Advices To BJP Party

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The Telegraph

<b>RSS defends Modi, blames campaign</b>

SANJAY K. JHA

New Delhi, May 23: The RSS has diagnosed bad campaigning, not Narendra Modi or Varun Gandhi, as the cause of the BJP’s poor poll show and recommended that the only cure is re-affirmation of its ideological purity.

In the latest issue of its mouthpiece Organiser, the RSS has interpreted the verdict as the people’s rejection of smaller parties (third front) and a vote for the “evolution of a national polity.” <b>Some essays have subtly suggested that the BJP move out of its coalition mindset and expand its own base.</b>

“The silver lining in this electoral outcome is the unmistakable play of the national psyche and the emergence of a clear two-party system,” the editorial has said.

“<b>There is no evidence to show that the ideology of the party has failed.</b> There is also no evidence that the Modi campaign or the Varun Gandhi speech damaged its prospects. <b>The BJP actually failed in presenting itself as a better alternative offering stability and a national vision.</b> This has more to do with a mismanaged campaign and organisational weaknesses.”

The campaign was managed by the BJP’s most celebrated strategist Arun Jaitley, hailed as a rainmaker after victories in state elections.

But the RSS appears to have made a direct attack on his style of functioning. “<b>Over-dependence on hi-tech and affluence more than grassroots-level management damaged the party. Politics is played out in the field, not in air-conditioned chat rooms</b>.”

The RSS has also hit out at the BJP’s self-defeating obsession with media endorsement, saying “this was one of the reasons for the party losing in urban constituencies”.

After the 2004 defeat, too, the RSS and a large section of the BJP had slammed hi-tech campaigning and media obsession. The campaign in-charge then was the late Pramod Mahajan, who had apologised for the defeat.

But a more hi-tech campaign was launched this time through Advani’s website and sleek TV jingles. Nor did BJP strategists forget to shower pity on the Congress’s poor show on this front.

<b>The RSS also does not share the dilemma of senior BJP leaders on Hindutva politics. It has indicated that any attempt to dilute ideology would be crushed with brute force. “...it has to shut its doors on all those who want to reshape it as a Congress B-team,” </b>the editorial has said.

There has been a clamour from some BJP quarters that the party should adopt a progressive, secular agenda and fight poll on the planks of development and governance alone. Advani too unsuccessfully tried to pursue this line.

But most articles have suggested an aggressive Hindutva line. <b>“The BJP will have no rationale if it is not a Hindu savvy party,” </b>an article has said.

The BJP will also have to grapple with the RSS belief that the coalition era has ended. “People have become sick of coalition talk. The craze will be for parties with a pan-Indian vision and presence. Instead of wasting time coaxing and cajoling recalcitrant partners, national parties like the BJP can now concentrate on building up the organisational structure in states where it is weak,” the editorial has said.