Righteous Fusillades

I believe that Arun Shourie has erred in launching a frontal attack on central leadership. I understand that people in general may not share my belief, appalled as they are by Rajnath Singh and Co. I admit, I have nothing by contempt for the way Rajnath Singh has acted both prior to elections and after it.

My problem is that this party destructive behavior is not limited to Rajnath Singh, every prominent BJP leader whether Murali Manohar Joshi, Jaitley, or even Advani have consistently promoted self interest over party interest. Now this may make some people yearn for wholesale purge of the leadership. Unfortunately that scenario will be even more disastrous than current squabbling. Some people may object to this and, like Arun Shourie, argue for greater RSS role in BJP.

I differ with this. I believe that RSS is the part of the problem, not the solution. At minimum it was RSS which appointed Rajnath Singh as the chief to undermine Advani not to mention the fact that secretaries loaned from RSS have consistently undermined BJP, flaming the factional feuds and arm twisting other leaders.
I will go so far as to say BJP sympathisizers are displaying such visceral hatred for Rajnath Singh, Jaitley, Advani, Jaswant Singh, or even Arun Shourie, is because they are shocked by the defeat and want a villain to hang for it.

Yet all the witch hunting in the world is of no use, for it doesn't even begin to address the specific problem.
At risk of repeating myself there are two problems. First one is the structure of BJP organisation is outdated with respect to its current position in politics. It is easy to be a cadre based party controlled from center, basically model followed by RSS, when it is a marginal player (or in case of Congress, a family enterprise).

However when the party grows to occupy principal opposition space, becoming a pole in effect, the organization must have the flexibility to include a wide range of opinions as well as the diverse regional priorities. Which is why it is required organization is more democratic, open and bottom to top.
Ultimately I will prefer that national parties in India reflect a US like organization structure.

But there is a second and, in my opinion, more severe problem, which is BJP lacks anything resembling a coherent political platform, and consequently any strategy for electoral marketing. For a political party power is just means with to implement its agenda. But in absence of any agenda, and with power as the end goal, the party instead of standing united for a common cause, becomes a house divided against itself, with lust for power leads to distrust and betrayal.

For BJP the choice is simple. If it wants to remain relevant to politics, it must decide what it stands for. This is why, ideology, even if directly not relevant to electoral fortune, is crucial for the political relevance.