Desperate language

The search for scapegoats is on. Ever since it was widely seen to have lost the nuclear deal debate, the BJP has been desperately searching for a fall guy. At last count, it had found two. A section of the party has fixed its eye on Messrs Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha. These two men should not have led the charge on Thursday in Rajya Sabha, they say, because they spoke English, made nuanced arguments. They did not speak to the party8217;s 8216;core constituency8217;. If proof were needed that the BJP is a party plumbing its own depths, that it has comprehensively lost touch with its own centre, it is this. First the party mounts a campaign against the crucial deal its government assiduously prepared the ground for, then it wants to turn a very complex issue into low theatre. If you can8217;t give them the temple, give them nuclear vaudeville?

The BJP underestimates the constituency it claims as its own. Even the faithful can surely see through this unbecoming politics. The truth is that the party8217;s 8216;core programme8217; has long crossed its 8216;sell-by8217; date. The truth also is that being out of power seems to have sapped its leadership of the imagination or skill to give it new direction. A CNN-IBN survey that gave the BJP a tally of a mere 80-plus if polls were held today perhaps captured this ground-level alienation. But the other point is this: even if its core constituency were to blink at the BJP8217;s drift, that cannot be enough for a party that has governed India8217;s Centre for six years. One, moreover, which aspires to be there again, in alliance with other parties. Such a party cannot afford to lose touch with its centre. It must guard against lurches to the extremes.

India needs a responsible and modern party of the right, committed to economic reforms, to India8217;s integration with the global economy and prioritising national security. The BJP has shown it can be that party. If only the party were to listen to itself at its best.