New Delhi, November 27: Three months after Jaswant Singh and Arun Shourie rocked the BJP with scathing indictments of the party and its leaders, another crack has appeared in its parliamentary wing. On Tuesday, Lok Sabha MP from Bihar Uday Singh stunned a meeting of the parliamentary party with an impassioned speech protesting the state of drift in the BJP and the attempt to foist a leadership change from outside.
Singh did not name the RSS, but it was clear to those present that he was referring to the Sangh’s poorly-hidden efforts to get LK Advani to step down from the post of leader of the opposition and replace party president Rajnath Singh with a person of its choice. “Who will be our party president and our leader in parliament should be decided by us who are members of the BJP and its elected representatives, not by anybody else,” Singh said.
The MP also protested RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s public criticism of the BJP and its leadership, pointing out that it was demoralising the party and damaging its image. He quoted Bhagwat’s recent statements suggesting that the BJP go in for chemotherapy or angioplasty to resurrect itself. “Why are we being given advice like this?” he demanded and made a strong plea for Advani to reassert his leadership and take charge of the situation.
Singh refused to comment when contacted but his scorching remarks have lit a fire in the BJP and caused a split between MPs who owe allegiance to the RSS and those who came into the BJP from other political streams. Singh himself was in the Congress and joined the BJP prior to the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. The schism was evident when he finished speaking. He drew applause from the non-Sanghis in the parliamentary party but MPs from the saffron stream remained silent. They were clearly taken aback by Singh’s audacity in breaking the parivar’s unwritten code to never criticise the RSS. “He doesn’t understand the way we function,” a senior BJP leader said. “There are no differences between the RSS and us. We always sort out issues through discussion and dialogue.”
But Singh’s outburst has set the non-Sangh MPs in the BJP thinking. “We too are worried at what is happening to the party. We understand that the RSS is important but it should concentrate on its social and cultural work and leave politics to the BJP,” said one.
Interestingly, after Singh dropped the bomb, Rajnath Singh and Venkaiah Naidu tried to douse the flames. Rajnath said everyone would be consulted before his successor is named, while Naidu wanted the discussion closed on the plea that the parliamentary party was not the right forum to debate issues raised by Singh.
The Bihar MP was critical of the Shimla chintan baithak held in August. He said all those who fought the elections, winners and losers, should have been called to the baithak to analyse the results of the 2009 polls. He also raised questions about the BJP’s so-called ideology.
“Unfortunately, the ideology is understood only by 2/10 people when 8/10 should understand it,” he exclaimed.
–Agencies–