W(h)ither BJP?

For a very long time I have been harping on the theme that there are genuine rifts within the BJP that true secularists - people who wish to preserve secularism in India in the long-term - must skillfully exploit. But pea (pee)-brained Hindu secularists and anti-Hindu communalists are more interested in serving their own short-term and short-sighted vested interests than in actually achieving anything durable and positive for the country.

DM Sir Sat Sri Akaal,
Do you really think that Advani is a spent force?
I dont think so, he is just vying for time till December that is why resignation effective a far off date. Meanwhile, he will try to build rapport with RSS.
He will be next PM of India, you wait till December he is not going anywhere.


Excellent analysis on the whole. Close asscociation(direct) with RSS would make BJP as a fundamental organization and West would not deal with it due to praises showered on Hitler and Black Shirts.

BJP`s discomfiture, dilemma and potential disintegration are symptoms of deeper mailaise in India/Hindus. Finally, the democratic forces have produced the confrontation that BJP-type party had to face.

The situation is superficially a reflection of the assessment of failure of the essentially secular but strategically communalistic policies of Jinnah. But more deeply, it is an announcement of the basic injustice that prevails within Sanatana Dharma of the Hindus.
Before some one goes haywire, let me declare that I am an enthusiastic Hindu and Sanatani BUT A JUST ONE!

Hindus, in general, and RSS and BJP and their ilk have to right the fundamental injustice to lower caste Hindus. And I am not a low cast Hindu.

To solve the very deep and ingrained problem, the BJP-types have to first resolve their unreasonable stance on the religious issue. They have to firmly declare to fight the Wahaabis in Muslims but SIMULTANEOUSLY they have to acknowledge a Muslim to be Indian. Of course, it he acts as a spy for Pakistan he has to be branded as such.
It is the glorious achievement of Hindu Indians that they have formally granted full citizenship to Muslims without question but they - BJP-types - have to also grant them the informal citizenship.

As for deeper internal reform within Hinduism we will need a separate and more suitably designed forum.

Re: # 3
Good analysis but here is the problem, RSS founding fathers does not agree with you.

What India really need is a Progressive Democratic Front that is a mix of BJP/CONG/Commie etc.

Re: # 3
Good analysis but here is the problem, RSS founding fathers does not agree with you.

What India really need is a Progressive Democratic Front that is a mix of BJP/CONG/Commie etc.

This could be considered a sort of interesting summary – but there is not much new information here. Anyway, I am here just to scold you!

Note:
[It was this dedication and commitment which made a political pariah, Jana Sangh, acceptable as a partner to the likes of Jai Prakash Narain, George Fernandez and Morarji Desai after the Emergency in 1977.]

You know this is buckwas – it had nothing to do with the dedication and commitment – what made a political pariah, Jana Sangh, acceptable as a partner to the likes of Jai Prakash Narain, George Fernandez and Morarji Desai after the Emergency in 1977 was – the emergency!

you have forgotten telling about modi ,both advani and atal are spent forces both are
above 80 and so with little political future but modi is in his early 50`s and here in gujrat
he has and rightly so cult like following ,media does not discusses about nuiance which
muslims in gujrat created before modi ,they had free hand and used to burst crackers
when pakiland wins the cricket match and in muslim slums even now it is not uncommon
to see paki flag and with money from saudis everywhere there were madrasas not to mention there prayers from loud speakers waking everyone at 5 even in winter nights
just to mention among the long list of their exploits,everything has stopped now why?
becoz of modi , one instance is when we were seeing movie dev the muslims started their
provocative slogans ,seeing this police came and took them while rest of the audience
yelled in collective voice ``ley jao inko pakistan`` ,modi will remain becoz he has the support of common man if not of media or impotent page 3 people

watch the movie black friday which is banned by govt to cover up nuisances of muslims

BJP, it seems has gone the Congress way. Other than the dynastic rule that Congress survives on BJP has not offered a better alternative.

BJP has to learn a few facts and stay with it. It should not bend the rules to accomodate others and cling to power. BJP has to realise that muslims are never going to vote for it. It doesn`t matter how relations are with pak or how many urdu teachers have been appointed by them. There is no point offering them any carrots. The damage has already been done.

Instead of pursuing some foolish ideas like fighting for lowering the IIT fees, claiming that indians were the first to invent aeroplane they should serve their constituency, their proponents. BJP made a grave mistake by ignoring them. Even in Jammu where BJP had a lot of support no one showed up for Advanis speech. at that time he admitted that bjp should have taken care of its supporters. What BJP did was, it tried to placate its coalition partners. It diluted its own agenda to stay in power.

it should try to break the intra-religious divisions within hinduism. It should use the offices of rss, vhp, bajrang dal to bring the hindu society together. it should not tolerate any injustice on lower castes. if possible it should try to remove the caste divisions.

in 92 it seemed that bjp would provide a clean, efficient gov. but it turned into another congress. it should provide a clean administration and should not cover up cases against its own people.

it should believe in ideology not power.

