PRITAM SENGUPTA writes from New Delhi: A quite extraordinary aspect of the supernatural implosion in the BJP is how the “disciplined party”—the democratic party with a difference—has dropped all pretence of being dictated to and directed by the half-pants of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
On paper, both sides claim that there is no formal link between the two outfits; that they are two very different entities, one a “cultural” organisation and the other its political apparition. In practice, though, as the events of the last fortnight demonstrate, the truth is known to the knicker lobby.
The RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat gives an openly political interview on the eve of the BJP’s chintan baithak, which sets the agenda for the party’s post-poll introspection. He pitches his tent in Delhi where everybody from L.K. Advani to Rajnath Singh, and everybody else in between, grovels and genuflects before him in the full glare of the cameras.
The headlines all scream of the role the RSS is playing in drawing up a “succession plan”, its preferences, etc.
For the BJP and its supporters whose bread, butter and poha comes from deriding Congressmen for reverentially turning to 10 Janpath even to so much as sneeze, this—the parading of its earthy leaders before an unelected, unaccountable sarsangchalak—is a moment for their personal photo albums.
At least Sonia Gandhi is the president of the Congress, the convenor of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), and an elected member of Parliament. What could be the excuse of India’s “principal opposition party” to be at the mercy of a thrice-banned organisation whose pernicious ideology draws heavily from Adolf Hitler?
An equally important fallout of the events of the last fortnight is the penumbra of the RSS that now envelopes the BJP, and is only likely to grow and enlarge in the future at this rate.
The generally agreed consensus after the “nasty jolt” (Bhagwat’s words in the Times Now interview) in the 2009 elections was that the BJP had paid a price, among other things, for its exclusivist philosophy, its neglect of the minorities, its support for pumped-up communalism, etc.
If the RSS is going to play a significant role in deciding the BJP’s present and future formulation, and if it is seen to be so openly playing such a role, will it help the BJP’s cause? Will it enlarge the BJP’s votebase? Will it make it more endearing to the young, the middle-classes and the urban voters, all of whom appeared to have abandoned it?
Or are we likely to see a more shrill, vicious and dangerous BJP than in the past?
Cartoon: courtesy E.P. Unny/ The Indian Express
BJP can’t think without the permission of the RSS
It is the garrulous, shrill, vicious BJP which the people rejected.
The shriller they get, the more the public is put off by their pugnaciousness.
All the spokespersons of BJP are shrill and combative. In comparison the Congress spokespersons come across as gentle and persuasive.
RSS should first advice BJPwallahs to change their spokespersons. And get in somebody who is willing to done down their high decibel sound bytes in front of TV cameras.
This viciousness of BJP paid zero dividends at the hustings. In fact it is one of the prime reasons why the people of India rejected the BJP.
Nobody can stand people who speak too much.
Simple.
WOW! Just imagine how many production & publishing houses, primetime shows and sting operations in 24×7 channels, exposés and cover stories in magazines, tabloids and newspapers; it will create!
It might pull India from recession and increase deforestration!
ತೋಳ ಹಳ್ಳಕ್ಕೆ ಬಿದ್ರೆ, ಆಳಿಗೊಂದು ಕಲ್ಲು…
Circa 1984.. about 25 years ago… Congies won the general elections with a massive mandate of 400+ seats.
Circa 1999…about 15 years ago…the same party had touched its nadir by being successful in about 114 seats…its worst ever performance…
In Contrast, BJP which had just 2 seats in the 1984 elections, today, even at a time when it is dubbed to have suffered its worst electoral defeat, stands at 116 seats. 2 more than the Congies in 1999.
The period after Narasimha Rao’s exit from the politics was truly a testing time for Congress. Many of its top leaders like Sharad Yadav, Sangma etc., quit the party opposing the entry of Mother into active politics. They did not succeed and that is a different story. What is important is the fact that these people did exactly what Jaswant Singh is doing now. Damaging the very party they were a part of once!
BJP is going through a turbulent time. No doubt about this. And much of it is due to the fact that some people in the party tried to become bigger than the party itself!!
But it will emerge. Much stronger and much more capable. From the lesson it learns from these debacles.
@ Simple, if you consider Manish Verma & Jayanthi Natarajans of the world to be gentle and persuasive, it is time for the Oxford Dictionary to relook into the meanings of these words!!!
