The recent tussle and turmoil thats happening to the country's primary opposition party is something that was on the cards ever since the charismatic A.B. Vajpayee decided to call it a day. The election debacle only acted as a catalyst and provided an opportune moment for disgruntled cadres to voice their opposition against the party.
The recent outbursts by its senior leaders and their subsequent expulsion from the party is mainly because the BJP wants to project L.K. Advani as its prime leader, not to the liking of many in the party. Advani's peers while he was in RSS and subsequently in BJP, wanted a greater share in the power pie after Vajpayee quit. When this was not happening, they invented reasons to bring to light their plight so that their position and say in the party would acquire greater significance. Yashwant Sinha wanted analysis of the poll defeat almost immediately and wanted that to be over before their Chinthan Baithak. Jaswanth Singh, courted controversy with his book on Jinnah while Arun Shourie questioned the leadership and some of the decisions taken. Brijesh Patel came out in the open with his comparisons on Advani and Vajpayee.
These are definitely testing times for BJP. This is the time where the baton is passed to a new generation and a complete re-assessment of its policies would take place Their commitment to Hindutva may also be shaped in a different way with younger and fresher brains at the helm. The two biggest challenges for the BJP hence would be the way they shape their ideals as they still are very much unclear about their policy on Hindutva while attracting the minorities too. This is because, its trying to shed its communal tag heaped on it by other parties which are more communal than the BJP. The second biggest challenge is that the BJP should not be bogged down at this point and should wait patiently until things stabilize before taking important decisions.
Only time should tell whether the country's chief opposition party stands to fight another election or becomes obsolete, making it a thing of the past.
