New Delhi, June 21: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is finally trying to find out the reasons for its humiliating loss in the Lok Sabha elections at its two-day National Executive in New Delhi.
The National Executive meeting which began on Saturday will conclude on Sunday. The meeting is taking place in the backdrop of numerous letter leaks, angry outbursts rebellion by senior party leaders.
BJP President Rajnath Singh on Saturday came out with his own interpretation of Hindutva and accepted responsibility for the defeat while saying there was no dilution of core character of the party.
While addressing National Executive, Singh reaffirmed BJP’s commitment to Hindutva saying it was inclusive and not exclusive. He also said that successes and failures were always collective in BJP’s tradition and denied that there is any ideological confusion. He also hits out at the leaders like Jaswant Singh and Sudheendra Kulkarni for suggesting that the party lost in the Lok Sabha elections because of Hindutva.
Meanwhile, Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh said that he would not fight any more Lok Sabha elections. The party’s Muslim faces Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Shahnawaz Hussein, too, were on the war path blaming Varun Gandhi as the key factor for the party’s debacle.
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A panel comprising of Outlook Editor-In-Chief Vinod Mehta, BJP Spokesperson Siddharth Nath Singh and former BJP leader KN Govindacharya discussed the situation that BJP finds itself in post General Elections 2009.
Has the BJP really managed to resolve its Hindutva dilemma?
“I don’t think there is any ideological confusion. Ideologically we are what Rajnath Singh has defined. Hindutva is inclusive growth. Hindutva is which Deen Dayal Upadhyayajee has practiced, which he has preached. So there is no confusion. After the loss there has been lot of debate in the media. Articles were written that BJP should desist from Hindutva. Rajnath Singh has spoken against this. Our ideology of Hindutva is inclusive, it is not exclusive. That’s the larger message that has come out from National Executive,” replied Siddharth Nath Singh.
However, the common view is words like soft Hindutva, hardline Hindutva belong to an era gone by but the BJP still insists on using them.
Vinod Mehta claimed that BJP was not serious in its introspection and also blamed those raising the banner of revolt for the poll debacle.
“There is an element of farce about this self flagellation going on in the BJP. Where were these voices, where were these protestors when Varun Gandhi was making that terrible speech? The campaign lasted for five-six weeks. I did not hear Jaswant Singh, Arun Shourie or Sudheendra Kulkarni. They were all defending Varun Gandhi. They were saying maybe the tapes are wrong. Then they were saying the NSA was wrong. Some were acrobatic saying we associate, we disassociate. There are all wisdoms of hindsight. Everybody played a part. They either kept quite or endorsed the wrong. I just want to know where Varun Gandhi fits in this inclusive Hindutva?” asked Mehta.
Singh appreciated Mehta’s views saying, “Vinod Mehta’s question is very pertinent. The Hindutva which the BJP talks of does not discriminate among religions. I am not defending Varun Gandhi. If he has said it needs to be proved and it is definitely not what the Hindutva of the BJP is.”
At the National Executive Rajnath Singh also claimed that the BJP could not communicate its views during the election campaign. Is the problem just lack of communicate or at the level of ideation?
Govindacharya blasted the party and pointed that many of BJP policies went against its ideology.
“It is at the level of lack of conviction and commitment. In my views they are the practitioners of pseudo-Hindutva of which there are two components. One is of insincere approach and second is irresponsible approach. First of all the President should clarify whether in the last 10 years they had deviated from Hindutva or not. Or whatever they were doing was in accordance with the ideology and philosophy of Hindutva. If he is able to explain that and admit whatever he did… for example expansion of liquor shops in Rajasthan, is it conducive to Hindutva?” he said.
Does the BJP have any answer to Rahul Gandhi magic? Is there a leadership crisis within the BJP?
“The culture of BJP is sticking to the ideology and idealism. When these loftier aspects are given good bye the only ambition clashes and ego conflicts remain. That’s what is being seen now,” said Govindacharya.
Mehta said that factionalism was natural in a big party but BJP was not moving with the times even as its core constituency had moved away from the slogan of Hindutva.
“Any party which loses elections like this will obviously have some factional fighting etc and their will be points scored. That is understandable. But the purpose of this so-called introspection is to cover to cover their back. The purpose of this introspection is not to analyse what happened and what didn’t happen. On this whole question of Hindutva it is for the BJP to decide whether beating of women who go to pub is Hindutva, whether burning churches is Hindutva, whether attacking Muslims is Hindutva. The country and BJP’s own urban middle class constituency has moved on in 2009. They are enjoying the benefits of growth. I don’t think this ideology resonates with the BJP’s so called Hindutva. It is upto to the BJP to decide whether they want to remain an extreme fringe party or want to win elections. If they want to win elections they have to move to the centre,” he advised.
However, Singh concluded the debate by claiming that BJP will find the right reason from its poll debacle and come out stronger.
“We are in introspection. We had very good debate in the National Executive, by August we are getting all the state reports. I think we will have very good insight of what went wrong and what needs to be done in the coming times. As far as we have been discussion about Hindutva… Hindutva is a vast subject. It cannot be defined. It is a way of life. Even earlier Hindutva did not mean hitting women or discriminating between religion, neither today and nor tomorrow. It is matter of nationalism,” he said.
–Agencies