BJP (Jana Sangh of the Old Janatha Party) is a political effort by the RSS to wrest power which they knew was not going to happen with their known upper caste, militant, communal, para military a la Nazi tradition. BJP is, was and will be dangling by the strings of the puppeteer RSS. (katputli as arun shouri phrased it)
For a long time, BJP has been a party with a difference, a truly idealist party driven by clear ideological agenda, whether liked or not.
Advani’s leadership seems to have changed this. Here is a man with a strong sense of destiny and his perceived centrality to such a destiny, the nation’s verdict not withstanding.
It is solely his doings that find the BJP in the predicament it currently finds itself in. This man refuses to gracefully walk into the sunset inspite of a clear rejection of his “strong leader” positioning. The strength seems to have deserted him in his moment of reckoning.
The RSS is correct in wanting a course correction. Mr. Bhagwat seems to have none of the dogmatism that plagued Mr. Sudarshan. It is time the BJP is restored to it’s previous status of a party with a difference.Mr. Bhagwat has assured his centrality in any post-Advani scenario. This seems to have given him a new lease of life.
I think the RSS has to undergo reform. Otherwise we will continue to hear idiots like OddVani, Sudharshan and Just-Vain-Singh extolling the virtues of Jinnah. If matters had not come to a head, we could have seen Arun Shourie writing another book on Jinnah and preaching Ahimsa while foregoing the Nuclear Deal with USA.
One thing is clear: I am sure the aam-admi in India are congratulating themselves on voting UPA back to power. This is the generation which correctly intones, “Jinnah Who?!!” and the BJP retards just don’t get it! OK one more name to consider for the real BJP: BDP –Bharatiya Disconnect Party!
Every political party in india is vicious. Congress for example has killed countless indians ever since independence. Its policies have led millions of people to die of hunger, accidents due to lack of good infrastructure, diseases because of hygiene issues, rampant corruption in all the three branches of the government. Why is Churumuri NOT complaining about these things? BJP or BJP like party is also a result of BAD governance by Congress. So why treat the symptom and not the cause? Chidambaram is the worst person I have ever met. I can’t believe I used to idolize this hypocrite..
Huttadallihutta
Since the time of being in power, Cong took 40 years to slide down to 114 seats.
BJP came to power in 98. So it took a mere 11 years to come to a sorry state of 116 (make that 115 seats after Jaswanth Singh’s expulsion).
Point 1: The rate of deterioration of BJP is much much faster than Congress. So really, no comparision please.
Point 2: Worse, BJP never ever crossed 190 seats in their 25 plus years of existence. Pathetic record. .So please save comparisons.
Point 3: And humiliatingly BJP has not been able to make any dent in more than 10 states in India, inspite of being in existence as a political party for more than 25 plus years. In most states they are piggybackign on regional parties. From Bihar to Haryana to Punjab to Orissa, BJP is riding on teh shoulders of regional parties. It is a collosal failure on the part of leadership to have stagnated so quickly.
Point 4: And yes, Cong has bounced back to 206 seats. Will BJP bounce back? Seems implausible. Communists have never grown beyond 3 states. BJP it seems is stuck with 7 -8 states.
Point 5: Inspite of being in existence for 25 years, BJP has never managed to rule the country on its own strength.
Point 6: As things stand today, Cong is ahead of BJP by a MASSIVE ten percentage votes.
So really, there is no comparision between BJP and Cong. Pygmies can’t be compared with giants.
Manish is the only combative spokesperson from Congress. From BJP not a single person is pleasant.
Simple:
1. Discount the first 40 years of our independence. There was NO opposition party. The first whiff of opposition came to Congress in 1977 and you know what happened. Subsequent to that, Congress has been on downhill ever since. Even Indira Gandhi, in the 80 elections, could not reach her earlier status. Forget about Rajeev Gandhi. His mother’s death contributed to Congress winning a massive mandate in 84. Thats about it.
2. BJP has been a party which has to fight with many people, on multiple fronts. At the first level we have pseudo secularists, who cry hoarse for BJP’s nationalism. If you dissect who these people are, you will realise that these are the people who received state patronage under the earlier congress regime. For them it is protection of their turf. At the second level, there is the media. Gujarat 2002, though was on a much smaller scale as compared to Delhi 1984, look at the branding of Modi and look at the branding of Rajeev Gandhi. We have journalists like Khushwant Singh and Nayyar, who proudly say that they would have crawled even if Mrs.Gandhi had asked them to bend. Then comes the muslim vote bank. Muslims will never vote for a Hindu BJP. And hindus dont have the nerve to stand up and be counted in their own country. So it is a battle which is being waged on multiple fronts by BJP. Which it will eventually win.
