Churning-up process in parties, BJP most serious

By O J George

Kottayam: There is a deft move by some leaders in the BJP to remove Rajnath Singh from the post of president as a fall-out of the debacle in the Lok Sabha elections.

The tactic is for other leaders to demit office showing the way for Rajnath Singh to leave the post. But Rajnath Singh is not biting the bait.

Think-tank Brajesh Mishra has observed the BJP and the RSS should go in for a more inclusive agenda. Clinging on to Hindutva will not fetch enough Lok Sabha seats for forming a government.

Another think-tank Sudheendra Kulkarni has all along been game for appeasing other communities on a broader perspective.

Now Dr Murli Manohar Joshi has made it clear ties with RSS cannot be snapped as BJP has no existence without RSS. RSS leader Vaidya was firm about holding on to Hindutva. The BJP can leave out Hindutva, but then RSS will not be there to offer any help. The hint was clear the BJP cannot leave out Hindutva.

Leaders Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha, Arun Jaitley etc have questioned the leadership by leaving party positions. Lok Sabha deputy leader Sushma Swaraj has pointed out the party is sitting on a volcano.

But all these developments have a positive role in democratic polity. Change is the key word for ensuring growth and progress forward.

But do we hear anything from the Left parties for bringing in change? No, they are engaging themselves in unending discussions.

The CPM will have to make crucial decisions at its politburo meeting on June 19 and subsequent central committee meetings.

In spite of the big blow it received in the Lok Sabha elections, there has been no call for removing Prakash Karat from the post of general secretary. The West Bengal unit had made some reference to the responsibility of the central leadership as well for the poor performance.

In Kerala, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan wants Pinarayi Vijayan to step down as state secretary of the party. Pinarayi Vijayan, in turn, wants Achuthanandan to leave office.

The politburo and the central committee would discuss the issue threadbare. Everybody would blame everybody else and finally everybody would continue in their positions, status quo ante maintaining.

Changing one leader would lead to more complications. Changing all would result in utter destruction.

There can be no question of leadership change in CPI, RSP and Kerala Congress(J). There are serious problems in Janata Dal(S), but those are for other reasons. If the CPM cannot tolerate Veerendrakumar, the party will not be with the LDF, which may get a small slice of the party organization, if there is a split.

Deve Gowda, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Ramvilas Paswan et al are comfortably poised. No one can challenge them.

With all the goings-on considered, the warm-up exercises in the BJP are the most natural in a democratic polity.