People's Democracy

Editorial

BJP’S Flights of Fantasy

WINSTON Churchill once described a fanatic as “a person who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject”.   The BJP’s veteran war horse, Mr L K Advani, seems to redefine this with his latest bombshell in cyberspace.  He is changing the subject by reconciling to the fact that he can no longer be in contention for prime ministership. That he can’t change his mind was evident on the opening day of this monsoon session of the parliament when he let loose communal venom using the condemnable violence and riots in Assam. He has blogged that the central government, following the 2014 general elections,  will be headed by a person who does not belong either to the BJP or to the Congress.  This admission that the BJP is not in the race to form the government has naturally sent shock waves across the numerous RSS tentacles and the NDA allies. 

The other, not so hidden message of this blog, is the declaration that if it is not himself, then no one else from the BJP can be projected as the prime ministerial candidate. It is a well-known fact that there is a serious contest within the BJP for this position. The Gujarat chief minister, the BJP president, the leaders of the opposition in both houses of parliament and Mr Advani himself have declared their intentions to this effect. 

Since the BJP is the political arm of the RSS and since the RSS has given a second term to the BJP president, Mr Advani’s apprehensions about his prospects have multiplied. On an earlier occasion, he had hit out against the BJP president for failing to corner the scam tainted UPA government.  Strange, since it is Mr Advani who sits on the front bench of the Lok Sabha.  The BJP’s allies in the NDA had publicly articulated their discomfort with the Gujarat chief minister being projected as a prime ministerial candidate.  The Bihar chief minister minced no words in saying this forthrightly.  Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray, in an editorial in their party’s mouthpiece, has compared Advani’s blog to a general “saying before a war that there is no guarantee on the outcome and demoralising the entire army”.  He invited Advani to meet him for a `dose of  morale and strength’.  Other allies in the NDA like the JD(U) and Akali Dal have also distanced themselves from Advani’s assessment – an assessment which is  ironically closest to the reality than any other. 

Strangely, Advani ruled out the possibility of any third front government after 2014 general elections.  He is, probably, looking at the possibility of a UPA ally heading the next government.   In any case, all such speculation must be consigned to the realm of daydreaming.  The human mind’s capacity for kite flying is infinite. Mr Advani cannot be denied this.  Earlier in this column, we had commented that the RSS/BJP is indulging in flights of fantasy on post general election possibilities.  Even though the general elections are due two years later, even when the BJP’s chances at the polls are declining by the minute, even when their hopes to draw mileage from movements like that of team Anna have fizzled out, it is engaged in a furious infighting on who would be its prime ministerial candidate!

Unwittingly, Advani seems to be reluctantly admitting that the country needs an alternative policy direction.  He has further admitted that neither the BJP nor the Congress can provide leadership for such a shift in the policy trajectory which is required to benefit both the country and the people. 

The country today needs a radical shift in the direction of its economic and social policies. While uncompromisingly maintaining and safeguarding the rich diversity of India under its Republican constitution by firmly rejecting communalism, there is a need to change the economic policy which today favours only international finance capital and the Indian big business at the expense of the vast majority of our people.  On the count of the economic policies, both the Congress and BJP are committed to the neo-liberal agenda.  It is, thus, in India’s interest that a change is brought about post general elections, which can provide leadership for such a policy shift. 

We have both the resources and man power to create a vibrant and a prosperous India.  This requires a reversal of the neo-liberal economic reform trajectory.  This has been the objective that the CPI(M) and the Left parties have been pursuing to achieve through the strength of popular people’s mobilisations.  This needs to be strengthened further in order to create a better India. 

(August 8, 2012)