The post-mortem,and the burial

After its defeat in the general election,the BJP sent over 40 observers to meet grassroots workers in various states and evaluate the partys poor performance....

After its defeat in the general election,the BJP sent over 40 observers to meet grassroots workers in various states and evaluate the partys poor performance. It was supposed to be an elaborate exercise and the findings were to be discussed at a chintan baithak to arrive at the future course of action. The internecine infighting in the party however came to the fore right at the outset.

As it happens,the exercise to get a comprehensive report prepared on the partys poll debacle has been mired in controversy from the word go. In its national executive,when the BJP constituted a three-member panel headed by party vice-president Bal Apte for the exercise,it also prepared a questionnaire to elicit the views of the partys cadres. While three questions herein were generic in nature pertaining to views on the BJPs rout,vision for the partys future,leadership,two questions were framed in a manner that some thought were directly aimed at former party general secretary Arun Jaitley,who was looking after the partys election and media management.

The two questions asked about what went wrong with the partys election management and media management. The camp led by Jaitley thought these questions were framed in a manner that would make him appear the villain of the piece. The camp led by party president Rajnath Singh,on the other hand,argued these were the two most crucial issues in the elections.

All in all,the findings and the responses of the party cadres were varied,but certain key issues were visible across the country:

l Good governance was cited as the key issue in states like Chhattisgarh where the BJP did exceedingly well.

l The cadres felt that the NDA governments achievements and Atal Bihari Vajpayees role should have found a place in the campaign more prominently.

l Workers came down heavily on the infighting among the party brass the Rajnath Singh-Arun Jaitley tiff was cited by many to drive home the point.

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l Party cadres said that there must not be any ideological dilution or confusion. This,interestingly,meant different things in different places. The dominant view in Uttar Pradesh veered towards ideology but the majority here too wanted Hindutva to be explained in terms of a way of life. The thrust in most other states was on good governance. Varun Gandhi,whose Pilibhit speech earned uniform condemnation in the party throughout the country,found some support in Uttar Pradesh alone.

l While a handful raised questions about the projection of L K Advani as prime ministerial candidate,a far greater number of activists said that the personalised attacks on Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh by various BJP leaders boomeranged.

These issues have now,however,been reduced to mere academic interest with the three-member Bal Apte Committee with P Muralidhar Rao and Chandan Mitra as members planning to suggest broad points to flag off the discussion at the chintan baithak,following which a comprehensive report shall be prepared. The feedback from the states where the BJP fared poorly,however,shows the simmering discontent among the cadres. A look at the key findings from the states where the BJP had once a strong presence but came a cropper in this election:

Uttar Pradesh

The BJP won 10 seats of the 80 in the state,which once sent its largest contingent to the Lok Sabha. The cadres,during their interactions with four observers Ravi Shankar Prasad,Karuna Shukla,Kiran Maheshwari and Vikram Verma said that organisational decay was to blame for the partys dismal performance. They squarely held party president Rajnath Singh and his acolyte Ramapati Ram Tripathi,whos the state BJP unit chief,for the sorry state of affairs in the party. Infighting was cited as another big reason. Many among the Uttar Pradesh unit wanted the party to stick to Hindutva.

Delhi

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The dilemma faced by the BJP today was best explained by Delhi once the partys citadel. Groupism and infighting were uniformly cited by everyone as the prime reason for the partys defeat. While the old guard emphasised ideology and Hindutva as the way forward,younger elements stressed on good governance. The personalised attacks on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh too were cited as the reason why the party fared badly in the elections.

Rajasthan

While infighting and groupism were a constant of BJP feedbacks from across the states,Rajasthan is the only one where the RSS was accused of working against the party during elections. The central observers were also told that the infighting in the state unit that had resulted in the partys defeat in the Assembly elections had not been addressed by the central leadership. Many party bigwigs who hail from the state and were kept in good humour by the central leadership were held responsible for the partys demise in the state.

Uttarakhand

Infighting was cited as the biggest reason here too for the 0-5 embarrassment faced by the party in the hill state. The cadre said that apart from the central leadership being hopelessly divided,the state unit was virtually split down the middle,and they were busy fighting each other. The state government being inaccessible to the aam aadmi too was cited as a reason for the defeat. The cadre also wanted accountability from the centre they demanded to know if the observers themselves were capable of winning elections.