Opinion Modis BJP blues
No proof is needed that other than Narendra Modi,the BJP has nothing new to offer
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No proof is needed that other than Narendra Modi,the BJP has nothing new to offer. And yet,proof of the pathetic bankruptcy of our main opposition party comes almost every week. It comes in the form of one stupid statement or other from senior leaders who should have learned to keep their mouths shut. Some of the utterances of these senior leaders are so very stupid that it sometimes seems as if they are being made deliberately with the idea of ruining whatever chances Modi has of saving the party from yet another ignominious defeat.
Even by the high standards that BJP leaders have set in stupid statements,the demand last week that Amartya Sens Bharat Ratna be confiscated raised the bar. I am no fan of Dr Sens economic ideas and have said before in this column that all he offers by way of new ideas are ideas that have failed in our socialist past. So I am delighted that economists like Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya have taken him on. The debate between these distinguished economists should be welcomed,encouraged and amplified.
Dr Sen must be asked to explain why he believes that all that is needed to save our abysmal public schools and hospitals is more investment. He must be asked why he thinks economic growth is somehow in conflict with higher standards of education and healthcare. He must be asked why he believes that pouring thousands of tonnes of food grain into a broken public distribution system is the solution to malnutrition in Indian children.
What he does not need to be questioned about is why he thinks Narendra Modi is not fit to be prime minister. He has a right to support whoever he wants,and he clearly thinks that Rahul Gandhi is more likable and so more suited for this job. By demanding that his Bharat Ratna be taken away because he does not like Modi,the BJP shows an intolerance that is worthy of the Taliban. Whenever this kind of intolerance becomes public,because of some new stupid statement,the BJP loses those who may want to vote for the party in 2014 because of the dismal straits to which the Sonia-Manmohan government has brought India in the past nine years.
Things are so bad that it would be understating the case to say that the Congress and its leaders have never looked so bad. The three most important leaders almost never speak on matters of policy,politics or governance and are usually seen only at election time when they are brought out like festival deities. Those who speak for them have rarely offered a more compelling reason to vote the Congress other than that the Gandhi family has made sacrifices.
So had the BJP not spent its decade in opposition staging walkouts from Parliament it would today be in a really strong position to win the next general election. If it is not,it is mostly because the team that the partys deluded patriarch has gathered around him consists mostly of mediocrities and has-beens. So it is no surprise at all that when compared with this caboodle,Modi should seem like a shining star.
His problem is that he is now forced to rely on that same bunch of mediocrities that occupy high party positions in Delhi. If he wants to become prime minister he is going to need to throw them all out and gather around him men and women with more popular appeal. And,with values that are more in keeping with the traditions of this country. Since he has declared himself a proud Hindu,he would do well to examine the traditions of every Indic religion so that he can rediscover that their fundamental principle is tolerance and the right to question. This is the exact opposite of the Abrahamic religions that consider blasphemous any questioning of their prophets and sacred books.
In political terms,Modi needs to remember that India is a democracy and that every Indian has the right to openly support or not support whom he wants. Dr Sen is far from being the only Indian who does not like Modi. There are millions like him who see Modi as a dangerously divisive figure and they have every right to express their views freely and without fear of retribution. The demand that Dr Sen be made to return his Bharat Ratna if a BJP government wins in 2014 has served not just to demean the BJP but to pump new life into Congress spokesmen who have lately been finding it harder and harder to sound cheerful in public.
If Modi wants to rectify the damage,he could begin by spending a few hours in BJP headquarters sweeping out the chaff. It is an exercise that is long overdue.
Follow Tavleen Singh on Twitter @ tavleen_singh
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