Sunday, June 3, 2012

A letter of 'hope' to the BJP


Dear BJP,

I hope you have come out refined after your baithak in Mumbai. All though, I know you are struck in deep dirt of your collective leadership, I hope, the baithak was worth the sitting. You are at a very interesting point in history. The people are looking for you to give your prize but you are fast fading into insignificance. This is my effort to alert you, warn you, or whatever you might like it to call. I have hopes in you, because there is no credible alternative to the hapless government at the centre.  I have hopes in you because you had shown some sparks of good governance in your 6 year tenure between 1998-2004. Like a mother having high hopes on her son who had scored 1st rank in his kindergarten, even though he is hopelessly struggling to get 35 on 100 in college, I still hope- "All is Well". Even though you time and again proclaim it’s not. 

Writing an open letter is in vogue these days. But I write not for the trend but for the trauma that my fellow country men are going through. How else do I reach you in a country with more than a billion voices? Am I a die-hard supporter for having so much of HOPE in you? Well, you will find that out at the end of the letter. The reason for writing is pretty much the same as to why Ram Jethmalani had written to your President before the baithak. Given his track record, he would for once stand against you and make you appear naked. It was good of him to warn you beforehand. I guess the old man is saddened now, for his warning was not heeded to. As for the common people, it was very very awkward. The party calls a meeting and the leaders throw in their fancy pre- conditions. Like kids tell their parents- I would only come to the fair if you buy me a cone ice cream plus a merry-go-round ride. With this aura to begin with, we can guess what really happens in the chintan baithak. Not stratgesing, not future planning, but fulfilling the merry-go-round wishes of leaders. Ever since your icon, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, left the party into hands of warring men, it so appears every one has accumulated a face value to himself. So, the sum of parts is many times larger than the whole.

What else can the party do- 'Party mein neta bahut hain'? Isn't it a strength for any party to have many individual leaders? Yes, only when there are real leaders. Aren't the leaders in your party only of the perceived 'face value'? How many of them can truly go out individually and win elections for themselves or for the party candidates. You have been a witness to this in 2004 and 2009 and numerous state elections. Any learning from that? I guess no. Will you do some self introspection (chintan) now and re-draw your leadership and strategy? I only hope.



There have been innumerable occasions where the RSS is embarrassed by you and vice versa. People like me still agree that the RSS is a nation building organization and support its cause. But for every RSS supporter there is a Digvijay Singh in this country. We do support the RSS just as we support any other NGO or a religious organisation supporting working for worthy cause. But we expect them to stay apolitical because politics world over has been reduced to dirt. Public serving has become farce. It's all business now. At least, Swaminathan Aiyar says so in his TOI column.  Coming back to RSS, time and again it has pronounced that its an apolitical organisation. So, why do they interfere in your strategy repeatedly? They say it is not required to announce a PM candidate before the 2014 election.  Going by your track record, do you think people would vote for the party alone and not the leader?  Announce another CM candidate in place of Modi in Gujarat, Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh, Raman Singh in Chattisgarh, Raje in Rajasthan and see if the party gets the vote. People want to see them as chief minister not the BJP in power. It is strikingly visible. Why dont you get it?

In 2014, the Congress has indirectly pitted an ignorant Rahul Gandhi. People see the charismatic fair skinned Rahul Gandhi more than the congress itself.  While in BJP people see a dozen warring leaders. Even in 1998, people voted for the veterans Vajpayee and Advani rather than the BJP itself. Moreover they were frustrated with the stop-gap goverments of I.K Gujral and H.D Devegowda. Do I really need to tell you this? Or, you very well know all this and just act dumb. If I dont get the PM's chair, nobody in my party shall get it. Yeah, I now understand the theory of your leaders.

Coming to the first question- Am I your die-hard supporter? I chose to answer it at the end to get the liberty of telling whatever I wanted to. The simple answer is- NO. I have poured my heart out to you because I have some hope still left. Because, I am caught between the devil and the deep sea. I do not want a Mayawati or a Mulayam or a Mamata or for that matter Chiranjeevi becoming the PM and ruining the country with 25 coalition partners. I have already half-crushed my American education dream with the dollar wickedly laughing at me at 57 INR. I have half-crushed my dream of buying a car with petrol prices only rising inadvertently. With FDI coming to a near zero, industrial output at an all time low, I am on the verge of being kicked out of my private sector job. So, I do not want the matter to get worsened. The "middle class" agenda has always been dear to you. So, I write this in anticipation that something would come and change the warring heads. In desperate search of that "Jadu ki Chadi".

You know the mess is still a lot deeper. Not only internal back fighting, but internal corruption, lack of ideology, lack of appeal bother you a lot. You don't have a clear stand on any damn thing happening in the country right now. You propose and your allies dispose. Remember the President nominee shab? I know you are helpless because you are now guided by your leaders and the vice versa no longer happens.

But you know what, I still have some hope left. If you don't put your house in order well before the 2014 elections, not only I will desert you for ever, but you will never be able to claim for your heritage again. 

A mistake repeated is called a sin.

- Sincerely,
Every Indian (Or atleast I hope so)

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