It’s a story as old as politics itself in a democracy, but this time it comes with a new-ish twist. A party loses election, promises to introspect, the winners accuse the said party leaders of arrogance.
The twist came when veterans of the Bharatiya Janata Party demanded that the current leadership explain itself and the Bihar defeat. On Tuesday evening, senior BJP leaders aka the “margdarshak mandal” shot off a letter demanding accountability for the Bihar election drubbing.
Opposition Brings up Delhi Defeat, RSS Comments
Politicians across party lines were quick to respond to this letter and attack the current BJP leadership.
Congress’ Randeep Surjewala in a statement said, “We hope that the sane advice of Margdarshak Mandal will be heard to reform the ‘Chaal, Chehra and Charitra’ (ways, face and character) by Prime Minister Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and the coterie”.
Suffocation of BJP’s margdarshak mandal reaffirms what the entire country knew all along. Nation is caught up in a personality cult where one individual has become bigger than 125 crore people.Randeep Surjewala, Congress leader
CPI leader D Raja though did not accuse the BJP of being a one man show like others but questioned the role of the RSS. He said, “What is the BJP going to do about the RSS? What will they do about Mohan Bhagwat? It is clear that the RSS is controlling the party and their statements are one of the reasons for the party’s poll debacle”.
Nitish Kumar’s JDU, which was part of the alliance that defeated the BJP, also reacted to the statement.
The BJP did not learn anything from their defeat in Delhi. Everyone in the party is feeling suffocated. They have hijacked their own party. But the people of Bihar rejected their attempts in the state.Ali Anwar, JDU Leader
BJP ally Shiromani akali Dal however refused to be a part of the controversy. Party leader Naresh Gujral said that it was BJP’s internal matter and expressed confidence that the leadership will successfully resolve all outstanding issues.
BJP: A Divided House?
This is not the first time senior BJP leaders spoke out against the strategies being adopted by the current leadership. In the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, LK Advani sent in his resignation letter when it became evident that Narendra Modi was going to be announced the BJP’s prime minister candidate.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had reportedly sided with Advani on this but later gave in.
Around the same time, Murli Manohar Joshi had shown reluctance to vacate the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat for Modi.
That’s not it. At the time, former BJP leader Jaswant Singh too was unhappy over not being allowed to contest from Barmer, his home constituency. Singh, of course, quit the party and contested as an independent and lost by a huge margin to BJP’s Colonel Sonaram.
But Narendra Modi and party President at the time Rajnath Singh managed to sort out all the differences and bring everyone under one roof. What will happen now, going forward, is something only time can tell. But if Modi’s track record of resolving such crises is considered, all will be well.
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