A tactical retreat

Meetings of the National Executive and the National Council of the BJP formalise the dilution of the party's hardline agenda for now, owing to considerations of realpolitik.

THE compulsions of running a coalition government at the Centre have forced the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to play down, for the time being, its commitment to its stated goals of building a Ram temple at Ayodhya, introducing a uniform civil code and ab rogating Article 370 of the Constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir. This was manifest most recently at the BJP's National Executive and National Council meetings from December 27 to 29, 1999 in Chennai. The draft of the Chennai Dec laration, the centrepiece of the conference, stated: "The constituents of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) contested the recent parliamentary elections on the basis of a common agenda... Each and every activist of the party must fully understand th at the BJP has no agenda other than the common agenda of the NDA." In an attempt to dispel doubts that the BJP has a "hidden agenda" on the three core issues, the declaration added: "As the leader of the NDA, it is the paramount responsibility of the BJP to ensure that there is neither any dilution nor deviation from the common agenda."

However, the attempt to play down these issues has drawn criticism from hardliners in the party, who have accused the leadership of diluting the party's ideology and submitting to the dictates of coalition partners. They insisted that the operative sente nce in the draft of the declaration, which reads, "Each and every activist of the BJP must fully understand that the BJP has no agenda other than the common agenda of the NDA," be changed to read, "The BJP expressed confidence that every BJP worker under stands that our agenda for governance is the national agenda for good governance."

The 16-page draft declaration, which spelt out the tasks before the party, the Government and the people "to build a resurgent nation in the 21st century", was passed by a show of hands. The party's national president Kushabhau Thakre said that several a mendments proposed by the delegates would be incorporated in the final version, which would be released in New Delhi.

Union Home Minister L.K. Advani said that the BJP had "traversed through several phases of transformation and this is one such phase." This phase of transformation, he said, was "related to a proper assessment of the changing circumstances in the country ." He argued that "the basic approach from the very beginning is that we should not get imprisoned by dogma." He described the Chennai Declaration as "a wonderful blend of national expectations with regional aspirations." Thakre endorsed Advani's call to delegates "not to get imprisoned by dogma". BJP workers, he said "understand" these issues; it was the media that sought to divide the party into "hardline" and "moderate" sections.

There were important reasons why the BJP beat a retreat on the three explosive issues; that the perceived repudiation of a hardline agenda (for now) was formalised by the declaration at a convention in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, was also signifi cant. Plans by a BJP member of the Lok Sabha to introduce a private member's bill for the adoption of a uniform civil code, and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ram Prakash Gupta's reported remarks that the Ram temple issue remained on the BJP's agenda, had alarmed a few of the BJP's allies, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK). A week prior to the convention, the three parties had made it clear that they would o ppose any move to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya or introduce a uniform civil code. After the DMK's General Council meeting in Chennai on December 18, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi declared that his party would the "oppose" th e construction of a Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. The general council adopted a resolution stating that the DMK "will not allow either the BJP or any constituent of the NDA at the Centre to implement any private programme outside of the com mon agenda."

The MDMK General Council, headed by Vaiko, which met on December 19 in Chennai, resolved that it "will firmly fight any effort from any quarter... to bring in measures such as the uniform civil code and harm the secular fabric" of the country. PMK founde r Dr. S. Ramadoss too declared his opposition to a uniform civil code.

The BJP's leadership, therefore, was at pains to convince the party's allies that it would not deviate from or dilute the common agenda. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee, who could not attend the conference because of the crisis caused by the hijacking of th e Indian Airlines aircraft, said in a message to the delegates that as the largest constituent of the NDA, the BJP had a "historical responsibility to make coalition governance a success." For this, he said, it was necessary that "we faithfully implement the common manifesto of the NDA without any dilution or deviation."

The BJP's general secretaries, K.N. Govindacharya, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Narendra Modi, echoed these views. Venkaiah Naidu said, "We have a separate jhanda (party flag) but a common agenda (with the NDA). We do not subscribe to anything which does not figure in the NDA agenda." Quoting from the Chennai Declaration, Venkaiah Naidu asserted: "Whatever is there in the National Agenda for Governance is our agenda. There is no question of raising other issues."