Dost

Very educative & interesting.

In the thousands of years of its existance, it is the first time that Dharma got politicised. And if I am not wrong, it is a fall out of the partition.

While Pakistan gradually deepened its green colour - India had this bubble of saffronization.

NHK

Dear DM ji

I have not read this article. Donot intend to read it. But I have read some of the point of views in the forum. What I feel is it is does not matter whether the BJP/RSS want to establish Hindu rashtra or not.

What matters is for people of book like me that whether the constitution of India allows that or not. In fact it does not allow that.

What is wrong if the BJP gets elected and looses democratically ?

I feel it is thousand times better then bankcrupt congress.

With all the drawbacks of BJP did it succeed to pass even a single legistation against the miniorities? If the answer is no than what is hue and cry.

You guys should be sent for a year to live in society like Pakistan where even Yosouf Yohana under pressure converted to the cancer of Islam.

kaalchakra#1:

The pea-brained Hindu secularists and anti-Hindu communalists have to be provided their space in the democratic spectrum. Democracies survive because they are tolerant of even intolerant viewpoints, thus providing safety valves to those who would otherwise be inclined to subvert the system.

delhiwalla#2

I do not think that Advani is coming back as President even if wants to. He is having two sets of problems, only one of which relates to the RSS. A smaller problem is the personality clash he is having with the likes of Madan Lal Khurrana and Sushma Swaraj - his own proteges who are now anxious that he leave to make room for her generation.

Inquirer#3:

``They have to firmly declare to fight the Wahaabis in Muslims but SIMULTANEOUSLY they have to acknowledge a Muslim to be Indian.``

I quite agree. But if they want to be acceptable to Muslims, they would have to do more than that and also accept that Indian Muslims have an identity of their own, which is an integral part of the composite Indian identity.

I also agree that the RSS should spend its time and efforts to dealing with the internal malaise of the Hindu society and restore some of the noble ancient traditions of the hindus, such as the respect for nature and campaign against polluting Ganga and other rivers and destroying forests and other natural environment.

Beej#6:

You are right that it was the Emergency which brought them together, literally, in prisons where they discovered the human side of each other. But without the organizational strength that it had, I doubt that other parties would have accepted Jana Sangh with its considerable communal baggage as their coalition partner.

contra#7:

I did not forget Modi. If the BJP splits, he would be a natural leader of the extremist group. But in my opinion, if Modi wins elections in Gujarat again, it wouldn`t be because of his extremist views but because he seems to be paying a lot of attention to governance. From my point of view, Modi is far more dangerous than someone like Uma Bharati who may have similar views. A combination of communal hatred and successful economy is very potent and could lead India towards a Hitler type fascism. One can only pray and hope that this does not happen in India. But if a majority of the Hindus want to go that destructive path, who can prevent them from doing so?

Netizen:
I am not sure that I can agree with you. While in the realm of speculation, my guess is that if Gujarat had not happened, the BJP would have succeeded in winning at least a section of Muslim votes. It could have then claimed that it had a better record of protecting Muslims and avoiding communal riots than any Congress government before it. Vajpayee had won quite a few admirers among Muslims with his soft touch. And Javed Akhtar types notwithstanding, many Muslims really agreed with his view that ending hostilities with Pakistan would reduce anti-muslim feelings in India. The BJP had indeed succeeded in winning over some muslims with solid credentials, such as Najma Heptullah and Arif Khan. Even the Imam Bukhari of Jama Masjid had started to speak kind words about the party.

But Gujarat changed all that. More than losing Muslim votes, it caused great damage to BJP`s coalition partners in West Bengal, Bihar, Andhra, Tamil Nadu and other places. While these parties secular credentials were impeccable, Muslims punished them for the company they kept, namely the BJP. A sanitised BJP would have no such problem and may even succeed in merging itself with its coalition partners, creating a powerful centrist, secular party.

dost-mittar:

If gujarat riots would not have occured maybe some more muslims would have voted for BJP, but I don`t think it would have made any dent in other parties vote-bank. Muslims would still prefer Mulayam in u.p., lalu in bihar, commies in bengal. Nejma Heptullah, arif mohd joined BJP after having problems in congress. They are not the representatives of common muslims. How much command does Shahnavaz have over muslims in Kishinganj?

Also its a myth that without 15% muslim vote BJP cannot win. Didn`t it win in guj., raj, madhya pradesh, chhatisgarh. The problem with BJP is that it has no southern base. Last year it was the biggest winner in karnataka though.

the BJP has to provide a clean administration, should not tolerate corruption,, bring efficiency. it should learn about realpolitik, something like ``aam-admi`` that sonia refers very often without any real concern.

these ``secular`` parties are always going to fall over one another to get muslim votes. like the recent imrana case where mualyam was ``satisfied`` with the ulema decision and sonia looked the other way, people are going to be frustated by these appeasing policies. in this kind of situation, bjp can provide the alternative as long it itself doesn`t join the other two and sticks to nation building.