Kulkarni paper sparks fresh BJP, RSS debate

Already under fire from his colleagues for his alleged ‘‘undue’’ intellectual influence on BJP chief L K Advani, Kulkarni’s views—enunciated in a lengthy document published in The Indian Express—found no defenders in the BJP today.

Party leaders ranging from the ‘‘moderate’’ Jaswant Singh to ‘‘hardliner’’ Murli Manohar Joshi described them as Kulkarni’s personal views that merit no attention.

While Joshi was more forthright in his criticism, underlining that no debate should seek to undermine the ‘‘fundamental tenets’’ of the party, Jaswant Singh merely said ‘‘these are the individual views of a person at a gathering that had nothing to do with the BJP.’’

Arun Jaitley went a step further, dismissing the Kulkarni document as the ‘‘personal views of an individual at a closed door meeting of free-thinkers. They are certainly not the party’s views.’’

But off-the-record, neither BJP nor RSS insiders were quite so dismissive for two reasons. First, there is little scope for ‘‘personal views’’ in ideologically driven, cadre-based outfits like the BJP, especially when espoused not by a ‘‘free-thinking intellectual’’ but a national officer-bearer of the party. And second, Kulkarni is not just the national secretary of the BJP but also the political secretary to BJP president Advani.

Commenting on Kulkarni’s paper, a BJP functionary said: ‘‘All of us had heard about Kulkarni’s controversial presentation at the Bhopal meet. But what was being just whispered about has now come out in black and white. And we can no longer take it lying down.’’

The party as well as the Parivar, another insider admitted, was in a tizzy on how to deal with the public revelations. ‘‘Kulkarni’s views are simply not acceptable to the rank and file of the BJP. We cannot redefine secularism in terms of Muslim appeasement, which is what Kulkarni’s ideas amount to,’’ he said.

What has rattled the BJP and RSS, sources said, was the degree of influence Kulkarni first exerted on Vajpayee and now on Advani. Arun Jaitley may have described the Bhopal meet as a gathering of ‘‘free-thinkers’’ but it was in fact a meeting—to quote RSS spokesman Ram Madhav who wrote about it in the Organiser—‘‘where eminent journalists, writers and scholars who have the welfare of Hindu society at heart are invited.’’

The meeting was attended, among others, by RSS Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan as well as BJP vice-president Venkaiah Naidu. Advani was slated to present a paper but could not make it to Bhopal.

As such, Kulkarni’s ‘‘heretical’’ views was already known to the top echelons of the Parivar. ‘‘What has unnerved them is that Kulkarni was not merely participating in an academic debate. Advani’s Pakistan pronouncements show that Kulkarni has been trying to implement his line without consulting the party,’’ said a former Swayamsevak.

The publication of Kulkarni’s hitherto confidential paper, sources said, has only provided more ammunition to the anti-Advani camp within the Sangh Parivar.

There will be pressure on Advani—from his supporters in the BJP as well as detractors in the RSS—to jettison Kulkarni in the near future. ‘‘Nothing will happen immediately, but the move to oust Kulkarni from the inner circle of the BJP is certain to gain momentum,’’ a BJP leader said.

The big question before the party is how far will Advani stand by his aide. The BJP chief has in the past given in to party pressure rather than stand by his men, most famously in the case of Govindacharya.

But if Advani’s Pakistan sojourn was part of a much larger attempt to change the BJP’s image and ideological direction, then he may back Kulkarni to the hilt, sections of the party feel. Either way, the BJP is set to witness a much bigger debate on its ideological moorings and political future than the controversy over Jinnah engendered, partymen concede.