Hardening The Knuckle

• Terror Above All: The BJP national ­executive meeting was being held in the backdrop of the terror attack in Uri

• Up Ahead: Looking ahead at the UP ­assembly polls due early next year, ­including issue of a CM face, was on the menu

• Back-Up: The matter of building a second-­line leadership has gained traction, with many leaders busy in government roles

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The BJP had christened the venue at Kozhikode ‘Swapna Nagari’ and hired the services of celebrated chef Pazhayidam Moh­anan Namboothiri to cater to the 3,000-odd delegates expec­ted to attend the national council and the national executive meeting. The concluding day was to be dedicated to celebrations and a 100-course ‘Onam style’ meal. But the terrorists’ attack on the army camp in Uri cast an inevitable shadow on the conclave.

While the situation in Kashmir and poll prospects in Uttar Pradesh were both to be discussed, much of the conclave was inevitably consumed in discussing India’s response to provocations from across the western border. While the meeting expectedly endorsed the government’s hardline policy towards Pakistan and the prime minister’s vow to the nation that the perpetrators (he meant the masterminds) would not go unpunished, several delegates expectedly raised some uncomfortable questions.

Days before the meeting, senior national executive member Yashwant Sinha told Outlook that the Kashmir situation and relations with Pakistan were unavoidable issues for discussion in the meeting. “On behalf of the government,” he said, “one of the ministers will have to brief members of the national council and the national executive about the government’s view.”

Sinha agreed with the hardline stand of Ram Madhav’s—“For one tooth, the complete jaw.” “It is a war-like situation when your army is attacked,” said the plain-speaking former finance and external affairs minister. “Even if this is not the first time that an attack has taken place, there is always the last time and I would suggest Uri should be the last time. The response has to be military. First, the nature of response to the killings of the jawans and attacks on our base should be left to the security forces. Secondly, the government would have to approve the strategy of the security forces and, finally, the government would have to manage its fallout at the global level. There is no point saying every time that we will give a ‘mooh tod jawaab’ and end up doing nothing.”

BJP leaders, at least in public, were loath to admit that jingoistic reactions and war cries from party leaders put unnecessary pressure on the government. While some leaders conceded in private conversation that a more measured response would have given the government some flexibility, most leaders echoed the sentiment voiced by Ram Madhav.

Another national executive member and veteran leader Shanta Kumar held that the stage for a peaceful dialogue with Pakistan to resolve complex issues was “over and gone”. Pointing out that it is a serious and complicated situation now, especially with Pakistan’s new alignment with China, he said, “All aspects need to be taken into account and some decision has to be taken because the situation has gone beyond the tolerance level now. Pakistan needs to be contained. When Parliament was attacked, people were with the government and we spoke of ‘aar paar ki ladai’. We missed that chance. We made a mistake; we should have taken action then itself. There cannot be a more serious situation than this. Some risks have to be taken and if we don’t take risks, we will reach nowhere.”

The leaders also concede that an adequate response to Pakistan was necessary to vindicate the prime minister’s muscular approach towards the neighbour on the west. After all, before the 2014 general election, BJP leaders like Amit Shah had declared that once Modi became prime minister, intruders would not dare to inf­iltrate into India. Modi himself had ridiculed the then prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh for being soft on Pakistan. BJP supporters, therefore, expect him to not only act tough but also to be seen as acting tough.

Tarun Vijay, BJP MP and for­mer editor of RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya, told Outlook that  the Kozhikode meet was “historic in every sense”. “The ideological aura of ‘integral humanism’, which was first forma­lly used here, and the memories of Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya’s Calicut add­ress would guide us to strengt­hen the patriotic forces for the development of the poor, Antyodaya—and use our might against the enemies of India, within and across the border,” he said. “The Uri martyrs’ sacrifice would power our resolve to free PoK and eliminate Pakistani agents of barbarity. It is an ideological reinforcement of the cadre who are facing savage attacks from the Left and Islamist extremists in Kerala, making it the state with the highest number of incidents of political violence. We shall give them a befitting reply in a democratic and Gandhian way.”

The Kozhikode meeting coincided with the beginning of centenary celebrations of Upadhyaya, who was elected the Jan Sangh’s president in 1967. BJP spokesperson Srikant Sharma said the party’s agenda was to dedicate Upadhyaya’s centenary celebrations to ‘Garib Kalyan’.

Clearly, besides the Deendayal Upadhy­aya card, issues like Kashmir and Pakistan are of great political significance for the BJP, especially with so many crucial ass­embly elections coming up in 2017-18, to be followed by the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In Kerala, the Deendayal Upadhyaya card is significant for the BJP to play realpolitik for its future stability. Party leaders believe its presence in Kerala needs to be more prominently demonstrated. ­Sources claim that at a recent discussion in the BJP, it was felt the party has imp­roved its position fairy well, though more need to be done—and seen to be done—to score in the assembly elections ahead.

In the past decade, the party’s voteshare has remarkably improved in Kerala. In the 2011 polls, as many as 133 of the 138 candidates lost their deposits. The party did relatively better this year. It contested in 98 seats and won one, while its voteshare went up to 10.53 per cent from 6.03 per cent in 2011 (it was 4.75 per cent in 2006).

The Kerala BJP has also improved its ­position in terms of voteshare in seats contested. From 4.86 per cent in 2006 and 6.15 per cent in 2011, it rose to 15.13 per cent this year. The number of RSS shakhas in the state has gone up over the same period, and so has membership in the BJP. Top leaders feel they are in a fairly good ­position to make a mark in the southern state in the near future.

Another significant issue that, sources had said, would surely be touched at Kozhikode was the ­Uttar Pradesh assembly elections due early next year. Also exercising the minds of party leaders was the question of whether or not to project a chief ministerial face for the UP polls. Until last month, the wave was strongly against any chief ministerial face in UP and many leaders had felt the campaign should be based on Narendra Modi’s charisma alone. But, lately, there had also been speculation that an OBC might be made the face.

Concerns around developing a second line of leadership in the party was also on the menu. Since leaders such as Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and others are part of the government, it is felt that the party should seriously take up the matter of nurturing second-line leaders who could focus more on organisational work.