After setback, BJP to introspect Differences crop up between BJP, RSS over Ram temple
TAKING STOCK PM Modi, Amit Shah likely to speak to senior leaders, get feedback; RSS leaders to offer inputs
THE RSS WANTS THE GOVERNMENT TO PASS A LAW FACILITATING THE CONSTRUCTION OF A TEMPLE, AND BELIEVES THE VOTERS ARE PUNISHING BJP FOR NOT DOING SO
NEWDELHI: After Tuesday’s electoral setbacks, it is time for introspection in the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
Party president Amit Shah will go into a huddle with senior leaders on Thursday to discuss the reasons behind the defeats the party faced in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh annd Rajasthan, and to lift the morale ahead of the 2019 general elections, according to senior leaders familiar with the matter.
Before that, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will speak to the BJP MPS at the weekly parliamentary party meeting in the Parliament complex. The BJP is also expected to hold a meeting of its national council in the Capital in the second week of January, when 2,000 party leaders from across the country will assemble to discuss the national elections.
“The meetings were decided before the results of the assembly elections came in,” said a BJP office-bearer who asked not to be named. But, he added, the outcome of the assembly elections in the five states — particularly the three in the Hindi heartland that were under the BJP’S rule — will feature in the discussions as the party prepares for Modi’s re-election bid.
The BJP functionaries said that the party’s national office bearers, state unit presidents, in-charges of the different states and some others invitees will attend the meeting called by Shah in New Delhi to take stock of the preparedness for the Lok Sabha polls expected in April-may.
A second office-bearer said the results have exposed the limitation of BJP’S organisation in states where it is in power.
“We ruled Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for the last 15 years, but addressing farm distress, creating more jobs, and dealing with a more aggressive Congress are big challenges confronting the party,” he said.
The leader added that Shah will seek feedback about the ground situation in other states, and each state unit has been asked to give a report on organisational activities, political chal- lenges, and future programmes.
Sidharth Mishra, president of the Center for Reforms, Development and Justice said “The Tuesday results have shown that success, or defeat, of any party in an election does not depend on how a party is organisationally prepared. There are other critical issues that the BJP needs to address. Such a meeting can be an occasion for Amit Shah to do some honest introspection. Or else such an exercise will be futile,” he said.
The Congress dismissed the BJP’S plan of action. “It is not a case of organisational failure but a policy failure...governance is not just governing but like a good doctor, you need to feel the pulse of the people. You cannot substitute it with propaganda,” said Congress leader Tom Vadakkan. NEWDELHI: A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost power in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where its writ ran unchallenged for three terms, and in Rajasthan, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, its ideological mentor, is believed to have told the party that the electoral setback is a message from voters disappointed with the Bjp-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for not building a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
According to people aware of the developments, while the party is of the view that the Supreme Court should be allowed to take a call on the issue, the RSS wants the government to pass a law facilitating the construction of a temple, and believes voters are punishing the BJP for not doing so.
“While there is consensus on the issue of constructing a Ram Temple between the party and the Sangh, there is some disagreement on the method for doing so.
There are many voices within the party who believe that the Sangh should not insist on the government presenting a bill in Parliament,” said one RSS functionary aware of the develop- ments. According to this functionary, days before the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s ‘Dharam Sansad’, held in the Capital on December 9, the RSS and the BJP leadership discussed the pros and cons of large-scale mobilisation for pushing the Union government to bring a law for the construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
The opinion among most people in the BJP, according to this person, was that development should be the party’s sole campaign message.
Some of the party’s leaders conceded that a a private member’s bill was the most that the party could do.
The RSS doesn’t seem to have bought this argument and at the Dharam Sansad, the organisation’s general secretary Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi declared that a law was the only option.
A second RSS functionary said the Sangh conveyed to the government that its intention was not to create a conflict or to polarise voters, but to seek the fulfillment of a promise made by the party before it goes into the next Lok Sabha elections.
VHP’S working president Alok Kumar downplayed the conflict and said: “We have not received any request from anyone to not raise the [temple] issue. We are only insisting on fulfilment of assurances made in the BJP manifesto.”
A BJP leader who spoke to HT on condition of anonymity said the upset the party faced in the recent round of elections was an outcome of unresolved “local issues”.
“There has been no impact of the Ram temple movement on the ground,” the BJP leader said, but added that the party leadership “would rather leave the issue to the apex court to resolve.”
The RSS is unlikely to change its position, said political analyst Shirish Kashikar. “From the response that the Dharma Sansads are getting from people, it is evident that the RSS will not climb down from its position and will only intensify its campaign,” he said.