Lion wakes up one morning and goes for the hunt. It finds a fat, limp and wounded gazelle which can run but cannot outrun, nor can it endanger any predator and is essentially harmless, and by now essentially dead. However, Lion ignores the gazelle and moves on, trying to hunt other gazelles. Now, it must be very saintly of Lion to let the wounded gazelle live, or it could eat it and be satisfied. Lion may also realize that it cannot protect the gazelle by not attacking it, as other lions may come to hunt it. Why then would a Lion give up something which is good for itself and inevitable for the gazelle?
Why does the BJP, the strong party, under present situation and considerations, not attack the weak, wounded Congress and claim the stake for the next elections as a leading party? Why is BJP, protecting the government by not attacking it, thereby allowing the new lions to come and attack a visibly weak prey? Why has BJP failed to capture the opportunity to prey on Congress, when it has a chance, and thereby, probably, delaying the inevitable breakup of Congress party?
Some really tough questions that many have been asking BJP for a long time now. If Congress has been a bad governing party, BJP on the other hand has been a bad opposition party. [Gazelle is a now a bad prey, with no chance of survival while Lion is a bad predator by giving up a good chance of easy meal.] Something is clearly amiss. If BJP has any hopes or ambitions to govern the country, it has to come clean – and fast.
One of the reasons that are often stated in media is about the infighting among its leaders. That’s probably not the right reason. Though its leaders may have difference of opinions, all key contenders are smart enough to realize that this opportunity should not be wasted. They will form a good team when they can work out the differences.
In my opinion, the real biggest problem for BJP lies far beneath, verily to the foundations its modern avatar was built on. And as long as BJP sticks to its foundations, it may never be able to form a major ruling party. [I am well aware they have ruled and have occupied Prime Ministership twice.]
The root of this problem lies in the birth of the party. When LK Advani stormed in to the national scene with his now iconic rath yatra, the message was very clear – they were rightists. After the demolition of Babri Masjid, it became doubly clear the ideology and the foundations of the party were much skewed towards right-wing.
Ever since then the growth in the party has been backed by some form of ideological rightism. They have backed not so secular causes and some of the utterances of leaders hark back to the nostalgia of its glory days. These leaders have got temporary mileage by fanning religious and communal dogmatism and are quite comfortable doing it. But unfortunately for them it further fortifies the notion of a right party.
The real problem seems to be that there seems to be no one in the ranks of BJP who can project a moderate face to public.
BJP however did get lucky. In Atal Behari Vajapyee, a seasoned politician and a statesman, it had a face, a leader who was acceptable to the rights as well as tolerable to the lefts. Vajapyee is the sort of moderate face that BJP sorely lacks in its leadership ranks now. All the leaders seem to be prisoners of the fort they built for themselves. And as long as they are stuck, they will not be able to mount a considerable challenge to anybody except in regional patches.
What BJP urgently requires is a moderate face. A face that transcends the right wing ideology and background and enabling vote swings and translations from the left. There are several leaders capable of doing it, but it looks like they have not made any effort to become moderate or project such an image. BJP urgently needs a moderation of its ideology or be like a lion which will live in regret of lost opportunity.
One of the masterstrokes of Congress is in continual fanning the memories of Godhra riots, year after years, and ensuring Narendra Modi is forever imprisoned in the perception of communalism. As long as the moderation is invisible, no matter what the success on the ground, Modi too won’t be able to pull the moderate votes.
BJP clearly has to step out of its realms and evolve to suit the current times. The parochial, communal messages are irrelevant for the times, and are also totally unnecessary. BJP should chart out new course where it will be able to work with Leftist ideas. It should aim to reach a middle ground while keeping its original rightist-support groups intact. Such a move may result in some loss of its original cadre but till help it access new voter base.
Country today lacks a pan-India moderate party, and BJP is rightly positioned to provide it. BJP should also realize, it can never form an independent government at center by sticking to its right wing ideology. More it compromises with its past but now irrelevant voter promises / issues (by concentrating on more relevant and high priority issues), more quickly it will be able to fill the vacant slot of main moderate contender. More it delays in providing a moderate alternative to Congress, more it will lose the opportunity to the regional players – allies or otherwise - or even to new upstart parties hijacking the causes which BJP should have led.
[Author unaffiliated to BJP]
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