Not Modis way

The first was the reappearance in the national consciousness of what some are now,carefully,calling Hindutva terror. Not,fortunately,through another terrorist act,but through various revelations and moves by the government such as transferring the responsibility for investigation of the Samjhauta Express blast to the National Investigation Agency that forced the BJPs ideological gurus in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to respond. One of them,Ram Madhav,told The Sunday Express that the Sangh was concerned that its image would be sullied by the association. The BJP,too,must know that this is the most scalding of hot potatoes; its spokesmen are moving with care,and have avoided directly tackling the question so far. Presumably it is the partys opinion that this is sufficient to insulate it from any blowback. But is it really enough? The second development,from Gujarat,should give them pause. Stung by the arrest of a key aide and the request from the CBI that cases against the former minister of state for home be transferred to another jurisdiction,Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi lashed out in the manner he knows best: he said that this was an insult to Gujarat,and specifically to its lawyers and judges. This sort of irresponsible invective is Modis stock in trade,and no longer surprises. It may even,as before,keep him secure behind the ramparts of his Fortress Gujarat. But nothing is clearer than that his strategy of head-on,rhetorical assault will not work for the BJP nationally. The question of complicity in a faked encounter is a matter of substance and should be,and by all appearances will be,settled in a court of law; and the BJP,as the main opposition party at the national level,is expected to concede this.

If the party takes a longer view,this is instead the moment the BJP has been waiting for,the moment of reinvention. The party should take the conversation higher. It should accept that some fanatics in the Hindutva right may be willing to use terrorist methods. And it could then once again be the party that is tough on terror.