Indian politics is a funny, dramatic space. Political news has never stopped being entertaining, and games of scams, allegations, counter-allegations, hysteria, white lies and short-term-memory-loss are regularly played out in front of a nation now used to it. Afterall, if they stopped, won't the newstertainment industry go into a recession!
But still, the ongoing drama in the BJP is at an entirely new level. The way the party is falling apart is both amusing as well as worrying. And the apparent reasons are even more bewildering. Sacked for writing a book? Boy, was Jaswant Singh ever this popular, even during the notorious times of Kandahar. And while on Kandahar, the revelations by Jaswant Singh over the hidden truths of that episode are disgraceful to India, and BJP and Advani in particular. They prove that the "strong leader" Advani, who only a few months ago was hoping to become the PM, is a liar. And funnily enough, the ghost of Kandahar came to haunt him in the campaign only because of their now-oft-questioned strategy (of personally attacking Dr Manmohan Singh and his weakness). Now, it threatens to erode most of the residual faith people of India had in the Leader of Opposition, esp because even Arun Shourie, someone widely respected for his intellect, has supported the revealed 'truth'.
Ostensibly Jaswant Singh has been sacked for praising Jinnah and criticising Sardar Patel (a Congressman who BJP revers!). Outrageous as the intolerance and narrow-mindedness sounds, other than being disrespectful of freedom of speech and thought (as Modi's ban shows), here are a few excerpts from the book that must be read because what they indicate is, that Jinnah was a personality so strong that he needed a country of his own to run to satisfy himself. He wasn't necessarily anti-Hindu, regarded Muslim League as an extension of "himself" and just used the religious issues to get Pakistan carved, because within India and with the INC leadership, he'd never have fulfilled his personal ambitions. That is my reading, and that is not very reverential of a man whose ambition led to so much bloodshed and hatred in the last 60+years!
Again, I'm no expert, and I don't know enough to argue. Greatbong does it better. I probably don't even care about history that much, in these difficult times of the present and uncertainties of the future! Why does BJP care so much?
The drama, as it unfolds, raises serious questions for the BJP. It appears to be a party in serious crisis, with no clear direction on what it stands for and where it wants to go. It is a crisis of leadership, as Vir Sanghvi has brilliantly elucidated. The Hindutva line already appears to give diminishing returns, and Gujarat 2002 have permanently given it a blot it cannot erase or abandon, and anything else makes them sound too much like the Congress and takes away not just their novelty but also the RSS Ashirwad. After Vajpayee, the party has constantly been struggling, and the recent revelations about how Vajpayee wanted to sack Modi, or how Advani stopped him from a number of progressive things casts Advani more and more in the grey, and adds weight to those voices that long held that Vajpayee was a great man, but in the wrong party. Advani maintains his usual stoic silence-of-crisis, and that is worrying.
I'm don't know whether Rajnath Singh should stay or go, or whether there's a better way to enforce party discipline than washing dirty linen in public, or whether the party will split in two. All I know is watching the rebel list grow - from Jaswant to Yashwant to Shourie to Vasundhara Raje to even Sudheer Kulkarni, the principal Opposition party is fast losing credibility and is distracted enough to forget its job of keeping the govt in checks and balances, esp in the absence of Left in the political biosphere these days who did the opposition's job regularly while in Govt in UPA-1. That, worries me.
I know I'm attracting the fanatic bashers brigade to my site to grow offended and abusive, but what the hell, not everybody has stopped believing in "freedom of speech" yet!
But still, the ongoing drama in the BJP is at an entirely new level. The way the party is falling apart is both amusing as well as worrying. And the apparent reasons are even more bewildering. Sacked for writing a book? Boy, was Jaswant Singh ever this popular, even during the notorious times of Kandahar. And while on Kandahar, the revelations by Jaswant Singh over the hidden truths of that episode are disgraceful to India, and BJP and Advani in particular. They prove that the "strong leader" Advani, who only a few months ago was hoping to become the PM, is a liar. And funnily enough, the ghost of Kandahar came to haunt him in the campaign only because of their now-oft-questioned strategy (of personally attacking Dr Manmohan Singh and his weakness). Now, it threatens to erode most of the residual faith people of India had in the Leader of Opposition, esp because even Arun Shourie, someone widely respected for his intellect, has supported the revealed 'truth'.
Ostensibly Jaswant Singh has been sacked for praising Jinnah and criticising Sardar Patel (a Congressman who BJP revers!). Outrageous as the intolerance and narrow-mindedness sounds, other than being disrespectful of freedom of speech and thought (as Modi's ban shows), here are a few excerpts from the book that must be read because what they indicate is, that Jinnah was a personality so strong that he needed a country of his own to run to satisfy himself. He wasn't necessarily anti-Hindu, regarded Muslim League as an extension of "himself" and just used the religious issues to get Pakistan carved, because within India and with the INC leadership, he'd never have fulfilled his personal ambitions. That is my reading, and that is not very reverential of a man whose ambition led to so much bloodshed and hatred in the last 60+years!
Again, I'm no expert, and I don't know enough to argue. Greatbong does it better. I probably don't even care about history that much, in these difficult times of the present and uncertainties of the future! Why does BJP care so much?
The drama, as it unfolds, raises serious questions for the BJP. It appears to be a party in serious crisis, with no clear direction on what it stands for and where it wants to go. It is a crisis of leadership, as Vir Sanghvi has brilliantly elucidated. The Hindutva line already appears to give diminishing returns, and Gujarat 2002 have permanently given it a blot it cannot erase or abandon, and anything else makes them sound too much like the Congress and takes away not just their novelty but also the RSS Ashirwad. After Vajpayee, the party has constantly been struggling, and the recent revelations about how Vajpayee wanted to sack Modi, or how Advani stopped him from a number of progressive things casts Advani more and more in the grey, and adds weight to those voices that long held that Vajpayee was a great man, but in the wrong party. Advani maintains his usual stoic silence-of-crisis, and that is worrying.
I'm don't know whether Rajnath Singh should stay or go, or whether there's a better way to enforce party discipline than washing dirty linen in public, or whether the party will split in two. All I know is watching the rebel list grow - from Jaswant to Yashwant to Shourie to Vasundhara Raje to even Sudheer Kulkarni, the principal Opposition party is fast losing credibility and is distracted enough to forget its job of keeping the govt in checks and balances, esp in the absence of Left in the political biosphere these days who did the opposition's job regularly while in Govt in UPA-1. That, worries me.
I know I'm attracting the fanatic bashers brigade to my site to grow offended and abusive, but what the hell, not everybody has stopped believing in "freedom of speech" yet!
1 comment:
Indian Politics is definitely very funny. Just two election seasons ago, BJP was the leader of the ruling NDA and crying out loud about India Shining!
For BJP to survive, I think they need to bring Modi and his brand of politics to the fore. None of this secular party crap. Stick to what you are! I am not suggesting that this is the best thing for India, but it would probably help the party survive the meltdown that is looking imminent. Whether that would lead to many more Godhras, I don't know.
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