The other agenda

Yes,the Bharatiya Janata Party finds itself in a major crisis. It is unprecedented in the history of the party and of its predecessor,the Jan Sangh: which,following its founders death in 1953,had a succession of presidents till Deen Dayal Upadhyaya secured his position as its leader,but with no real questioning of its ideological moorings; while,in the Atal-and-Advani age,the party oscillated between Gandhian socialism and full-throated Hindutva,but without chaos at the top. Thus it has no tradition to call on when handling both together,a severe handicap for a party of tradition.

But severe and unprecedented or not,it must not and should not be paralysing. Post- elections,the party has never looked like getting its act together enough to live up to its responsibilities. And responsibilities there are. It has,let us not forget,116 seats in the Lok Sabha,and the consequent duty to be a hard-working and engaged opposition. It is,for better or for worse,the other pole of Indias democracy. Where precisely that pole is located is doubtful right now; but that is,in some ways,irrelevant to the partys immediate public task.

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The divisions in the BJP,both those of personality and those of ideology,neednt be swept under the carpet. Indeed,the party should sort those out. But those are matters for the party organisation; the parliamentary party must remember it has a parallel and unrelated task,to participate in Indias deliberative democracy. The ruling coalition has announced an ambitious set of targets,and intends that its first hundred days contain several further announcements. The budget session of parliament is likely to be stuffed with old and new business. Even as the BJP solves its internal problems,let those disagreements and arguments be open,but limited in scope; subjecting the governments spending plans or new legislative plans up to scrutiny is a job that is clearly independent of the partys internal disagreements. India cannot afford a situation in which the government winds up not having to defend its agenda to a party with an equivalent,pan-India vision. And who knows? In the course of articulating its opposition to the UPA,the BJP might discover what it does,indeed,stand for.