At some stage in what has become a sorry mess, the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must sit together and ask themselves how things got to this stage—as Vito Corleone did with rival leaders in The Godfather, after there had been enough bloodletting on all sides. For, all the summary action taken against party leaders who have suddenly become “dissidents” stands exposed as illogical, without basis and biased. The questions are obvious. If neither Rajnath Singh nor LK Advani is to be held accountable in any way for the party’s poor showing in the May elections, what is the logic of sacking state leaders like Vasundhara Raje Scindia and BC Khanduri? If Arun Jaitley, who managed the party’s campaign, can be appointed (not elected) as leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha, where is the connect between performance and reward? And if Jaswant Singh is to be thrown out of the party with a phone call, because he allegedly cast aspersions on Vallabhbhai Patel, what about all the contradictions that have surfaced on the issue? How does the BJP claim as its own someone who banned the RSS after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination? What about Arun Shourie’s revelation that Jaswant Singh has merely said what the RSS has already said years ago? And if Jaswant Singh is to be thrown out because of some assertions about the country’s history, why the failure to throw out Mr Shourie, who poured scorn on those at the helm?
The answers do the party leaders no credit. Mr Shourie stays where he is because he can be more than a handful. Jaswant Singh has already done enough damage with his revelations about the Kandahar episode and the post-Godhra discussions between AB Vajpayee and Mr Advani, and may do more if his comparisons with the Ku Klux Klan are any indication. Mr Singh has of course done himself no favour by admitting that he lied earlier about Kandahar, in order to bat for Mr Advani. The more important point is that the picture he paints does little credit to the party, and the government that it led. And both Ms Scindia and Gen Khanduri can argue that their unseating is not the wish of the party’s legislators but a result of central diktat, Indira Gandhi-style. In other words, there is no right or wrong in the actions taken, everything is factionalism and small-mindedness on the part of leaders who want to stay where they are while summarily dismissing those lower down the food chain. The ultimate irony, of course, is that the passive spectator through all this is the same gentleman who four months ago was promoted as a strong leader who could lead a decisive government!
