In the November 7, 2005 issue, this column stated: "The BJP’s discipline is crumbling. It is approaching oblivion. It must decide. Should it become a revived Janata Party or the old Jan Sangh? If the BJP leaders don’t think fast, their party might not merely split, it could even disintegrate." Does that prognosis sound far-fetched today?
Last week, Babulal Marandi, the only BJP MP from Jharkhand, quit his party as well as Parliament. Marandi alleged unfair treatment by the BJP leadership. He will float his own party. Earlier, Madan Lal Khurana who built the BJP in Delhi made similar allegations. He, too, has quit and will float his own party. Before Khurana, Uma Bharati criticised BJP’s national leaders, quit, and launched her own party.
Those inside the BJP are busy infighting. In the recent state assembly elections, the BJP fared miserably. This should cause little surprise. L.K. Advani and party president Rajnath Singh were busy competing with each other and leading pointless rath yatras instead of attending to elections. Those active in electioneering were busier destroying each other than campaigning against candidates of opposing parties. In Kerala, BJP’s most senior leader O. Rajagopal accused an RSS-appointed BJP functionary of sabotaging the party’s poll prospects. The party appointed a committee to probe his allegations. It reported that the BJP members had damaged party candidates, helped opposing parties, and even indulged in wholesale trading of party votes!
The leaders of the Sangh parivar know they are in trouble. They don’t know why. Their responses are confused and clumsy. After Advani’s ham-handed attempt to use Jinnah as a certificate for secularism, RSS chief K.S. Sudershan posturised with gratuitous remarks praising Islam and Prophet Mohammed. Later, he got busy deleting from books past RSS references against Muslims. This only invited ridicule. The Sangh parivar’s collapse stems from two failings. It misinterprets Hinduism. Its leaders lack character. The RSS was founded to promote both. Its leaders need a ruthless reappraisal to learn why they went wrong.
(Puri can be reached at rajinderpuri2000@yahoo.com)
