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| Yesterday’s foes, today’s friends | | BJP’s revival plan is headed to nowhere | |
A New Year special on predictions and wish-lists for the next decade appearing in a leading national daily says that this year BJP veteran LK Advani might ask the party leadership to approach a young Nehru-Gandhi scion for revival of party and putting it in position to aspire for regaining power. Despite leadership change this is how the BJP is now being mocked at even by the serious thinkers. They have a reason to feel like this. The BJP led by a new party chief, Nitin Gadkari, has apparently decided to throw out its tall claims to moral fiber by engaging in, without having to admit to it, that political opportunism remains its political creed: yesterday's foes are today's friends. Shibu Soren may not have won the Assembly elections, nor the BJP in Jharkhand, but 18 seats each in a legislature of 81 and with the expected support of many or some of the 13 odd Independents, they could hope to craft a majority in the House. The grouping or alliance of the two parties, the BJP and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, is the largest alliance. Thus, it is fair and square and part of thee BJP's professed "cultural nationalism", whatever that means. What does it mean anyway? "National cultural-ism" of sorts, signifying anything or nothing more than a big hyperbole. Gadkari rolled out his resume with a Master's in law and a management degree. The fixing of things in Jharkhand appears to be his first great fix. Fixing the party in a mess was his mandate from the RSS and he appears to be going flying colours. Gadkari insists that the voters have given some kind of a mandate to Shibu Soren even if he faces grave charges in a court of law, but since he has not yet been found guilty, in legal parlance he would have to be deemed free to form and head a government even if he had to lose his position as a Minister at the Centre a few months ago. If he has not yet resigned from the Lok Sabha, he would be only too pleased to do so now and rule the greener pastures he now presides over. The BJP may be a party on the run after a number of political and electoral debacles and running battles and bickering may have now become its hallmark, but the new party chief, said to be just 52 years old and a bit of political worker from the cradle as his mother took him along on her rounds, could be said to have been in the political business for a long, long time and at least 30 years as an RSS "karyakarta" and BJP or Jana Sangh worker for 30 years by initially delivering Press releases at newspaper offices and trying to be pals with journalists. Gadkari now wants to create a new work culture and desires to go in for a performance audit and infuse values or new values such as engaging in social work or development work. He has tried to use one more hackneyed expression by insisting that BJP would not oppose the Congress just for the sake of being in the opposite camp. Have not the people heard of constructive Opposition before and do they not know that it is a cliché?
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