Blundering along

The onion will loom large over the deliberations of BJP leaders during the next few weeks. And so it should, but not only for the obvious...

The onion will loom large over the deliberations of BJP leaders during the next few weeks. And so it should, but not only for the obvious reason of its price. It is a useful metaphor for the BJP in government. BJP leaders should set aside commentaries on the vicissitudes of coalition politics and Kushabhau Thakre8217;s advice about returning to core ideological values.

The smart thing to do would be to take apart an onion clinically, layer by layer, and see what lies under them. Nothing is better designed to concentrate minds on the key questions. Why did so many of the things the BJP attempted to do in government fall away like empty onion skins? Why does it have so little to show for itself after eight months?

In deciding to go for the privatisation of insurance, the government knew what it was up against. Either from a lack of conviction or because of wishful thinking, it has the makings of workable legislation but insufficient support within the Sangh Parivar or outside. So it looks as though it will haveto chop and change its measures or abandon the attempt to reform insurance altogether. It was a similar story with the power Bill.

If the BJP really means business when it goes about developing legislation or policy or programme, at the least it should work out how they are going to be pushed through. Time and again it has gone off half-cock. This has nothing to do with ideology and core values. It is about good management and finding solutions to problems. It is about doing a job thoroughly instead of taking sporadic stabs at it. Lurching forward and retreating is no way to run a government.

Second, the BJP tends to choose large goals which it is ill-equipped to achieve. Quite apart from whether all those goals are right for the country, this indicates that its ambitions far outstrip its capabilities. But unwilling to recognise this, it simply pulls ideas like rabbits out of a hat and expects them to fly. Uttarakhand is an example.

There is a pattern of goofs in the attempt to change education policy,the sacking of Rabri Devi, the transfer of Bezbaruah, the appointment of a central vigilance commissioner, not to mention the bigger more durable ones in the budget and in foreign affairs. It takes a high order of incompetence not to realise what profiteers are doing to prices and one8217;s own political fortunes. In the end what stands out is not good intentions or the difficulties of running an 18-party coalition but general incompetence and vaunting ambition brought low by blunders. For the future, the BJP must find ways of coming to sound decisions and ways of making them stick. That means achievable goals, consensus-building, consultation and political management.

If it is hard to come by the necessary talent and experience within the party, there are resources outside which can be tapped. The larger part of the job will be the ordinary drudgery of making things work smoothly. It should put aside aims of changing the physical and mental map of India and concentrate on its administrative responsibilitiesand steering the economy out of turbulent seas. That way lies salvation.