The crisis in the Bharatiya Janata Party should not be seen as an outcome of the party’s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections or merely a rumpus hinting at the change of leadership. Even if BJP had emerged victorious, the crisis was inevitable.

The party can ill-afford to be insensitive to its core constituency. Ironically, those who constituted, either formally or otherwise, its core group and managed the election campaign are now appearing in the role of interpreter of maladies. Of course, there is also an element of personality and factional clash masquerading as ideological debate. And so, some radical suggestions have been advanced, which range from redefining the relationship with the RSS to abandoning Hindutva and acquiring the space of an Indian centre-right.

It would be an exaggeration, if not downright presumptuous, to say that Kandhamal, the anti-pub campaign and Varun Gandhi’s speech alienated the middle class from the BJP. These were discussed inside the party as well as in the media, and RSS has taken its categorical stand. Moreover, they remained localised and isolated issues. The real problem with the party is growing individualism, which turns the party into a federation of competing clubs of loyalists. It is disastrous for a party, whose role is not confined to electoral performance but also promoting alternative ideological debate. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh had faced a similar crisis in the 50’s. Pt. Mauli Chandra Sharma became the party president after the death of Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee. He interpreted organisation and ideology according to his political convenience, and also nursed ambitions of disengaging the party from the RSS. There were many prominent men with Sangh backgrounds in his coterie. At this juncture, Deendayal Upadhyay intervened, leading to the expulsion of Sharma and his men.

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