The BJP needs a course in PPE

The intellectual wing of the party is a one-trick pony, and that trick is history. But how much can history do by itself?

Nearly 30 years ago I wrote an article in this newspaper, saying the BJP’s big problem was that it didn’t have a respectable intellectual peg to hang its coat on. That same morning, I received a call from a very good friend, with strong BJP connections, offering me a chavanni membership. He was also the resident intellectual of the BJP at the time.

The BJP has come a long way since then politically. In that time, it has also managed to develop an intellectual frame, albeit a slender one still, on which it can rely with far greater confidence than it