Govindacharya said that the party had reiterated its commitment to the National Agenda for Governance and had imposed a five-year moratorium on issues that do not find a place in the National Agenda.

Informed sources in the BJP said that despite the party's long-standing commitment to the three "core issues", it could not take up these issues now in the absence of a majority for the BJP in the Lok Sabha. Pointing out that the BJP had not released a s eparate manifesto for the recent parliamentary elections but had stated that it would abide by the NDA's manifesto, the sources said: "This means that the BJP's own agenda is there. Until we acquire the necessary strength to form a government on our own, we cannot implement our agenda. For this government, therefore, the NDA manifesto is our manifesto."

THE absence of many top leaders of the BJP at the conference, owing to the hijacking crisis, rendered it a low-key affair. Advani flew in on the last day to add some pep to the proceedings. Additionally, the death of former President Shankar Dayal Sharma led to the cancellation of a scheduled public meeting on the Marina, in which Vajpayee, Advani, Karunanidhi, Vaiko, Ramadoss and others were to take part. This disappointed the DMK and the other allies which had hoped that the rally would give them a he ad start in the run-up to the campaign for the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections due in April 2001. It was left to film stars Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Nitish Bharadwaj, Mukesh Khanna, Vyjayantimala Bali and "Vennira Adai" Nirmala to lend some glamour to the conference.

The expulsion of former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh from the party cast a shadow on the convention. Thakre noted that no important leader from the BJP had opted to go with Kalyan Singh. Only one of the 91 district presidents of the BJP in U ttar Pradesh had joined him; none of the 176 BJP MLAs had left the left the party with Kalyan Singh.

THE choice of Chennai as the venue for the convention was significant. Venkaiah Naidu reasoned that the choice reflected the party's desire to consolidate its recent electoral gains in the South and expand its base; in truth, the conference was aimed at winning the support of youths in Tamil Nadu. Accoring to H. Raja, general secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, and C.P. Radhakrishnan, party MP from Coimbatore, the conference wanted to mobilise the youth in Tamil Nadu who, they claimed, were inc reasingly attracted to the BJP's nationalism and Vajpayee's leadership, especially after Kargil. (In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won four of the six seats it contested in Tamil Nadu; additionally, its candidate was defeated by a margin of les s than 900 votes in Tenkasi.)

Raja said, "This is a good occasion to show the newly acquired strength of the BJP in Tamil Nadu. The State unit bid for this conference. We wanted the National Council meeting to be held in Chennai in order to give a spurt to the growing popularity of t he BJP in Tamil Nadu." Raja hinted that Chennai was also chosen because the Assembly elections were approaching.

M.N. Sukumar Nambiar, president of the Chennai unit of the BJP and joint organiser of the conference, said the convention was "a milestone" for the State unit. "When the all-India leadership allows the National Council to be held in Chennai, it means the State unit has come of age. It is a recognition of the fact that the leadership has developed here."

Informed sources in the BJP said that the Chennai unit would hold a rally after a month and that the BJP's alliance with the DMK, the MDMK, the PMK and other parties would hold good for the Assembly elections too.

Proceedings at the conference had no sparkle, and although 68 speakers gave their views on various subjects, the cut and thrust was missing. There was no discussion on important issues such as land reforms, foreign policy and the Comprehensive Test Ban T reaty (CTBT).

Several delegates spoke of the increasing alienation felt by BJP workers. Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and Rajya Sabha member T.N. Chaturvedi wanted BJP workers to be given "due importance". Babulal Balwant from Madhya Pradesh said t hat as long as the entry of multinational companies to India continued, all talk of a swadeshi model of development was mere rhetoric.

An exclusive session of elected members of the BJP National Council discussed the Jana Krishnamurthy report on the reforms in the party's constitution. They endorsed the committee's recommendation that the tenure of the party's national president be limi ted to one term of three years, instead of two terms of two years each as at present. The new norm in respect of the tenure will apply not only to the national president but local, mandal, district and State presidents of the BJP. Thakre said: "My interp retation is that my term is over." Organisational elections in the party are due in April.