The old new BJP

Will the real BJP stand up and identify itself? A series of statements by party leaders in the last few days has done nothing to clarify ...

Will the real BJP stand up and identify itself? A series of statements by party leaders in the last few days has done nothing to clarify its position on Ayodhya and other core Hindutva issues. It would appear the party is being buffeted by all the old contradictions and does not know how to cope with being committed and uncommitted to Ayodhya at the same time. Atal Behari Vajpayee is the liberal face of the organisation and for that reason the most acceptable BJP leader in the country. He says, as he has often said before, that the temple, Article 370 and a uniform civil code form no part of his agenda. He asks to be taken at his word and many sensible people would be inclined to. However, within days not only is Vajpayee publicly contradicted by the likes of Govindacharya and Kalraj Mishra but Venkaiah Naidu is made to retract a statement suggesting that the Ayodhya project has been given up altogether. No doubt Govindacharya and others feel the need to rally the troops and reassure them that Ayodhya is nota lost cause. But in doing so these leaders undermine Vajpayee8217;s promise that a government headed by him will not pursue the Hindutva programme overtly or covertly. As a result of all this and regardless of the fact that the BJP has formally adopted the manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance in which Ayodhya etc are conspicuous by their absence, doubts about the party8217;s true intentions persist. Rather than gloss over it, BJP leaders would do well to recognise there is a problem of credibility here and do something about it.

As earlier intra-party battles made obvious, the BJP is not of one mind on a host of issues. On Ayodhya, genuine liberals are heavily outnumbered by hardliners who have other ideas but are compelled by circumstances to be pragmatic. But there has been no introspection or new thinking in the light of the experience of the last year of actually governing a pluralistic country. Nothing has apparently been learned from Murli Manohar Joshi8217;s failed attempt to tailor education policy orthe terrible trouble caused by the VHP8217;s aggressive version of Hindutva. The hardliners make no pretence that they toe Vajpayee8217;s line out of conviction. They do so because at this stage it is expedient to back someone who looks like a winner. Thus the liberals in the BJP look like being the hardliners8217; Trojan horse unless some serious effort is made to straighten out thinking within the party and the Sangh Parivar. Double-speak is no solution. At best it confuses, at worst it deceives. It creates the impression that somehow the Hindutva brigade will be able to prevail over liberal elements in the BJP and over its coalition allies and revives fears of a hidden agenda. Unless the party can confront its internal contradictions and resolve them, Vajpayee8217;s credibility in the country and the party8217;s is bound to suffer. The solution lies first, in whole-hearted commitment to the NDA manifesto. Second, the BJP should seek a consensus on controversial issues in good faith which means keeping an open mind and beingprepared to abandon old shibboleths. Third, its leaders should yank the rank and file away from the past and towards the new millennium. If none of this is possible, the BJP should tell the people in all honesty what it actually stands for.