In expelling Jaswant Singh, the BJP is amplifying the strange madness that has overtaken the party. The expulsion will, doubtless, be justified on ideological grounds: Jaswant Singh allegedly praised Jinnah. But this ideological veneer can scarcely disguise the fact that this is a party that is now in deep crisis in so many different dimensions. First, and most mundanely, there is the sheer procedural impropriety of the party. In decision after decision, the party is not following any institutional norms of due process or fairness. There are double standards galore: the authority of the parliamentary party is used to justify the expulsion. Ironically at the very same moment the wishes of elected legislators are being roundly ignored in Rajasthan. “You show me the face and I will pick the procedure,” is the party norm. The party gives evidence of being governed by a small coterie that is increasingly arbitrary and dictatorial in its methods. No other phrase can describe Advani’s handling of the party better than the colloquialism: he has simply lost it. It is pathetic to see such a towering figure reduced to nothing more than a small, helpless, arbitrary minion, not in control over the party he helped create. He cannot escape the blame for allowing things to come to such a pass.

Second, the decision is a fundamental reflection on the deep-seated insecurity of the BJP’s second tier leadership. None of them has either the intellectual self-confidence or the political imagination to handle important issues with a sense of judgment. The BJP’s problem is not just its ideological choices. It is that it does not have men and women in leadership positions with the slightest degree of credibility. It has the worst combination: constricted leaders like Rajnath Singh who can never engage in a broad argument over vision; and smart people like Arun Jaitley who are too politically insecure to show genuine leadership. Jaswant Singh may have a lot to answer for; but there is no doubt that on the whole his presence elevated the party. It is not the differences within the party that are debilitating; it is the littleness of the figures who now lead it.

... contd.