3. BJP has not been able to make dent in about 10 states because of the above mentioned reasons. But worry not, if they can win in Arunachal Pradesh, they will win everywhere.
4. On the one hand you claim that BJP came to power in 1998. Now you say that since being in existence since 25 years… !!! In any case, you are right about being in existence for 25 years. Because, in 25 years of its existence, this party has been able to topple another, which claims to have long history.. more than 100 years… not once but twice!!! So it is only a matter of time before BJP as a party will trounce Congress yet again.
5. Congies bouncing back with 206 seats took about 10 years??? So time will answer whether BJP can bounce back or not. But that is not the moot point… question to be asked is, will congress ever touch the hey days it has seen during the earlier period. That is perhaps the reference point of Congress.. not 206 seats. And the answer you probably know.. not in the foreseeable future! Why? Because the age old dirty tricks of congress will not work now!
6. Even by being ahead 10 percentage points, the party which has a history of more than 100 years, the party which has the backing of all SECULARISTS, the party which has the support of media , think Burqa-prannoy-rajdeep-sagarika types, the party which has the support of muslims-christians… could not manage to get a majority on its own???
Dont you think this is more sad???
And you still think Manish Vermas and Jayanthi Natrajans of the world as SOFT????
1. Why should we discount the first fourty years? Is it because it conveniently suits you? There was no opposition worth it because Congress was that strong. Every other party got blown away by the strong gale wind called Congress.
2. BJP is full of dull visionaries and poor strategists. They don’t know what issues to exploit to their advantage. Which is why, even after 25 years of existence, the party is yet to reach 200. Muslims have supported BJP when Vajpyaee was in power. Even now, BJP has around15% votes of muslims throughout the country. so you are wrong there.
3.Yes, you can give 1000 reasons why BJP has not been able to make a dent in 18 to 20 odd states. But that is the challenge which faces BJP. Instead of whining, you could give them a strategy to win, since BJP is not able to win on its own strenght, probably internet intellectuals like you can help them gain majority.
4. Listen to my choice of words properly. BJP has been in existence since 25 years. BUt it has been in power since only 11 years. Do you get the difference? Once they were given a shot at power, the country rejected them lock stock and barell,. not once, but twice on the run. Speaks so much for your party!
5. BJP tried every dirty trick in the book to come back to power. Calling Manmohan and Sonia names, allowing cash for scam votes, putting the blame on Jaswanth singh for the kandahar episode, yet nothing worked.
People could see through the empty rhetroic of a decaying degenerating party where leaders are fighting for the spoils of power that does not exist!
6. Fact is BJP has not been able to cross 200 seats, but cong has crossed 200 seats even after BJP was given a shot at power. Shows the resurgence power of Congress, the party which built the nation.
7.NDTV gave L K Advani lifetime achievement award. No cong personality got a lifetime achievement award. Every channel reported that BJP would win 2004 elections.
Every channel had surveys showing BJP doing much better than it actually did in 2009 elections.
Clearly, one can easity say that it is because these channels wanted to create a wave in favour of BJP.
RSS is a cultural party, not a political party. If you mistake RSS with bajrang dal, VHP etc etc then your a big idiot and do you don’t deserve to make an opinion.
the problem with BJP is the coalition type scenarios. without the regional parties in the picture, the congress has no chance. think for a while… who would win if BJP and congress were the only contenders in the country. the BJP!!! no?
Bharatiya Janata Party is the only national party which can and dare to oppose the Congress, It has been very success ful in doing so from its formation. Its most disheartning to see the BJP in a very bad phase . I wish the leadership should get stronger and emerge more stronger to challenge the Congress.. We have to note that BJP does not play the politics opposes which other parties playing minority card (like in making an Indian Citizen feel he is minority .) I hope the RSS which is cultural organisation would also help the the BJP to come out of crisis and build strong
Jai Hind
Why do we give so much Important to RSS
They Rthe most Highly Communal
BJP Sucks as they r Highly Corrupt…….
Blood Sucking Parties
They r Black Spots on our Democracy
THeir Ideology Keeps oN Changing Every 2 to five yrs
So i will Appeal to the Public and the Media Not to give importance to them….
They r Sick……