In her reply to the showcause notice served to her, Uma Bharati stated that the “BJP experiment” had failed. She must have known what was in store for her when she set those words down. Decode, also, her statements, “I am the real BJP”, and “I will create a new Jan Sangh”, and it becomes clear that she is trying to invoke the sympathy of the RSS. She knows that if she is to remain politically relevant in spite of a hostile BJP, she would need the RSS all the way.So far, the RSS has not come to Uma Bharati’s rescue. Committed to “discipline”, it has found it difficult to defend her words and “unilateral” actions. However Sangh leaders, from all accounts, are not very happy with the party’s handling of the Uma Bharati episode, or the way the BJP went about installing the new chief minister in Madhya Pradesh just to keep her out of power. The Sangh has long had a soft corner for her, given her spirited espousal of the Hindutva cause, her constant reiteration that the party had deviated from its ideology, her mass appeal and her sanyasin credentials.Uma Bharati may have had a chance to recover lost ground within the party if the proposed action against her could have been delayed until a new party chief was installed by December end—and if someone like Murli Manohar Joshi, a favourite with the Sangh, were to have taken over the BJP’s leadership. The party’s Gen Next leaders realised this of course. Uma Bharati is, besides, volatile, indiscreet, and unpredictable. She had been attacking the party for its failure to accommodate women, OBCs, Dalits and tribals. She had also been attracting huge crowds in Madhya Pradesh during her recent yatra. All these factors prompted BJP’s second rung leaders to move quickly and ensure that decisive action was taken against her.But there is another reason, too, for the party choosing to keep Uma Bharati away from the Madhya Pradesh chiefministership. Her record as an administrator was very poor, and she had run the state through a handful of favourites in the few months that she was the chief minister. But should a mass leader like Uma Bharati be deprived of chief ministership just because she is a poor administrator? Could Laloo Prasad Yadav have been kept out of power after he won the elections in 2000?There is no doubt that Uma Bharati’s expulsion will impact Madhya Pradesh politics and undermine the BJP in the state. It may also find an echo in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh. Already the former chief minister, Kalyan Singh—also a Lodh—has expressed unhappiness over the way Uma has been treated. Kalyan Singh may not rock the boat again, given the great difficulty he faced in gaining reentry into the BJP after he was expelled, but there can be no hiding the dismay that many OBC cadres in the party feel over the treatment accorded to Uma Bharati.When Kalyan Singh was expelled, he acted as a spoiler for the BJP. Uma Bharati, too, will certainly be one in Madhya Pradesh. Her expulsion, therefore, is good news for the Congress.In many ways, Uma Bharati’s expulsion is not just an action against one maverick leader determined to be deviant. It symbolises the identity crisis engulfing the BJP today. Uma herself summed it up in the sentence she uttered on Sunday at Raisen: “I will prefer to die in Ayodhya than offer flowers at Jinnah’s mazar.” Vajpayee had tried to give the BJP a moderate face during the six years of his premiership. Through his Jinnah remarks, Advani attempted to provide the party with a broader profile. Uma Bharati, on her part, wished to counter these more liberal trends and move the party back into the Hindutva groove. Her expulsion, therefore, could put even more pressure on the BJP to walk the path that the RSS wants it to traverse. In other words, the Uma episode symbolises the confusion that exists in the BJP today and the conflict that could beset it in the post Vajpayee-Advani days.The big question, of course, is whether this move helps the lady herself. Many believe she has played her cards badly. At present, there are few political groups, including the VHP, ready to align with her—unless she is backed by the Sangh. That is why she is making desperate attempts to reach out to the RSS. She is banking on the Sangh’s disillusionment with BJP’s power politics at the cost of the values it has so fervently advocated.Uma Bharati will now need more than just popular appeal to carve her own political space. She will require to build an organisation. She will need money, allies, and a political legacy of her own. It’s certainly a long yatra ahead for her, and one that could be extremely lonely and arduous.
