New Delhi, May 21 : Squabbling top leadership, disconnect with grassroot workers and Varun Gandhi’s hate speech – these and many more are the reasons posted by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) online supporters for the party’s debacle in the recent polls.
“I don’t remember the real sequence of events but I would like to give details why did my support withered away. I think the first blow was when the bickering came out in open. The fight between Mr. Rajnath Singh and Mr. Arun Jaitley did more harm than these leaders realised,” says Priyank Barthwal in his post on www.lkadvani.in.
BJP leader L.K. Advani’s website was started on his birthday Nov 8 last year while the party was gearing up for the general elections.
“The people of India have given their verdict. We accept it. For all of you who have been with us through this campaign, the journey continues. Let us pledge to continue working towards the larger goals of nation building and of strengthening our organisation,” reads a message which appears with Advani’s photograph on the site.
Priyank says that he was sure of voting for Advani as prime minister due to Advani’s tough stand on anti-terrorism law but after Varun Gandhi’s speech, raising of Ram temple issue and personal attacks on Manmohan Singh, he changed his mind.
However, other netizens have accused the media of having a bias against the saffron party and asked leaders to start or support new TV channels.
“The post by priyankbarthwal tells us how media created issues out of non-issues and diverted party supporters and fence-sitters. The BJP kept raising issues and the media kept promoting/discussing something trivial and then occasionally they will say BJP has no issues. Unfortunately, it looks like, most people will have to be spoon-fed these points directly, they are not thinking when they sit in front of their TVs,” one post said.
Another BJP supporter going by the online name of ‘hegde127’ said: “As a BJP supporter and hater of undemocratic dynasty politics of Congress, I am not happy that BJP lost. However, I am very happy that Congress won in such a good manner. Whatever media says, I feel that it is MMS (Manmohan Singh) and not Rahul ‘baba’ that is responsible for the Congress win.”
Hegde further counted leadership crisis in the BJP, too much reliance on allies, no ground-level workers and Varun Gandhi’s hate speech as some of the reasons behind the defeat.
“In a way, 10 years out of power is a good punishment for BJP. I hope they learn their lessons and bounce back in 2014. India needs a centre-right party like BJP as the main opposition. I just hope that BJP does not go away like Janta Parivaar. I wish BJP all the best for 2014,” he added.
Another netizen ‘thummer rajkumar’ said: “Dear Advaniji, I, alongwith many readers, are really disappointed and depressed by this unexpected results. Our aim was to see you as the PM of India. But maybe we failed to connect with the voters by not giving solutions to the problems but just entertaining speeches. Hard work was done by leaders, workers, friends of BJP, etc failed to connect with the voters resulting in a resounding victory of the UPA (United Progressive Alliance). The UPA did not deserve this victory at all. We gifted it to them.”
He said that it’s time the party takes some tough decisions.
“Choose opposition leaders like Sushma Swaraj or Yashwant Sinha, revive party in states like Rajasthan, ask Varun to apologise, highlight core issues in speeches, defeat media by giving them bold answers and train spokespersons and most importantly judge everyone on the basis of their performance and remove non-performers.”
Another BJP supporter �mnandan13′ gave his take on the defeat.
“Disconnect with urban middle class, appearing communal, infighting within the party, excessive dependence on (Gujarat Chief Minister) Narendra Modi, inability to suggest solutions for everyday issues, not fielding second rung leaders for Lok Sabha elections, being content with a junior status in states ruled by allies, appearing confused about their main issue (economy).”
A number of BJP’s online supporters pointed out that party leaders are disconnected from grassroot level workers and this needs to be rectified. The netizens advised the party to take tough calls and start the building process for 2014 from today.
“The party should learn to implement the ideas and come back to the contributors by interacting with them,” said a post by advocate S.B. Panda.
— IANS