In Parivar war, a new bombshell

Pointing out that his Bhopal paper was unrelated to Advani’s Pakistan visit, Kulkarni writes: ‘‘By publishing it now, The Indian Express added a new dimension to the debate.’’ Though its publication had the potential ‘‘to further reinforce misunderstanding about me within the party’’, Kulkarni, BJP national secretary, asserts that he fully stands by his views.

His letter is even harsher on the VHP. ‘‘The BJP must distance itself completely from extremist elements in the VHP, who have derailed the Hindu movement, brought a bad name to the BJP, and weakened the larger nationalist cause.’’

The timing of the disclosure—on the eve of the crucial RSS meet in Surat slated to discuss Advani’s recent ‘‘ideological deviations’’—created a stir in BJP circles with opinion divided on whether Kulkarni would be immediately sacked for his heretical advice. Or be backed by Advani in the escalating ideological war that began with the BJP chief’s controversial comments on Jinnah and related issues in Pakistan last month. The disclosure of the letter, sources said, has sharpened the battle lines manifold. Either Advani sacks Kulkarni and signals an ideological rapprochement with the RSS as well as aggrieved sections within the BJP or backs Kulkarni and puts his own job—if not future—at risk. A third way, party sources admit, seems increasingly unlikely.

Kulkarni’s letter, emailed to Advani from Mumbai on June 24, could be deemed a resignation letter since he offers ‘‘to step down as a member of the team of office-bearers if that is what my senior colleagues want’’ and adds, ‘‘I shall continue to work for you as an ordinary worker of the party.’’

However, when contacted in Mumbai today, Kulkarni denied that he had offered to resign. ‘‘I have written a letter to my party president communicating my views on certain issues. It is not a resignation letter, I have not resigned,’’ Kulkarni, who is returning to the capital tomorrow, emphatically said.

Kulkarni’s assertion only underlined that the crux of the two-page letter was not his two lines offering to step down as national secretary of the BJP (but not his other post of political secretary to the BJP chief) but his lengthy advice to Advani on how to reorient the party and ‘‘also the larger polity in the country.’’

For Kulkarni’s legion of detractors in the BJP, the letter only confirms the ‘‘pernicious influence’’ the former Marxist has sought to exercise over first Atal Behari Vajpayee and now Advani. Several BJP leaders who have been gunning for Kulkarni since Advani’s Pakistan visit feel that his latest missive will leave the party with no choice but to sack him.

Senior BJP leaders, on the condition of anonymity, accused Kulkarni of ‘‘leaking’’ the letter on the eve of the Surat meeting in order to ‘‘go out in a blaze of secular glory.’’ According to them, the BJP leadership had already decided to sack Kulkarni as part of the compromise formula worked out between the Advani camp and the RSS.

Kulkarni was to be the ‘‘scapegoat’’ to enable Advani to mend his strained ties with the RSS.

However, the fact that no action was taken against Kulkarni although Advani received his letter on June 24 indicates that the BJP chief shares, if not fully endorses, Kulkarni’s views on how to recast the party, sources said.

Advani has made no public retraction of his comments in Pakistan and has privately indicated that he is not willing to cow down to RSS dictates but continue his new experiment to change the course of the BJP, sources close to him said.

Stressing the need to reassert the BJP’s ideals (of resurgent nationalism, strengthening of democracy, good governance etc), Kulkarni says, ‘‘You, more than anyone else in the party or the country today, can espouse these ideals powerfully and credibly.’’

Referring to the Pakistan visit, he adds, ‘‘In the days and months to come, you should articulate these ideals with the same passion, conviction and consistency (the passion, conviction and consistency of a destiny-driven man) that were so strikingly evident in all your activities and communication in Pakistan.’’

The encomiums to the Pakistan visit is calculated to enrage the RSS, VHP and large sections of the BJP who are still seething against Advani’s ‘‘activities and communication’’ in Pakistan.