Opinion - Editorials

Reality knocks

AT THE END of its brainstorming session, chintan baithak, at Utthan, the BJP seems to have come to terms with the realities on the electoral ground after briefly toying with the idea of advancing the Lok Sabha poll due next year. All the talk of capturing 300 seats on its own gave way to a renewed commitment to existing alliances in different States, and a reiteration of the common agenda of the National Democratic Alliance. Evidently, the introspection in the party conclave revealed a greater need for exercising caution than for charting an adventurous course towards the goal of an independent majority in the Lok Sabha. Thus, the brainstorming session, instead of unveiling some grand strategy for Mission 2004, wound up as another routine: papering over internal differences and circumventing inconvenient issues. The zoom on the Lok Sabha poll was readjusted to focus on the Assembly elections due later this year. From the high-risk option of combining the Lok Sabha poll with the Assembly elections, the BJP quickly moved to the possibility of a general election in Spring 2004, and finally deferred a decision until after the Assembly elections. Understandably so, as there are still several loose ends to be tied up on the domestic front as also in foreign relations. A time of flux, as at present, is hardly opportune for choosing an election date. The question of advancing the Lok Sabha poll would now be reopened only if the BJP performs creditably in the Assembly elections. The party would ideally like to wrest from the Congress at least three of the States going to the polls: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Delhi. Until such time, the BJP might want to utilise the months in power to add to the list of achievements.

Nevertheless, the chintan baithak had its uses for the BJP. The leadership question, which brought into open the power struggle between the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his deputy, L.K. Advani, was given a public burial. Both Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Advani used the occasion to praise each other in glowing terms. Mr. Vajpayee dwelt on how Mr. Advani was a source of strength for him in the Government, and also a guiding light of the party. Mr. Advani, for his part, complimented Mr. Vajpayee for the Pakistan policy, describing him as "strong like a diamond, and soft like a flower." After the vikas purush-loh purush controversy created by the party president, M. Venkaiah Naidu, who wanted to project Mr. Advani alongside Mr. Vajpayee in the BJP's election campaign, the conclave served the purpose of putting up a show of unity at the very top.

For the same reason that it was too early to think of the Lok Sabha poll, the BJP also put off deciding on any reworking of alliances. The difficulties in the relations with the BSP in Uttar Pradesh, the DMK in Tamil Nadu and the INLD in Haryana figured during the discussions at the conclave, but since none of the three States is going to the polls this year, there was no sense of urgency in dealing with such alliance issues. However, more than the problems created by political allies, what was of pressing concern for the BJP at the conclave was the stand of its ideological ally, the VHP, on the Ayodhya issue. Mr. Naidu found it necessary, not only for the sake of the "secular allies" of the BJP, but also in the interests of the party, to express disagreement with the VHP. As Mr. Naidu himself admits, the BJP is constrained only by coalition politics and the "responsibility" as a ruling party from siding with the VHP on the Ayodhya issue. For the moment, at least, the BJP leaders appear to be distinctly aware of the limitations of seeking a mandate on emotive subjects such as Ayodhya.

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