The BJP likes to claim: country first, party next and the individual last. But the messy, very public mud-slinging in a party which prides itself on being a cut above the rest is perhaps less about principles and ideology than personal advancement in a post-Vajpayee and Advani world. The varied expressions of dissidence speak of the need to introspect on the party’s electoral defeat rather than letting the issue be swept under the carpet. But the subtext is about a struggle to retain individual relevance and turf.

Analysed carefully the recent displays of defiance against the BJP leadership fall into different categories, though many assume it all of a piece. Sudheendra Kulkarni and Brajesh Mishra’s expressions of discontent cannot be lumped with the rebellion of senior party leaders Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie. Both Kulkarni and Mishra are basically outsiders who were catapulted to positions of prominence in the BJP’s decision-making hierarchy because of their closeness to the two stalwarts, L.K. Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Neither Kulkarni nor Mishra holds any formal position in the BJP today.

Both men display their outsider’s perspective, when they suggest that for the BJP to succeed in electoral politics it should sever its links with the RSS and reconsider its Hindutva agenda. Similarly, many analysts have advocated that the BJP re-invent itself and emerge as simply a right-of-centre alternative to the Congress. For those who have risen through the ranks of the party, such a suggestion is not just heresy, but completely unworkable — a point Advani made clear in his closing address at the party’s national executive on Sunday. The BJP and the RSS are bound together by a very tough umbilical cord. Kulkarni and Mishra also claim the BJP campaign was disadvantaged by the projection of Narendra Modi in the middle of the campaign. However, a straw poll would show that Modi remains the most popular face among the party cadres, regardless of the negative perception in other political parties.

... contd.