Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Four days after publicly reprimanding former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha for speaking out against the Arjun Munda government in Jharkhand, the BJP today removed him from the panel of party spokespersons.
BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley informed the media that party president L.K.Advani had ‘‘reconstituted’’ the panel of spokespersons. The only change was the absence of Sinha’s name. Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley continue as the main spokespersons and Prakash Javadekar and Manvendra Singh maintain their position as ‘‘additional’’ spokesmen.
Refusing to spell out why Sinha was dropped, Jaitley said, ‘‘It’s the prerogative of the party president to decide what responsibility is given to whom.’’
But it was clear that the action against Sinha had been prompted by his recent acts of ‘‘gross indiscipline’’, sources said. Before his televised remarks against the ‘‘corrupt and extravagant’’ Jharkhand government, he had criticised Advani’s remarks on Jinnah — once again on television. Sinha was the only senior BJP functionary who not only attacked Advani openly but also questioned his ability to remain Leader of Opposition if he ceased to be party chief.
Although Sinha heeded the party’s June 24 order to not raise internal party issues ‘‘through the media’’, a number of party leaders felt he should not be let off with just a piece of ‘‘advice’’. They prevailed upon Advani to at least divest him of his post as party spokesman to signal the leadership’s displeasure with him. Sinha continues to be a Rajya Sabha MP and a member of the BJP national executive.
Since taking over as BJP chief last October, Advani has failed to come to grips with the ‘‘virus’’ of indiscipline in the party. Removing Sinha as spokesperson is not quite akin to divesting Uma Bharati of the post of general secretary but both actions were ‘‘half-hearted’’ attempts to discipline errant party leaders, sources said.
