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Lessons for the BJP from the 2009 Elections - The Broader Civilizational Questions at Stake
With the Congress surge many are claiming that whenever the BJP raised the "bogey" of Hindutva, it lost. They say now in 2009, the BJP lost as Varun Gandhi raised this "bogey" and that because the BJP spoke about Narendra Modi being its next Prime Ministerial Candidate. Let us see if the BJP lost whenever it spoke ardently of Hindutva.
In Pilibit, Varun Gandhi won by a handsome margin. In Gujarat, the BJP held on to its gains. In the past whenever the BJP has taken a strident anti-terrorist stand it has won. Gujarat Assembly elections are one example. The BJP's past win in Parliamentary elections in 1999 was based not on diluting Hindutva, but on making it strident. The BJP had two seats in 1984, then came Advani ji's Rath Yatra and the seat numbers increased to 90 and then to 181. This was when the Hindutva plank was assertively used - although it was the Ram Mandir that was the core issue and not anti-terrorism per se, but then it was a terrorist Mir Baqi under instructions from his leader Babar who had demolished the Ram Mandir in 1526. So the Ram Mandir campaign also was a reaction to a terrorist act committed almost 5 centuries back. And so the Ram Mandir plank too was an anti-terrorist plank, but we do not normally consider it to be one. And when this plank was combined with stunning economic development, as was done by Narendra ji in Gujarat, the BJP went from strength to strength.
Advani ji has done the BJP a lot of good through the Rath Yatra, but this real Laxman of the BJP cannot become a Ram. His pro-Jinnah utterances did him in. He also had not much developmental accolades to his credit. He is a fine man, who has to now bow out before the course of history. The future belongs to another person - Narendra Ji Modi. Narendra Ji has both these credits - being stridently anti-terrorist and pro-development. So the best bet is for Narendra ji Modi to take over the mantle of the BJP if not immediately then in 2011, after the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Gujarat are thru. In the meanwhile he should work harder to make Gujarat an example of stunning development along with a strident anti-terrorist campaign that he should lead every time there is a terrorist attack in India and anywhere on the globe. He did this during 26/11 when he went to Mumbai and visited the Hotel Trident when the terrorists were still holed up there and declared that he would physically fight the terrorists.
Last update : 25-05-2009 00:30
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