Jaswant Affairs - Civil War
Yeah I know, it has been very hard for you to live without reading my brilliant insights on life and something. I am grateful, however, that no one tried to commit suicide and with the possible exception of Sriram, even cried like a girl. To be frank, I didn't really want to blog on this, but When impressionable young men begin to esteem goat lover over Swapan Da, wise men must come forward and rescue aforementioned young men from their error of ways.
Now my thoughts about the expulsion are little complicated. At this point it is clear that the official reason for the expulsion is just a fig leaf to cover the real reason, which is that it is a fallout of chronic infighting between various factions with party.
After the expulsion Jaswant Singh has become a martyr for liberalism, but the truth is, he was as much responsible for these factional fights which were less about ideological differences and more about personal egos and power plays. It is true that Jaswant Singh with his quirky aristocracy blended liberalism was uncomfortable with Cultural Nationalism especially with its more assertive variants.
However he, like most of the clique crowding the high command, was preoccupied with usual self promotion, Type 7 Bungalow for himself in Lutyens Delhi, seats for himself and his son in Lok Sabha, influence within party without commanding any sort of popular support.
To this, add his habit of preening before media at crucial junctures in order to undermine his colleague which ended up causing embarrassment to Party, discrediting it in eyes of voters. Specifically it was he who brought Kandhar Episode back to headlines with his book. In brief he has been more of a liability than asset to Party.
Does it mean that his expulsion is justified ? Hardly. While Jaswant Singh was a participant in the Civil War, he was hardly the only one. Almost every one in central leadership is a enthusiastic practitioner of the political art of back stabbing and betrayal. It is this fratricide which has created (and rightfully so) an impression that BJP is not serious in engaging on matters of national importance thus turning large segment of urban voters away from BJP.
Who is to blame for this? It is tempting to find villains for this sorry state, and indeed every one must share the blame, however the reason for this is more basic and more general. The real reason is BJP is bereft of any ideological and political platform to sell itself to voters. This is not unique to BJP. Current Indian politics is noteworthy of absence of any substance. However this is mitigated to a large extent by narrow identity politics in case of smaller parties and a sycophant media in case of Congress, BJP which aspires to occupy nationalist space is crippled and staring at irrelevance.
As I have stated earlier, it is ideas and not personality which can restore BJP's credibility and ultimately save itself.
Which is why expelling someone for writing a book, even if it is merely hogwash, sets a dangerous precedent.
It suppresses expression of ideas, which may suit the powers that be in BJP, but digs even deeper hole for BJP.
