The sudden switch in strategy which yielded some immediate gains for the BJP ... has drawn two kinds of adverse comments. One is that the BJP has suddenly turned amoral like the rest of the parties. The second is that it has begun to imitate the Congress. Both comments are misplaced and mistaken.

One of the myths about the RSS-BJP combine was that it was party of morality that based its policies on principles. The party had a mechanism of enforcing discipline to an extent. It had an ideology of a perverted interpretation of the connection between Hinduism and Indian nationalism. But above all, it was a party that believed in seeking power for its own sake. The one god that was worshipped above all others was the god of power. To propitiate that god and to attain that objective any means was permitted and used. Since the path to power was the use of power, the means became the end.

Mysteriously Death of Upadhyay

It was this moral ruthlessness that distinguished the Jan Sangh, the first incarnation of the BJP, from the  Hindu Mahasabha. It was this ruthlessness, too, that enabled it to take over and practically decimate the Hindu Mahasabha. Shyama Prasad Mookerjee was no match for Guruji Golwalkar when it came to a tussle for power.

On Nazis and Fascists Path

The late Madhu Limaye told all who cared to hear that ... the unscrupulousness of Nazis and fascists was something picked up from textbooks. He had had first-hand experience when he was a leader of the Janata Party, which included the Jan Sangh. The manner in which its leaders plotted and manipulated against the other component of the Janata Party horrified him. The BJP has not departed from the practice of its predecessor. It has carried forward that tradition.

... The internal conflicts in the BJP now have turned uglier. The clash between Vajpayee and Govindacharya is only a trailer of the film that is in the making. The former is the butt of the slander campaign of his more RSS-inclined colleagues. The charge is his personal ambition to be Prime Minister ...

The BJP is no less amoral than other parties (but) more ruthless ... The BJP believes that as matters now stand it may even become the ruling party at the Centre. Even if this were to happen the BJP would face a debacle: the debacle of its identity.

The debacle is inherent in its identity. Recent events have only brought this out into the open. The BJP cannot come to power on its own, least of all, at the Centre. It also cannot be itself and yet be part of a coalition. The reason is its false belief that communalised Hinduism can be the basis of State and society in India. It further falsely believes that it can camouflage this belief in the guise of cultural nationalism.

As far as State and society in India are concerned, it is secular nationalism that has been and remains the norm. Communalisation is an eruption and aberration. Indians of different religious belief have fought with and killed one another on several occasions. But they have settled down after these negative interruptions to once again being good neighbours. Religion does form an important part of our lives but not in a divisive or demonic manner. It occupies a large part of our space but not all of it. Though integrated as a people, our lives are loosely woven, a many-hued mosaic.

Certainly, Hindu dharma has played a large part in making us so. But the biggest shaper has been the process of the making of ourselves as a nation. It has not been the process of the melting pot which is said to have made the US a nation. Nor is it an ordained or imposed identity as .. in the Soviet Union. It has been shaped by accretion, reaching a critical point through our national revolution and the winning of the national state.

Behind the cacophony ... are two strong themes. Both concern the survival of India ... One is the continuation of .. the nation State. The other is the substitution of this state by an ideological-denominational State, by a theocracy ... This is at the heart of the present struggle for India.                                           (Source: The Anti-Corruption, 21-28 December, 1997)

BJP's Double Speak

BJP leaders are trying themselves in knots in trying  to distance themselves from the party's Hindu image ... In Lucknow the other day, Mr. Vajpayee is reported to have said that the BJP has no commitment towards the Hindu agenda of the VHP. However, everybody knows that the VHP is a part of the RSS Parivar, just as the BJP is. One could, therefore, legitimately ask: If Mr. Vajpayee does not believe in the VHP's agenda, why is he in the BJP? ...

BJP has turned double-speak into a fine art. It says one thing to one section of the population and quite another to other sections. It is ready to do business with multinationals, but at the same time speaks in Swadeshi accents. Mr. Advani went on a 56-day anti-corruption yatra, and with weeks entered into an alliance with Jayalalitha ... Mr. Vajpayee, on the other hand, has said that his party is prepared to do business with any party or group for the sake of winning the coming poll.                 (M.K. Saini's Letter in The Times of India, 13 January, 1998)