| Published on 25-09-2007 In National |
| Viewed 1211 times |
| Vajpayee's poem jolts Parivar |
|
|
Written by
Kamlendra Kanwar |
With the Congress-led UPA seeming increasingly vulnerable of late, the BJP is missing a golden opportunity to capitalize on the discomfiture of its archrival by not resolving the covert leadership tussle between octogenarians Vajpayee and Advani.
Shell-shocked from its unexpected defeat in the 2004 general elections, the BJP leadership needed to recover its composure sooner than later. Retiring its tired old leadership and anointing a successor to Vajpayee so that he or she may be groomed over the next few years with full support from the bigwigs was a crying need.
However, the lure of office was over-powering for the duo. They convinced themselves that the party needed them desperately. The man who they chose as party president—Rajnath Singh—was unequal to the task and the lack of elbowroom he was allowed made him even more ineffective.
Meanwhile, the undercurrent of differences between Vajpayee and Advani has been manifesting itself despite efforts to keep it under wraps. When the three-day national executive meeting of the party began in Bhopal on September 21, Advani's name was being talked about animatedly as the natural successor to former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. The mood was indeed upbeat in the Advani camp. It was rumoured that even the RSS top brass had given its consent to the projection of Advani as the party's leader in the run-up to the general elections.
With Mr Vajpayee staying away from the meeting due to ill health, it was widely anticipated that he was bowing out of active politics. In any case, despite media speculation about differences between them from time to time, Vajpayee had indicated a couple of years ago that Advani would take over the mantle from him.
But in his characteristically enigmatic style, Vajpayee sprang a surprise by sending a letter to the executive that he would soon return in their midst. The whole gathering was thrown into confusion as it was read out. It was one of those typically Vajpayee kind of moves with its sense of drama and a relish for leaving everyone guessing.
Vajpayee left the leadership issue untouched and instead advocated collective responsibility. The former prime minister then went on to recite a section of a poem written by him. Translated in English, it spoke of the incomplete yagna and the yet-to-be-made-sacrifice, and the hurdles erected by close friends and associates — words which were considered a subtle comment on the Advani camp.
Vajpayee has doubtlessly been a widely respected and acceptable face of the BJP with his cultivated image of being a liberal, but being all of 84 years, barely able to walk and losing control of his reflexes, he is not the ideal candidate to project as Prime Minister-in-waiting.
The BJP seniors realise this and have been hoping that they would be able to project Advani as leader to clear the confusion in the public mind about post-poll leadership, but Vajpayee's attitude has caused avoidable confusion. BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad did not know what to say when he was confronted by journalists in Bhopal. He sounded hollow and forlorn even as he claimed there was no confusion over the leadership tangle since "both Atalji and Advaniji are our tallest leaders and an announcement (on leadership) will be made at an appropriate time."
Advani too switched to the damage control mode. "I was happy to find that his (Vajpayee's) health had improved considerably since I last met him. I felt gratified when Rajnathji showed me Atalji's message saying he would be in our midst before long. Let us all pray that this happens very soon and he continues to lead and guide us as in the past," the Leader of Opposition told members of the BJP national executive.
Clearly, this was a statesman-like statement designed to cajole the masses into thinking that all was well between them. He realised that he needed to do this to allay apprehensions that a succession battle was on and that there were sharp divisions in the saffron outfit.
All said and done, there is not much time for the BJP to get its act together with elections expected earlier than scheduled. It is too late to project a new face. With there being a plethora of issues to capitalize on---steep increase in prices, the continuing neglect of the farmers, the `soft' attitude towards terror, the growing appeasement of the Muslims, the Indo-US deal with its purported assault on India's sovereignty and the mockery of Lord Rama by one of the Congress' allies, the DMK--- it is Advani with his combativeness who can fight the UPA head-on. His consistency in being a hardliner could work to the party's advantage.
While Vajpayee has charisma, he is well past his prime. Advani, admittedly, is almost as old as him but he is far more active. The longer the BJP takes to project a clear leader, the bleaker would be its chances of turning the tables on the Congress. It needs to address this issue forthwith and there would be no better way than for Vajpayee to throw his weight behind Advani and scotch all speculation about his return. Perhaps through another poem.
|
|
|
|
|
| Social Web |  |
| |
|
|
| |
Processing please wait ...
Top Stories
