The Great Debate (India)

Has the Bharatiya Janata Party lost its political plot?

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday expelled former finance minister Jaswant Singh from its primary membership for praising Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah in a book.

The decision to expel Singh came after the release of his book “Jinnah – India, Partition, Independence” which the BJP said went against the party ideology.

As a visibly upset Singh, a founding member of the party, questioned the decision, the latest controversy to hit the BJP seems to have brought its internal conflicts out in the open.

Many pressing issues haunt the party as it begins its ‘Chintan Baithak’ – an annual brainstorming session.

The BJP was drubbed at the 2009 general election and faced a leadership crisis. Its elderly leaders are perceived as being out of sync with a young vote base and it has had an ideological falling out with its Hindu right-wing parent.

The BJP may need to take a hard look at these issues if it hopes to reinvent itself.

Singh’s book and its fallout have led some liberal thinkers in politics to question the wisdom of meting out punishment to an individual for expressing a personal opinion especially since larger issues like revamping the organizational structure of the party and its revival need to be addressed.

Is this the end of the road for Advani?

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Lal Krishna Advani’s prime ministerial ambitions were crushed when the ruling Congress-led coalition defied predictions to sweep the 2009 general election.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition was only about 11 seats short of an outright majority from the 543 seats at stake, according to election commission data.

The Times of India described Advani as the “Ivan Lendl of Indian politics”, comparing his inability to grab the top job to the tennis player’s failure to win a career Wimbledon title.

Variously described as a hardliner, a hawk and a wily politician, the 81-year-old Advani is a leading advocate of his party’s trademark Hindu revivalism. But critics said his age may not have played well with young voters.

Does the BJP’s electoral defeat signify the end of Advani’s political career?

Congress or BJP – who will win?

With just hours to go before the counting of votes, several exit polls have shown that India’s ruling Congress-led coalition is slightly ahead of the BJP-led alliance.

The probable lack of a clear winner has stoked concerns that the coalition that emerges after a month of elections may be unstable.

Which party will get the most seats? The Congress or the BJP — who will be invited to form the next government?

Greatest democratic show on earth to begin

(C. Uday Bhaskar is a New Delhi-based strategic analyst. The views expressed in the column are his own.)

If elections are the single most visible element of the democratic experience, the biggest show on earth is all set to unfold on Thursday when a large percentage of more than 700 million voters will participate in the first phase of the 15th Indian general elections to the Lok Sabha – the lower house of the Indian parliament.

It is expected that up to 400 million Indians will cast their votes and yes, many of them are among the poorest of the poor – afflicted by what is euphemistically referred to as the ‘DAD’ syndrome – those who earn a dollar a day.

But this in no way detracts from the excitement and enthusiasm with which the average Indian participates in the general election.

As elections go, there is nothing to match the scale and diversity of these mega events and all kinds of statistical records and distinctive accomplishments are achieved.

Elections are about who comes to power through the ballot box – but it also engenders the most vile, venal and reprehensible practices that range from intimidation and politically motivated killing of rival candidates to bribing and other forms of inducement.

One hapless candidate, Vijay Bahadur Sonker of the little known Indian Justice Party who had entered the fray from Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh – India’s most populous state – was found hanging from a tree on April 13. Earlier a candidate from Orissa was killed by local left wing extremists.