WITH the Lok Sabha Elections scheduled in 2014, an unseemly jockeying for power within the BJP has begun and the old chestnuts have resurfaced. So it is back to the BJP trapeze with L K Advani indulging in his pet obsession of embarking on yet another Yatra, albeit under the new slogan of fighting corruption. With Narendra Modi’s Sadbhavana fast and LK Advani’s Jan Chetana Yatra, is the BJP on a path to reinvent itself? Clearly, with its top leaders chalking their own strategies to outdo the other, a major power struggle seems to have ensued within the party. Having said that, Mr. Advani’s latest project-stunning even some within his own party – indicates that the BJP is yet to get rid of its anachronistic mindset. Instead, it confirms that the party and its leaders, who refuse to accept reality, continue to be stuck in old-school politics. Unless and until the BJP takes proactive steps to transform itself into a 21st century political entity, it may find it very difficult to occupy centre stage again.
While one should admire Mr. Advani’s enthusiasm and willpower, the BJP leader’s latest adventure is bereft of any significance because the party does not seem to have an alternative vision to offer to the people. When LK Advani launched his first Yatra in 1990 it was to mobilize support for construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. It created a great wave of enthusiasm among the masses catapulating the BJP to the national stage. But the Hindutva slogan could not sustain it in power beyond 2004. And in 2009 its disillusionment was complete. The party has not gained in strength after 2009. This time, the BJP patriarch’s return to his favourite roadshow to highlight the UPA government’s failing in tackling corruption has taken everyone by surprise. Mr. Advani’s announcement to embark on a rath yatra which came just hours after he challenged the UPA to arrest him in the cash-for-vote scam on the last day of the Monsoon Session in Parliament, reveals that the party is still groping in the dark for failing to see the writing on the wall. This is a very clear political statement that the veteran leader is very much in the race for the top job and is vying for voter attention or anything; Mr. Advani seems to be working on a two-pronged strategy. On one hand, he hopes to resurrect his party by encashing the nation’s anticorruption chips. At a more personal level, he adroitly manages to conceal the self-promotional motive while preaching the sermon about corruption to have his last shot at the post of Prime Minister. That explains why he started his yatra from Sitab Diara in Bihar and not from Gujarat as originally planned. This way he aimed to undercut Mr. Narendra Modi’s popularity within the party as well as project himself as the NDA’s consensus PM candidate.
Thus, the veteran’s fascination for Yatras as well as his life-long ambition to occupy the Prime Ministerial chair is understandable. But at the same time, the circumstances of 1990 and today are vastly different. For one, the BJP faces the problem of not having a moderate leader of the stature and statesmanship like A.B. Vajpayee to project as its Prime Ministerial candidate. It goes without saying that Mr Advani lacks the pan- Indian appeal and acceptance. It is too late for him to undergo an overnight transformation of a secular leader. Also, the party is running under the thumb of RSS without a direction of its own. The internal strifes within the party have led to top leaders striking out on their own paths. It won’t be wrong to say that if the BJP exists today as a political force, it is only due to inept UPA government and not of its own efforts. Mr. Advani wants to undertake the Yatra to preach the sermon about corruption and black money notwithstanding his failure to do anything about many of his partymen facing corruption charges. Why did he not exhort his party to take action against the Yeddyurappa government?
As Mr. Advani’s rath continues to chug along, will it prove to be his magic key to power two decades later?
However, the ground reality is somewhat different. The BJP seems to be at war with itself. The massive churn within the party is doing incalculable damage. The internal skirmishes within the top leadership now appear to be taking on an altogether different hue. To complicate matters, Mr. Advani’s latest adventure has triggered an ugly jostling for power within the BJP. The fact that the senior leader decided to start his impending yatra from Bihar and not Gujarat as previously planned in the wake of Narendra Modi’s Sadbhavana fast, laid bare the strains in the Advani-Modi relationship. That Modi stayed out from the party’s national executive meeting in Delhi also strengthened rumours of factionalism within a party where internecine squabbles and rivalries are rampant. The truth is that the principal opposition party has failed to capitalise on the Congress’s mounting woes, be it corruption, inflation and other fronts. With skeletons tumbling out of UPA cupboard every other day, the BJP had an opportunity to take advantage of the ruling party’s failures. But it has done little to create an impression that the party can successfully challenge the Congress on the national stage.
Unfortunately in our country, fighting corruption means a politician hurling accusations at another, taking out morchas and disrupting Parliament. Their connect with their constituencies is diminishing rapidly; the major political parties which are fast losing their credibility often resort to fasts, counter fasts, arrests and yatras. It is quite incomprehensible for the common man who is grappling with the rising cost of living, taxes and shortages what the much touted yatra will achieve? Such yatras are of no practical use in the anti-corruption fight. What they want is a good and efficient government. India needs fresh ideas and a competent leadership to translate them into reality. There is little point in indulging in tokenism and political opportunism which anyway won’t have any takers among the enlightened masses. Given that old mobilization strategies are out of sync with the aspirations of the modern electorate, Mr. Advani’s anti-corruption agenda does not sound all that convincing; positive action is the only way out, not a yatra.