The vision thing

Election manifestos, even when posing as 'vision' documents, serve (or are supposed to serve) two basic purposes. One is short-term and election oriented: promises to different voter groups.

The other is more long-term: defining where a party is coming from and where it is likely to go. When it came to power in 1998, and then again 1999, the BJP was perceived as a nationalist and exclusivist party with defensive economic postures, and occupying the farther end of the scale.

Now, after six years in power, the questions are different: has it moved towards the centre, if so how much, has it realised the limitations of the swadeshi philosophy, and is all this a permanent shift or a tactical one that is limited to word play?

The Vision Document provides some clues, starting with the self-conscious play between two colours, saffron and green.

A comparison with what the BJP has said earlier on issues such as Ayodhya, the Uniform Civil Code and Article 370 reveals two things.

One is the influence of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose general approach is consensual rather than confrontationist, though even he has taken harder positions in the past.

The other is the recognition by at least some groups in the party that while extreme positions can be useful in acquiring power, holding on to it requires moderation.

There is therefore nothing surprising in the BJP morphing into something that most people, even if they are not comfortable with it, at least do not feel very uncomfortable with either.

This appears to be the main short-term objective of the document. The long-term objective would be to create the environment ("mahaoul" as Mr Vajpayee would say) for winning the 2009 general election on its own by becoming the main centrist party.

This document lays out the road map for moving towards the centre of the political spectrum. The key test will be whether the party stays this course after Mr Vajpayee (whose photographs pepper the document) is no longer on the scene, and what the party's ideological police will say when the critical choices have to be made.

It is in the nature of such documents to leave the details and the specifics vague. So many things in it are mutually contradictory, especially where the economy is concerned.

Globalisation and self-reliance leave one wondering about what exactly the BJP understands from the two terms. Likewise where agriculture is concerned, there is no mention of internal reform.

Yet the document talks of boosting rural incomes. India is to become a global power in services but without making any significant trade concessions.

Ditto for manufacturing. Millions of jobs are to be created but there is no talk of making the labour markets in the organised sector more flexible.

The result is curious: even as the party appears to be moving towards moderation and centrism politically, it is unable to muster the courage to jettison the notion that growth and distributive justice can be achieved only through massive state intervention.

In that sense, the party seems caught in the old social democrat mould. Perhaps the country will have to wait for the current crop of senior leaders to make way for younger ones before the party begins to appear truly different.

Vajpayee the would-be political liberal does not want to be projected as a wholehearted economic liberal. After all, how many spots can you ask a leopard to change?