Digression to opposition

A much-needed change in the BJP has finally taken place. Now for its resurrection.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been talking about unveiling BJP Version 2.1 for a while. But like all re-branding exercises that come only after an existential crisis, this, too, took much prodding from shareholders to make the transition happen. The appointment of Sushma Swaraj as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha was a logical decision.

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Two things in the BJP’s internal politics made this obvious transition seem radical: procrastination and the jousting of egos. The ‘elevation’ of L.K. Advani to the role of a mentor as Parliamentary Party Chairman hopefully will take care of the earlier rumblings between the RSS and the BJP as well as those within the party. Success in the BJP’s post-90s political yatra threw up a visible leadership; but failure since the Lok Sabha elections in May made the ‘party with a difference’ a cacophony of differences.

Less obvious has been the change of guard in the BJP’s presidency. Rajnath Singh’s tenure was marked, at best, by irrelevancy, and at worst, by self-destruction. The relatively unknown figure of Nitin Gadkari taking over should be seen as an act of fumigation. For the nation’s main Opposition party to have turned itself into the source of a minor soap opera must have required dollops of political bankruptcy. And in the past one year, there was plenty of this that the BJP showcased. It is to the credit of Ms Swaraj that she has been able to perform her function as a senior Opposition leader, especially inside Parliament, even while the BJP ship seemed to ram the proverbial iceberg. The party now has to make use of the rapprochement made with the RSS, which under Mohan Bhagwat realised that a prod and a push were necessary for the BJP to stand up and be counted again.

In a political atmosphere veering towards piecemeal regionalism, the BJP is still the antipode to the ruling coalition. The new dispensation will not automatically get the BJP back on track. Which is why the daisy chain between Mr Advani playing Dronacharya and Ms Swaraj holding the reins of the chariot and the more bureaucratic Mr Gadkari needs to hold. The return of the BJP is eagerly awaited not only by its still-unsettled supporters but also by the nation at large. All it has to do to start off things on a positive note is to get back to business as usual as the main Opposition party of India and stop being the digression it has become.