The "Chintan" Ahead

Television anchors suddenly had something more meaningful to debate than “sach ka saamna” as the Jaswant Singh saga unraveled itself in all its glory. Ever since the “chintan baithak” witnessed the dismissal of a former cabinet minister of significant import, most observers of the political theatre seem to herald this as the beginning of the end of the BJP.

For starters, there were a set of avoidable bloopers. Jaswant Singh was certainly tempting fate blatantly by scripting a tome on partition (and Jinnah). Having been an important backroom player in managing the repercussions for L K Advani post a seemingly innocuous remark, he is displaying misplaced naiveté with his apparent surprise at the fallout. That he was aware he would stir a hornet’s nest is a foregone conclusion. The party however could have pretended to play by the rules and allowed him to put up a defence which may have been summarily dismissed. The current move smacks of uncharacteristic haste and it could be a deliberate double whammy being played out by a legal eagle within the party. It helps him get rid of one heavyweight and significantly weaken the party president, the inevitable fall guy for the consequences of such a seemingly rash move.

Personally, I do not read too much into sound bites around the BJP’s “fascist behaviour” and “disrespect for freedom of speech”. Given the Sangh Parivar’s stated (and recently reiterated) position on M A Jinnah , the party just had to respond when pushed to the corner due to provocative literary pursuits by a senior, “responsible” leader. Politics is a lot about symbolism. Buta Singh not being given the boot despite glaring evidence of wrongdoing given possible impact on the SC/ST vote in the impending assembly elections is a case in point. Lets face it, the BJP had no choice. The only difference is that a Congress or BSP worker will not even dream of writing a book that remotely defies the party line. Jaswant Singh exploited the BJP’s relatively superior democratic ethos to a fault.

A lot is being written about a terminal decline of the BJP thanks to multiple layers of factionalism. The party does indeed run the risk of being buried permanently but here is where the party needs to look at the Congress for inspiration. A very large part of the anti-Congress political landscape of the country is dotted with ex-Congressmen. From a V P Singh to a Devi Lal to a Biju Patnaik, most opposition leaders were those who broke away from the Congress (the founder of the RSS, Keshav Hedgewar also began his political career with the India National Congress!). Each time, the Congress emerged stronger albeit around the backbone of a family name. It is time now for the BJP to bite the bullet and get into a no-holds barred succession battle, identify the first among equals and dust itself of the also-rans. Some could join the ranks of other opposition parties but it will also provide the party with a new- found opportunity to welcome a few political middleweights who find the party unacceptable in its current avatar.

For that to happen however, L K Advani and his shadow need to disappear from the horizon. He needs to finally accept the fact that his time has come and his cause is better served by dignified “sanyas”. Though, whether he wishes to be compared in the annals of history to Sardar Patel or Sitaram Kesri is a matter of personal choice. The former anyway seems to be fast appearing like a case of pure wishful thinking by the self-styled “lohpurush”.