It should be welcome that the BJP elders have spoken publicly about the electoral setback the party has suffered in Bihar. A public debate is any day better than a closed-door discussion, if any, on the causes of the party’s failure. Both the party faithful and others stand to gain, and will feel reassured, that nothing is taken for granted by the entrenched leadership. Democratic parties need to be accountable. It is fortunate that we still have a couple of parties around that are not family-owned enterprises, with the controlling families carrying on regardless of their performance. Elections being the ultimate tests of political leaderships everywhere, the resounding rebuff the BJP was handed down by the Bihari voter needs a careful analysis. Correctives can be applied only if the party is able to pinpoint the causes of its defeat. Therefore, the statement issued by the veteran BJP leaders, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha, ought to be taken seriously. They may have spoken publicly for the first time since the rise of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah as the undisputed leaders of the BJP last year, but what they have said does not, by any stretch of imagination, constitute a challenge. Nor does it tantamount to a rebellion, as some left-liberal elements have gloatingly rushed to dub it. Actually, it is a cry of the old and experienced loyalists, whose contribution in taking the BJP to newer heights is substantial, for undertaking a thorough review of the Bihar results in order to make the necessary course correction. No sensible observer can espy in it a trace of rebellion.
As we said, transparency and accountability both call for a public review of the Bihar outcome. Ensuring that the ordinary cadres participate in the review process can not only make it more meaningful but will have the added benefit of making them feel important to the well-being of the party. Some of the points made by Advani and Co. merit particular attention. Calling for a review, the statement said it needs to be examined how the party “is being forced to kowtow to a handful, and how its consensual character has been destroyed.” Given that, unlike the family-owned political firms, the BJP and perhaps the Communists, were the only parties to believe and practice consensual, participative decision-making, how the impression grew of late that only Modi and Shah called the shots needs to be carefully examined. As a party, the BJP had all along shunned the personality cult. How all power came to be concentrated in the hands of the Modi-Shah duo, and how they cut out all other senior leaders from the decision-making process, has become a matter of much heartburn in the higher echelons of the BJP. Modi might have emerged as the most popular leader of the party in recent times but that would not justify his playing its sole arbiter. The party’s highest decision-making body, the parliamentary board, cannot be reduced to a mere rubber stamp. All senior leaders must have their say in the decision-making process.
The oft-heard charge that both Modi and Shah come across as aloof and distant does seem to have a kernel of truth. The three former party chiefs who issued a sort of a rejoinder to the statement issued by the party’s Margdarshak Mandal referred to the electoral losses under the previous leaderships. Yes, that is true, but the vital difference is that at that time whether it was Vajpayee or Advani, they had had the good sense not to ooze a sense of arrogance and superiority. The point is simple. The Modi-Shah duo needs to behave with becoming humility and kindness towards all stakeholders in the BJP and outside in the wider world. Despite their best intentions for the party and the government, their image of being arrogant needlessly adds to their own problems. Humility, both in victory and defeat, is a great virtue. The Modi-Shah duo must learn to be humble — and should be seen to be humble both in word and deed. Meanwhile, a group of senior BJP leaders who were not involved in the Bihar poll must be tasked to pinpoint the causes of the stunning defeat.
