Column

Mohammed Ali Jinnah, wherever he may be, would surely have stopped gloating by now. All said and done, it is abundantly clear that he was only an excuse, not the reason for the recent turmoil in the BJP.

After weeks of frenetic — and often mindless — debate, therefore, it is more or less status quo for the major players in the Partition saga, while the BJP stands in utter disarray. It would be puerile, of course, to believe that the party is imploding. That is neither likely nor desirable. Indeed, single-party domination is too stifling to even contemplate in the modern political milieu.

Whether — and how quickly — the party can resurrect itself from the current crisis to play the role of opposition effectively is now the issue. Upheavals in organisations are hardly novel and not always undesirable if they lead to fresh thought and thrust. The BJP has to find a fresh locus standii to win back lost credibility.

It has been furiously argued that the party has suffered because of an old leadership. While that is true to an extent, advanced age is not so much the villain as the stagnancy in worldview of the rank and file which has also been out of sync with how the country has evolved over the past couple of decades.

The BJP’s politics has been driven by rebuke, mistrust and excessive peddling of paranoia. That was hardly going to resonate in a country with almost 60 per cent people under the age of 35, wanting to look to the future with optimism and hope, not despair.

Such narrowness of thought mitigated the BJP’s several achievements when briefly in power, but to which the party leadership was oblivious because it was taken in by its own sanctimonious claptrap.

When defeat came first in 2004, the BJP was nonplussed, but refused to see the writing on the wall. In 2009, the setback was by a bigger margin, and unless the party comes to terms with the aspirations of the people it hopes to lead, there may be nothing to read because there might be no wall to write on.
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I am often amazed at how easily the marvels of modern technology are derided by those who think that any progress is bad, if not downright evil. Hey, what would life be without the internet, or for that matter a cellphone? Hazardous, believe me.

On a recent visit to Ladakh we were caught in a blizzard while returning back to Leh from the Nubra Valley. Snow had completely covered the torturously narrow and winding route, and with even the seemingly sturdy SUV slipping every now and then, our hearts were in our mouths. “Don’t worry,’’ said our magnificent driver Jimmy, “I have seen worse days.’’ His greater concern was getting in touch with his wife, who had sent him several smses to which he had been unable to respond because the signal had collapsed.

Once he had successfully maneuvered us out of the danger zone, Jimmy relaxed.“This is the most wonderful thing that has happened to me,’’ he said, pointing to his hand-held instrument. “My wife fights with me all the time to give up driving, but I can now tell her that all’s well.’’ He did, and after that also spoke to fellow drivers and sundry others.

Soon a community of people who could have been adversely affected by the blizzard
were now rest assured, thanks to a contraption that links people so swiftly and effectively.Yet next morning, Jimmy was still a little downcast. “Thanks to the phone, my wife’s worry vanished, but she still fought with me.”

That, of course, is a different story altogether.