BJP needs ideas

Fortified by a grand strategy session on Sunday, the BJP-led NDA unveiled its big salvo for the parliamentary session that began Monday: a c...

Fortified by a grand strategy session on Sunday, the BJP-led NDA unveiled its big salvo for the parliamentary session that began Monday: a censure motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for 8216;8216;praising the British Raj8217;8217; in a recent speech at Oxford. Terribly underwhelming, this. It is also extremely revealing, but not in the way the BJP intended it. The proposed censure motion promises to shine unflattering light not on some supposed prime-ministerial misjudgement abroad, but on the state of the country8217;s main opposition party. The BJP is a party with a point to prove in this session. Having boycotted the crucial Budget session in a misguided fit of petulance, it is now called upon to prove that it has what it takes to behave as a responsible and effective Opposition to the UPA. Events of the past few weeks 8212; to put it more bluntly, the dissembling within the party ever since L.K. Advani8217;s Jinnah speech 8212; have only enhanced the party8217;s challenge to appear sober and purposeful in Parliament. A censure motion against the prime minister on grounds as flimsy as these, shows up the BJP8217;s continuing dishabille.

It may well be possible to quarrel with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh8217;s speech at Oxford, to read into it a sentiment too forgiving of Empire. Others, however, may simply view it as a gesture of large-heartedness and self-confidence, more than five decades after India won Independence from British rule. But on no account can any perceived discomfiture with the prime minister8217;s comments be elevated to the status of a serious critique of the performance of the UPA government. That the BJP should showcase this censure motion sends out pointed signals. It says that the BJP has run out of ideas. Or that it is attempting to divert public attention from its obvious dishonesty and disregard for facts in tearing into the UPA on the Iran pipe-line issue or the nuclear pact with the US. Or from the continuing turbulence within its own organisation and the parivar.

It will be tragic if the BJP persists with this grave abdication. It is absurd that the Left should be allowed to usurp the role of the opposition to the UPA, that it should be conceded space to grandstand against the government it supports. There is no dearth of the real issues to be raised in Parliament, on which the government must be held accountable. But first, the BJP must be prepared to play its role.