The dissension in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the aftermath of the recent Lok Sabha elections is hardly news, but what we are now seeing is nothing short of an existential crisis.
The party’s ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has now joined the fray and let it be known that the BJP without Hindutva is almost like putting up Hamlet without the prince of Denmark.
RSS ideologue MG Vaidya has expressed the view that the BJP is free to abandon Hindutva as some within the party are suggesting, but has pointed out that this will not give it any political advantage.
In short, Hindutva is the very core of the party’s being and all this breast-beating about how adherence to that cause cost the party many votes in the elections is missing the point. Vaidya’s taunt is both a warning and a statement of fact that the RSS will remain true to its fundamental values even if the BJP wants to jettison them.
The situation within the party is rather unenviable; Sushma Swaraj has called it ‘volcanic’. Senior leaders like Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha are clearly unhappy with things as they are. Party president Rajnath Singh does not seem to be in control.
He is unable to convince or control colleagues from expressing their dissent in public. Party patriarch LK Advani has maintained a strange silence, and is seemingly unable to reconcile the differences between the seniors and the Gen Next leaders like Arun Jaitley and Swaraj.
What the BJP does not seem to have is a centre of gravity in terms of ideology as well as leadership. A defeated Advani, who failed to enthuse voters with his negative attacks on the prime minister, does not command the respect of the dissenters.
What is even more worrying for the party that Advani, after making feeble noises about quitting after the party’s electoral debacle is still ensconced as the leader in the Lok Sabha.
At other times, the RSS would have played a key role in reconciling the differences among the party leaders and imposed a sense of discipline and direction among the leaders and followers. Vaidya’s statements are an indication that though the RSS is unhappy with the BJP, yet is unable to do much about it.
Though Rajnath Singh, like previous party presidents, is from the RSS ranks, he is ineffectual. It is a crisis that goes far beyond the BJP; the Hindu right by itself is adrift and directionless.
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