With top leaders of the BJP including leader of the Opposition in the Lok
Sabha Lal Krishan Advani and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje defying the RSS diktat to quit the positions they are holding at present, the party's Chintan Baithak to be held in Shimla this week is expected to decide what course the saffron outfit would adopt in the coming five years. The RSS wanted to bring about a generational shift in the BJP, and it wanted the starting point to be Advani's stepping down as leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party, leaving the space vacant for one of the generation next leaders. But the Sangh Parivar mother organization was stumped earlier this month when Advani announced that he will continue to lead the party in Parliament for the next five years. On the record, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that the BJP is an "independent, autonomous organization capable of managing its affairs,'' but every body knows who pulls the strings from behind.
The RSS also wanted Vasundhra Raje to quit as leader of the Opposition in Rajasthan in view of her leading the party to a defeat at the hands of the Congress in the recently held Assembly elections. She has defied party president Rajnath Singh's directive to quit, saying that it is the prerogative of the legislators to elect their leader. Rajnath Singh wanted her to come to Delhi to discuss the matter but she is staying put in Jaipur and holding talks with her supporters. Her supporting MLAs, who appear to be in a majority in the BJP legislature party, came to New Delhi and held a sit-in dharna outside Advani's residence demanding that Vasundhra Raje be allowed to continue in her position. Advani refused to meet them saying that the decision to shift Vasundhra Raje from the state to central politics was taken by the party high command after reaching a consensus and should be honoured. He took the stand despite the widely held perception that Vasundhra Raje is close to him.
Advani and Vasundhra Raje have dug in their feet despite knowing fully well that no BJP leader has ever succeeded in defying the wishes of the RSS. The Nagpur outfit's writ generally prevails as it has a widespread network of pracharkas, which helps BJP candidates in elections, whether at the central or state level, to make a mark and come out victorious.
Advani knows that as he himself was replaced as party president by Rajnath Singh after his remarks during a visit to Pakistan about that country's founder Mohd. Ali Jinnah's "secular character." Advani defended his position and tried to justify his remarks but had to quit as party president.
The RSS is right in a way about wanting the generation next to take over the running of the BJP. The outfit knows that the BJP cannot reinvent itself after its defeat in the 2009 general elections unless it has new leaders at the helm. Advani's era is over and his Ram janambhoomi movement has run its course. The party needs a new agenda to catch the imagination of the voting public. Just harping on Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin and Dr. Manmohan Singh being a dummy Prime Minister would not do. The BJP has to think out of the box to take on a resurgent Congress, which is chalking out plans to come to power at the Centre on its own steam. If the Congress succeeds in its game plan, the way would be clear for the generation next in the party, that is Rahul Gandhi, to take over the reins of the party and the government in the foreseeable future.
The BJP has plenty of young and not so young leaders of the generation next waiting to take over the reins from people like Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and such like. There is a keen tussle in the generation next leaders to take over the positions of party president and leader of the parliamentary party. Advani is perhaps using this tussle to continue to hang on to his position as leader of the Opposition. But this is not going to work. Even if Advani manages to defy the RSS in the short run, his days at the top of the party would be numbered. Actually it would be in his interest to bring about a smooth succession. Needles to say, this would also be in the interest of the BJP.
