Introspection or Internal fighting
After the defeat, the BJP's internal thought process or introspection is in multiple contradicting voices.
- Koenrad Elst said BJP was portrayed as a Congress's B team to the electorate with nothing original to offer. The lack of clarity on ideology and the hesitation to associate itself to the roots of Indian culture are the prime causes of failure. Full article: http://www.dailypioneer.com/177112/BJP-apes-Congress-fails.html
- Sudheendra Kularni, a key aide of L K Advani, instrumental in Advani's Jinnah speech, opposes the above argument and accuses Sangh parivar for not backing LK totally. SK is also instrumental in promoting "India Shining" in 2004 and hence the debacle and laptop driven hifi smart-card campaigning this time. Full article:
- Brajesh Mishra (not inside BJP), previous NSA, a close aide of Vajpayee, speaks to media "BJP's endorsement of Varun's speech caused the debacle".
Out of these criticism and introspection, rarely one finds the genuine soul-searching. Anil Chawla, a former IITB classmate of Sudheendra Kulkarni, answers him by writing an open letter to him in Outlook accusing him as a stooge of Advani (or the otherway). He rightly criticizes LK for bringing in mediocre people around him and denying the opportunity for hard-working Sanghi, and thereby missing out on the wisdom of ground-reality. BJP needs to flush out LK and his coterie: Sushma, Sudheendra K and many other mediocre people and find people from the middle rung of Sangh and promote the merited, sincere and visionary workers. The million dollar question: Who will do it? Read Anil's nice article here: http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20090611&fname=anil&sid=1
Also do not miss the straight-forward take on the debacle by Kanchan Gupta: http://kanchangupta.blogspot.com/2009/06/blame-game-begins-in-bjp-knives-are-out.html