Party has not learnt lessons: BJP old guard

Advani, others hit out at Modi-Shah for poll defeat

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to light this Diwali with a sweet offer of FDI reforms, the older guard of BJP elder statesmen delivered a wet cracker. In a joint statement, senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sihna and Shanta Kumar delivered a body blow to Mr Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in the wake of the party’s defeat in the Bihar elections. The statement spoke of “emasculation” of the party that sought to project a masculine image of power and authority since coming to power last year.

The old saffron warhorses, who were marginalised and put into the bracket of “Margdarshak Mandal”, timed their blow at a time when Prime Minister Modi and his close aide, the BJP president, were drenched in defeat and looking for a way out to shirk responsibility. Late Tuesday night the BJP issued a statement that the party would “welcome any guidance and suggestions by seniors”.

The veteran leaders’ statement launched a frontal attack on Modi-Shah duo (without naming them) for the Bihar fiasco. In a scathing attack, it read: “The results of the Bihar election show that no lesson has been learnt from the fiasco in Delhi.”

The Modi-Shah duo, that virtually led the party in the Bihar poll battle with one rally after another, virtually sidelining the local leadership, played the old game of passing the buck by blaming the defeat on all — “collective responsibility”. The statement, signed by the top four leaders, stated: “To say everyone is responsible for the defeat in Bihar is to ensure that no one is held responsible. It shows that those who would have appropriated credit if the party had won are bent on shrugging off responsibility for the disastrous showing in Bihar.”

Then came the sting. “The principal reason for the latest defeat is the way the party has been emasculated in the last year,” the statement said, in a clear signal that the veterans are in no mood to take the marginalisation lightly and would strike back at every opportune moment.

Making it clear that the Modi-Shah duo should accept blame and responsibility for the party’s worst performance in the state, the statement read: “A thorough review must be done of the reasons for the defeat as well as of the way the party is being forced to kowtow to a handful, and how its consensual character has been destroyed. This review must not be done by the very persons who have managed and who have been responsible for the campaign in Bihar.”

Not merely the big four, there have been alleagtions that the troika of Mr Modi, Mr Shah and finance minister Arun Jaitley have been systematically trying to sideline all big players, ranging from home minister Rajnath Singh to former party chief Nitin Gadkari.

There are reports that Mr Gadkari’s rallies in Bihar were cancelled by the Shah team without even informing the minister. Sources revealed that before the statement was released from Dr Joshi’s residence, former Union minister Arun Shourie and former RSS ideologue K.N. Govindacharya were closeted with the former BJP president. Mr Shourie had held Mr Modi, Mr Shah and Mr Jaitley responsible for the debacle.

Rumblings had already begun when the party was routed by the Grand Alliance. The first to fire a salvo at the leadership was Mr Shatrughan Sinha, who was followed by Hukumdev Narayan Yadav and then a number of senior BJP leaders. Speaking to this newspaper, a senior party leader in Bihar questioned the “dictatorial style” of Mr Shah, and pointed fingers at leaders like Union ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Giriraj Singh, who they alleged “had no clue what was happening at the grassroots as they were busy hopping from one place to another by helicopters”.

In response to the veterans’ statement, a joint statement was issued by former party presidents, including M. Venkaiah Naidu, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari. The joint statement said all party members are concerned with the Bihar result and cited how the party won last years’s Lok Sabha polls under Mr Modi’s leadership and subsequently won elections in four states. The BJP assured that the Bihar results will be discussed at various other fora.

“The party has been very fortunate to have been led by Atal Behari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani for decades. They had set a healthy precedent of the party collectively taking up responsibility for victories and defeats. The party would certainly welcome any guidance and suggestion of our seniors in this regard,” the joint statement read.