06-25-2007, 04:44 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Agenda for BJP </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
<b>Shake off torpor, go aggressive</b>
The BJP's National Executive, which meets in Delhi today, would do well to set aside vacuous discussions, meaningless resolutions and absurd triumphalist assertions that may please certain leaders but will do the party no good. Between the BJP's National Council meeting in Lucknow, where tall claims were made about regaining power in Uttar Pradesh as a prelude to returning to power at the Centre, and today's Delhi conclave, little has happened to enthuse either cadre or supporters. On the contrary, the BJP today appears to be farther away from recovering the ground it ceded to the Congress in 2004 than it was a year ago. This despite the party coming to power in Uttarakhand and in Punjab where it contested the Assembly election along with the Akali Dal. Victory in both States was not on account of a resurgent BJP but discredited State Congress units and the charisma of individuals who are not necessarily in favour with the incumbent leaders. That the BJP could not dislodge an equally discredited Congress establishment in Goa is as eloquent a comment on the state of the party's health as its utterly miserable performance in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. The reasons for this failure to overcome the debacle of 2004 despite the disastrous performance of the Congress-led UPA Government are not difficult to locate: <b>Lack of inspirational leadership; rapid erosion of ideological values; absence of ideas that can motivate both cadre and voters; and, inability to connect with the pulse of the masses. </b>In a sense, all three are inter-related as one flows from the other. Yesterday's "party with a difference" is now one with parties that celebrate amorality. It would be unfair to blame the vast majority of party cadre, well-wishers and supporters for the situation that prevails.
Yet, little or no purpose will be served by either indulging in self-flagellation or falling prey to despair. In a fragmented polity, the BJP remains, along with the Congress, a national party; unlike the Congress, <b>a large number of nationalist Indians look up to the BJP as the only hope at a time when the country is faced with an uncertain future. As one of the two poles of national politics, the BJP must shake off the torpor that is threatening to overwhelm its organisation, get rid of those who have fetched shame to the party and reinstate the primacy of ideology over maverick pragmatism</b>. It must also make a concerted effort to redefine its agenda in a manner that it reflects the social, political and economic aspirations of the 'new' India which will play a crucial role in deciding who comes to power at the Centre in 2009. It is not enough to pretend to be a Government-in-waiting; the BJP must rigorously prepare itself for power, much as it did under Mr LK Advani's tutelage, and aggressively assert its presence at the national level. Meanwhile,<b> the arrival of the United National Progressive Alliance on the political scene should be cause for concern for the BJP: It won't take long for its allies to switch sides if the party were to suffer erosion in its parliamentary strength. Which means, the BJP must devote more time and attention to the National Democratic Alliance and craft a strategy that will not only hold it together but also attract new allies.</b> To take your allies for granted can have disastrous consequences; the BJP should know this better than anybody else. A frank discussion on these and other related issues at the National Executive meeting would be far more fruitful than mutual black-slapping and misplaced notions of imminent electoral victory. Anything less would just be a farce
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
<b>Shake off torpor, go aggressive</b>
The BJP's National Executive, which meets in Delhi today, would do well to set aside vacuous discussions, meaningless resolutions and absurd triumphalist assertions that may please certain leaders but will do the party no good. Between the BJP's National Council meeting in Lucknow, where tall claims were made about regaining power in Uttar Pradesh as a prelude to returning to power at the Centre, and today's Delhi conclave, little has happened to enthuse either cadre or supporters. On the contrary, the BJP today appears to be farther away from recovering the ground it ceded to the Congress in 2004 than it was a year ago. This despite the party coming to power in Uttarakhand and in Punjab where it contested the Assembly election along with the Akali Dal. Victory in both States was not on account of a resurgent BJP but discredited State Congress units and the charisma of individuals who are not necessarily in favour with the incumbent leaders. That the BJP could not dislodge an equally discredited Congress establishment in Goa is as eloquent a comment on the state of the party's health as its utterly miserable performance in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election. The reasons for this failure to overcome the debacle of 2004 despite the disastrous performance of the Congress-led UPA Government are not difficult to locate: <b>Lack of inspirational leadership; rapid erosion of ideological values; absence of ideas that can motivate both cadre and voters; and, inability to connect with the pulse of the masses. </b>In a sense, all three are inter-related as one flows from the other. Yesterday's "party with a difference" is now one with parties that celebrate amorality. It would be unfair to blame the vast majority of party cadre, well-wishers and supporters for the situation that prevails.
Yet, little or no purpose will be served by either indulging in self-flagellation or falling prey to despair. In a fragmented polity, the BJP remains, along with the Congress, a national party; unlike the Congress, <b>a large number of nationalist Indians look up to the BJP as the only hope at a time when the country is faced with an uncertain future. As one of the two poles of national politics, the BJP must shake off the torpor that is threatening to overwhelm its organisation, get rid of those who have fetched shame to the party and reinstate the primacy of ideology over maverick pragmatism</b>. It must also make a concerted effort to redefine its agenda in a manner that it reflects the social, political and economic aspirations of the 'new' India which will play a crucial role in deciding who comes to power at the Centre in 2009. It is not enough to pretend to be a Government-in-waiting; the BJP must rigorously prepare itself for power, much as it did under Mr LK Advani's tutelage, and aggressively assert its presence at the national level. Meanwhile,<b> the arrival of the United National Progressive Alliance on the political scene should be cause for concern for the BJP: It won't take long for its allies to switch sides if the party were to suffer erosion in its parliamentary strength. Which means, the BJP must devote more time and attention to the National Democratic Alliance and craft a strategy that will not only hold it together but also attract new allies.</b> To take your allies for granted can have disastrous consequences; the BJP should know this better than anybody else. A frank discussion on these and other related issues at the National Executive meeting would be far more fruitful than mutual black-slapping and misplaced notions of imminent electoral victory. Anything less would just be a farce
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