Finger on their lips

It appears that the BJP has once again postponed its day of reckoning. It has, for the time being, postponed a crucial meeting that was to be held in Chennai. L.K. Advani will continue both as party president and leader of the Opposition. But while buying time is probably the best the BJP can muster on this occasion, it is not clear that the party is any closer to solving its predicament.

In the unfolding Sangh-BJP tussle, while representatives of the RSS are speaking freely and articulating their critique of Advani, it is absolutely astonishing that most of the prominent BJP MPs, accountable to the people unlike the RSS, are not revealing much about what they think. Party stalwarts, who normally love to dominate the public sphere, are unusually tightlipped. While their desire to not complicate matters is understandable, this continuing reticence on their part is baffling for the public. The silence of most of the second generation BJP leaders about where they stand, gives credence to the impression that they are not independent leaders in any serious sense of the term. Rather than engaging in public reason, they are allowing the RSS to have the last word in the public domain. They appear to be hovering in the shadows, second-guessing which way the wind will blow. If elected representatives cannot speak their mind about a significant crisis roiling the party, it does not augur well for the party8217;s future.

The inability of the BJP8217;s much flaunted second rung leadership to publicly wrest the initiative from the RSS, casts a special onus on Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He is a leader of enormous stature, responsible for putting the NDA together. He was courageous enough to support Advani immediately after his return from Pakistan. But since then, his position has not seemed to be unequivocal enough to make the difference. Be it on the matter of RSS8217;s attacks on Advani, or on George Fernandes, his close NDA ally, Vajpayee8217;s disapproval and opposition has not rung out clearly enough. This does not bode well for the BJP, and for all those who have a stake in watching it grow into a modern right of centre party. The whole party loses if its inner conflicts are seen to silence or subdue its most articulate or its most respected leaders.