No prizes for guessing what's keeping Advaniji awake these nights. After Vasundhara Raje's mutiny, perhaps the BJP leadership thought they would make an example of Jaswant Singh. Instead, they now have so much egg on their face that one could possible feed a small army. What should have been and could have been an intellectual debate on Jinnah's 'secularism' and the key actors in India's horrific partition, has sadly turned into a mud slinging match and much public washing of linen by the BJP.
Charges and counter charges by partymen who all seem fed up with the BJP high command's meaningless posturing over non-issues. I don't think anyone expected Jaswant's defiant outburst, followed by several of his colleagues'. It almost seems as if they were waiting for an excuse to go public with their frustrations and lack of concurrence with the current leadership. More than the party, it is LK Advani who has lost face with everyone now openly admitting his role in the Kandahar hijack incident. Of course, Advaniji's claim that he was unaware of the decision to send Jaswant to Kandahar with the terrorists was always absurd if not fraudulent. One only hopes he did not take Indian citizens for complete fools and expect them to believe him.
I was working with Time Warner and was closely following the hijacking as a matter of personal interest and also as part of the media community. Even to me, a lay person, at no point did it seem that the NDA Government had the situation under control. The lack of a plan of action for such emergency scenarios led to release of some of the most dreaded extremists. To be fair, UPA's handling of the 26/11 attack was as misguided and ineffectual. Just goes to show politicians don't care and won't learn.
I am no fan of BJP ideology but I do believe that we need a strong alternate national party to keep the ruling party on its toes. The need of the hour for BJP is a total redefinition of party's vision for itself, clear articulation of its mission for the country and the electorate and effective grass roots communication of this vision and mission. In addition, infusion of new blood is an absolute must. Finally, neither Mr. Gujarat CM Modi nor Shri LK Advani as the PM seem to cut it with the nation's populace. Perhaps, BJP needs to identify a more palatable prime ministerial candidate.
