Weak challenger

Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, L.K. Advani and Arun Jaitley at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting in New Delhi on November 20 to work out strategies for the winter session of Parliament.-V.V. KRISHNAN

The developments in the BJP in the run-up to and in the first few days of the winter session of Parliament highlight the Sangh Parivars ideological and political confusions.

THE role of an opposition party is to expose, unravel, prod, agitate, topple and ultimately replace the government party. Many a time the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have put to good use this traditional definition of an opposition party. But Indias principal opposition party today has failed even to make an attempt to live up to this definition. This failure has been a repeating story for the party since its defeat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections in spite of its India Shining campaign.

The developments in the past couple of months should certainly qualify as being the nadir in its multidimensional political misadventures. What this period has exemplified is an all-round political bankruptcy spreading across matters relating to ideology, political practice, inner-party organisation, and coalition management. The leadership of the party and its commanders in the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS)-led Sangh Parivar stand exposed for their ideological and political confusions and mismanagement of organisational affairs. The developments in the party in the run-up to the winter session of Parliament and during it present a definitive study of this situation.

One of the key happenings in Parliament during the winter session was the defeat of a motion moved by the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj of the BJP, against foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail trade. The Congress-led ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won the vote on FDI in multi-brand retail, with 253 votes against the motion and 218 in favour of it.

At the end of the vote, Sushma Swaraj claimed that the government had suffered a moral defeat even though it had more members supporting its position. Her argument was that 22 MPs who participated in the debate on the motion belonged to 18 parties and that 14 of these parties had earlier taken positions against FDI in retail. While she sought to present this analysis of the debate to underscore a moral victory for the principal opposition party, a closer look at the content of the debate exposed the BJPs own ideological and political confusions on the issue.

BJPs stand on FDI

The verbal exchanges between Sushma Swaraj and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma during the debate highlighted the point that both the big parties in reality were supportive of FDI in retail and that the BJPs opposition now was just a case of political expediency.

Sushma Swaraj was found wanting in her response to Sharmas question as to what had brought about the change in the position of the BJP now after the party had initiated moves for FDI in retail when it was in power. In many ways, this moment of embarrassment was suggestive of the BJPs many other similarities with the ruling Congress on matters ranging from corruption in high places to administrative failures in the offices held by the party, including in State governments run by the party.

In fact, the party recently had to face organisational difficulties similar to that in the Congress. Corruption in the higher echelons of the party was a key issue in this regard. There were allegations against party president Nitin Gadkari himself with regard to friendly loans for his investments and ghost investors in his business empire.

Three senior party Members of Parliamentrenowned lawyer Ram Jethmalani and former Union Ministers Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinhacalled for Gadkaris resignation. Jethmalani was the most vociferous of the three and he minced no words in saying that Gadkaris leadership at the moment was extremely detrimental to the BJP as it had virtually divested the party of all moral authority in running a campaign against the corruption of the Congress.

The reaction from the party leadership to the call made by the three senior MPs highlighted how things had indeed become whimsical in a party once known for its discipline. Jethmalani was suspended and issued a show-cause notice, but there was no action against the other two. Jethmalani responded in his characteristically acerbic manner. He wrote a letter to Gadkari stating, I am convinced that you are firmly set on the path of suicide and you are determined to drag the whole party with you. Vinash kal vipreet buddhi [when one is set to be doomed, he loses his mind] is an old maxim.

An aide of Jethmalani had this wry comment to make on the evidently different treatment that Jethmalani had received for saying the same thing aired by Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha: The BJP used to call itself a party with a difference because it prided itself on its organisational systems and implementation of the same. Now also it continues to be a party with a difference, but in the use of different yardsticks for different people while enforcing party discipline. This is indeed a strange turn in the affairs of the party. Indications are that a sizable section of the party, including senior leaders such as Lal Krishna Advani, agrees with this assessment.

RSS backing

However, these senior leaders have not openly expressed their views. The most important reason for this is the overwhelming support that Gadkari has been receiving from the majority of RSS leaders. The RSS top brass, particularly its sarsanghchalak Mohanrao Bhagwat, has thrown its weight behind Gadkari. According to RSS insiders, this is essentially on account of the conviction that Gadkari is best suited to carry out the long- and medium-term plans the Sangh Parivar has for the BJP. In fact, the RSS has been trying to implement what it terms as a course correction in the BJP since its defeat in the 2004 elections.

The path to course correction is highlighted in the document Tasks Ahead: Immediate and Long-Term. It seeks to correct what it describes as erosion of commitment to the principles of collective leadership and cooperation as well as the rise of individualism, self-promotion, lack of consultation and coordination, and absence of camaraderie at various levels of the party. The RSS initially entrusted Rajnath Singh with carrying out these rectification measures, but since then evaluated that he had failed in the task. This assessment led to the elevation of Gadkari as president.

According to RSS insiders, despite the many deficiencies in Gadkaris style of functioning and the charges of inappropriate business deals against him, Bhagwat continues to favour him. And that is essentially why the RSS is preparing the grounds for a second term for Gadkari even by amending the BJPs constitution.

A section of the Sangh Parivar says this is because the RSS top brass is in the know of every single business detail of Gadkari and is convinced about the rightness of the BJP presidents acts. However, there are many others within the Parivar who believe that Bhagwats lenience towards Gadkari is irrational. While there has been no denouement on this issue, the fact remains that a state of disarray has come to characterise the affairs of the Sangh Parivar.

Naturally, this disarray is reflected in the role of the BJP as the principal opposition party and more subtly in the tussles within to grab the slot of the prime ministerial candidate. Leaders from Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi to parliamentary party leaders such as Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to veteran L.K. Advani are in the race for this position, though all of them deny their aspirations officially even while making moves to advance their respective cases.

Recently, Sushma Swaraj came up with a public endorsement of Modis credentials as the prime ministerial candidate and this created a hullabaloo. It was interpreted that the BJP was finally accepting Modis national leadership. But the very next day this was promptly denied, underscoring the organisational disarray in the party.

Clearly, the BJP is nowhere near fulfilling the role defined for the principal opposition party in classical textbooks. Sections within the party fervently hope that things will turn around after the possible victories in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. (The results of the elections held to the Himachal Pradesh Assembly in November and the impending one in Gujarat will be out on December 20.)

But, as the Jethmalani aide told Frontline, those victories could also create new dilemmas for the party and the Sangh Parivar, both politically and organisationally.