A party in denial

It was the closing address at the national executive and, says spokesperson Sushma Swaraj, the BJP has no tradition of discussing the presid...

It was the closing address at the national executive and, says spokesperson Sushma Swaraj, the BJP has no tradition of discussing the president8217;s concluding remarks. This obstinate shut-eye, the insistent denial, is surely intentional. It would be insulting the intelligence of the present set of BJP leaders to suggest that they actually regard L.K. Advani8217;s closing address to the Chennai national executive a few days ago as just that. It was, in fact, an opening and a challenge. As he announced his decision to step down in December, the embattled chief invited leaders in his party, particularly those that sit on its overly-hyped second rung, to rethink the BJP-RSS relationship. He urged them to do this for the sake of the good health of both. In turning down Advani8217;s invitation already, without so much as a pretence of considering it, BJP leaders do not just dishonour a veteran who steered the party for long years. They reveal their own political and intellectual timidity in the teeth of a demanding debate.

But they miscalculate. The issue is not an esoteric one, it won8217;t painlessly wither with neglect. The imperative to re-negotiate the terms of its relationship with the RSS will only grow more urgent with time. The BJP is no longer in government. There is no patina of power, therefore, to paper over the cracks. A party yet to fight back after an unexpected setback at the hustings does not have the option of postponing its moments of reckoning. The BJP may choose, in this moment, to concentrate its energies on the internal horse race for the post of party president. But the first and most important task for the new incumbent will also be this: to articulate the future strategy for a party that has come to a prolonged standstill after a period of exhilarating growth. The answer is evident: the BJP needs to grow beyond its sharply defined strongholds and enlarge its constituency. But, to do that, it is equally obvious that it will need to wriggle out of the RSS8217;s stifling clasp. It will need to frame a political agenda in terms that are far more expansive than the RSS8217;s restrictive worldview now permits it to imagine.

The loneliness of L.K. Advani is a metaphor for a party afraid to look itself in the mirror for fear of what it might see, what it might be called upon to re-shape. The sooner someone in the BJP breaks the conspiracy of silence, the better it will be for the party.