Rajnath Singh’s motives
You don`t say!
Darius Nakoonwala
The BJP is desperately trying to regroup or, as the Americans say, get its act together. Towards that end, its President, Rajnath Singh, made some changes in the organization. The most important of these was the removal of Narendra Modi from the parliamentary board. Mr Modi poses the biggest challenge to Mr Singh.
The Hindustan Times wrote an edit alright, but said nothing about Modi being dropped. I wonder why. But the Hindu, as might be expected, waded right in and lumped him and Sanjay Joshi - he of the sex video fame - together. Mr Joshi was the general secretary (organisation). "So what is common between Mr. Modi and Mr. Joshi? They are friends; they are Hindutva extremists; and they were both protégés of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh."
The Pioneer on the other hand, underplayed the move. "perhaps it would have made better sense if Mr Singh had retained Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as a member of the party`s Central Parliamentary Board which is the top decision-making body and whose membership adds more than mere gloss to a leader`s image. Sanjay Joshi`s exit… too much need not be read into it. Mr Joshi has been replaced by another full-time RSS pracharak, Mr Ram Lal." Poor Pioneer, having to defend these things just as the Hindu defends the CPM`s idiocies. Then, rather despairingly, it added that "The BJP should not only see itself as the country`s main Opposition party, but also the leader of the National Democratic Alliance and use the interregnum between now and the next general election to prepare itself and its allies for power at the Centre." Yes, of course.
The Indian Express got closest to the truth. " There is… no respite from the positioning games that have so completely preoccupied and paralysed (the BJP) …he seems to have been chiefly guided by the need to secure his own survival. This is an attempt to cut his rivals to size — in order to appear taller himself…"
The Hindu too took a swipe at Mr Singh`s ambitions. "He anointed himself Prime Minister-in-waiting at the BJP`s National Council meeting held in December 2006. Significantly, the event was marked by a gung-ho return to previously forbidden subjects — the Ram temple at Ayodhya, the uniform civil code, and the repeal of Article 370. In recent months almost any issue the BJP has taken up has centred on the theme of the alleged appeasement of Muslims."
But may I ask: why shouldn`t Mr Singh try to fulfill his ambitions? After all, he may well be thinking that if Manmohan Singh can become PM, why not him?
The Hindu also dealt with party issues, as did the
The Deccan Herald, which wrote much later than the others, thought that Rajnath Singh was still hiding the Vajpayee-Advani shield, which was why his new men looked as if they might have been chosen by the two old men. "Indeed, Rajnath Singh`s choice of office-bearers even suggests that the RSS leadership might have quietly accepted the reality of the overbearing presence of the two veterans within the BJP`s organisational scheme....Advani and Vajpayee would have perhaps done what the BJP chief did with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi — to check his national ambitions."
Well, well.
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