BJP had more than one reason to oust Jaswant Singh

Jaswant Singh

After facing a flurry of contentious issues and problems, the BJP beheld another with the ouster of Jaswant Singh. This issue has for more than one reason, become the biggest bone of contention for the party, and the issue has taken many by surprise.

IT IS quite ironical that while almost half of India’s districts are facing a severe drought, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which forms the largest chunk of the opposition in India, is facing a flood of several contentious issues and problems. Amidst a plethora of such issues, the ouster of Jaswant Singh has become the biggest bone of contention and has taken many by surprise. However, it is also important to understand that the so-called “party with a difference” had more than one reason to resort to such a brazen step. Not many would disagree with the fact that the Jinnah controversy was nothing more than a side-business and it gave the party just the perfect context to snub the veteran, who, in his own words, is being portrayed as the “Ravana” of the same party, which once looked upon him as its “Hanuman”.

As one of the founding members of the BJP, Jaswant Singh was a part of the cavalcade of those leaders, who were demanding post-election discussions in order to fix accountability for the BJP’s recent poll debacle in the general elections. Quite understandably, the leadership realised that such open debates would force heads to roll. Being one of the main culprits, Jaitley cozied up with Advani and Rajnath Singh who could foresee his own ouster from the post of Party President. Moreover, many saw Jaswant Singh as the face of the Kandahar shame for the BJP, for which the party came for a lot of flak, and which was the possible reason why they could not rake up the issue of terrorism, an issue which was grossly mishandled by the UPA in its first term.

Another factor that worked against this former cabinet minister was the fact that he did not belong to the RSS, the parent body of the party. There was already enough speculation of the RSS’s increasing involvement within the party after the elections, and the decision of his ouster has come as a testimony to the fact that the RSS’s hard line ideology is gaining momentum within the party. Vasundhara Raje’s recent rebellion had given the BJP good ground to reinforce their logic, because by showing the way out to such a senior leader, the BJP would have been able to send out a stern message. This thought process was proven correct after the recent acceptance of the party whip by the former Chief Minister of Rajasthan, who decided to quit as the Leader of the Opposition in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly.

Jinnah might or might not have been behind India’s partition, but after the latest series of unpleasant events, one can safely say that although posthumously, he has brought enough acrimony within the BJP which has created a partition of sorts. What is more worrying for the party, however, is the fact that the worst is yet to come. After Singh’s remarks over Advani’s knowledge about the Kanadahar incident and the revelation about the difference in opinion between Advani and Vajpayee over Modi during the 2002 riots, things are looking grimmer for the party, which might have to face some scathing attacks from the Congress and its allies in the near future for the same. All in all, the party has been reduced to nothing more than a house in shambles and a few more such startling revelations might well ring the death knell for this right-wing party.