U)  Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and potential king-maker has made plain “no Modi”, AIADMK Chief Jayalalithaa acknowledges Modi as a friend, the Party cannot count on her support, BJD’s Naveen Patnaik has cut ties and TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu will only back the Party post the 2014 Lok Sabha elections provided it can win 200 seats. Given its geographical limitations, even die-hard optimists within know it it’s a tall order.

Sadly, what is more worrying is that the BJP has acquired the debilitating features of the “Congress culture”. Internal rivalries, lack of organizational abilities, local resistance to sitting legislators and its overdependence on “negative vote” emotionally secured. Today, both Parties have come to be perceived as ‘aik hi thali ke chatet batte.” In the process, earning for itself the nickname of being the Congress’s B-team.

What of the future? Undoubtedly, testing times lie ahead. Time for it to ask whether it can afford to make the big leap again by being all things to all people. How does it continue to be cadre based and yet widen its support base? Should it revert back to its Hindutva moorings which propelled it from the seat of God to the seat of power? Or, follow real politik which demands flexibility in ideas, being in sync with modern times and hawk issues dear to the aam aadmi? 

Clearly, the Party has to renew, reinvent and acknowledge that it is not going to be ‘guns and roses’ in future battles. A tough and uphill task. It first has to dispel its “ugly politician” image following the series of scams involving Partymen from Bangaru Lakshman, down Yeddyrappa to Gadkari.

Thus, to redeem itself the BJP needs to stop pussy-footing and build the morale of its disillusioned cadres. It desperately needs not only  a USP but also recast its Hindutva moorings into a modern right-of-centre internationally liberal-minded grouping to regain credibility and behave as a responsible and effective Opposition Party.

As a senior leader analysed: “We have no doubt come to stay as an alternative. Even so, the stakes are very high. If the Congress loses, it loses nothing. However, if we lose humara to bhatta hi baith jayega. Pura safaya ho jayega”. It has to desist from taking short cuts for its survival and embark on a national new-vision agenda with an inclusive agenda.

The UPA Government's poor performance and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s floundering image offer the BJP another opportunity to force itself back into the national centre-stage and seize the Opposition’s position which Kejriwal seems to have occupied.

In sum, till the BJP puts its house in order and sorts out its leadership issues, it is unlikely to seriously challenge the Congress. The Saffron Sangh is correct when it asserts, “Our promise for the future will be judged by our performance in the present”. To quote poet Vajpayee, “What road should I go down? Do I take stock of each moment, or do I squander what little remains? What road should I go down?” Time for the Party to think and ponder: Are Bhakti and Jagran the sole jaap to Power? ---- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)