Will the real BJP stand up and identify itself? A series of statements by party leaders ... has done nothing to clarify its position on Ayodhya and other core Hindutva issues. It would appear the party is being buffeted by all the old contradictions and does not know how to cope with being committed and uncommitted to Ayodhya at the same time ..
No doubt Govindacharya and others feel the need to rally the troops and reassure them that Ayodhya is not a lost cause. But in doing so these leaders undermine Vajpayee's promise that a government headed by him will not pursue the Hindutva programme overtly or covertly.
As a result of all this and regardless of the fact that the BJP has formally adopted the manifesto of the NDA in which Ayodhya etc are conspicuous by their absence, doubts about the party's true intentions persist. Rather than gloss over it, BJP leaders would do well to recognise there is a problem of credibility here ...
... On Ayodhya, genuine liberals are heavily outnumbered by hard-liners who have other ideas but are compelled by circumstances to be pragmatic. But there has been no introspection or new thinking in the light of the experience of the last year of actually governing a pluralistic country. Nothing has apparently been learned from Murli Manohar Joshi's failed attempt to tailor education policy or the terrible trouble caused by the VHP's aggressive version of Hindutva. The hard-liners make no pretence that they toe Vajpayee's line out of conviction. They do so because at this stage it is expedient to back someone who looks like a winner. Thus the liberals in the BJP look like being the hard-liners' Trojan horse ...
Double-speak is no solution. At best it confuses, at worst it deceives. It creates the impression that somehow the Hindutva brigade will be able to prevail over liberal elements in the BJP and over its coalition allies and revives fears of a hidden agenda. Unless the party can confront its internal contradictions and resolve them, Vajpayee's credibility in the country and the party's is bound to suffer. The solution lies first, in whole-hearted commitment to the NDA manifesto. Second, the BJP should seek a consensus on controversial issues in good faith which means keeping an open mind and being prepared to abandon old shibboleths. Third, its leaders should yank the rank and file away from the past ... If ... this is (not) possible, the BJP should tell the people in all honesty what it actually stands for.
