Jyotirmaya Sharma, a professor in political studies at the University of Hyderabad and author of “Terrifying Vision”: M.S. Golwalkar, the RSS and India, in Mail Today:
“Jaswant Singh’s expulsion means very little for the BJP or its politics. If it has any significance, it is symbolic. It sends a message to the ageing leadership of the party to abandon ambition, retire gracefully and, maybe, write more books.
“Neither is it about a book nor about the book’s portrayal of Jinnah. Rather it is an assertion by the RSS that while it perceives the BJP not as its life-breath but merely an inspired organisation, everyone ought to be told who determines the orthodoxy….
“The only way out for the BJP is to split. A section of the party has to say goodbye to the wise old men from Nagpur and find a less fraught alternative than Hindutva. Periodic allegiance to Hindutva no longer finds resonance with the voters nor does it help with the allies.”
Worldcloud of today’s headlines: courtesy Wordle.net
Also read: ‘Only a vertical split in the BJP can save the BJP’
Tags: BJP, Churumuri, Jaswant Singh, Jinnah, Jyotirmaya Sharma, M.S. Golwalkar, Mail Today, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Nagpur, RSS, sangh parivar, Sans Serif
20 August 2009 at 2:47 pm
The only way for BJP is to shut shop and render people like Prof. Sharma, jobless.
20 August 2009 at 3:40 pm
NAWK
Strongly agree with your comment (or was that a wish ?) about Prof Sharma..
20 August 2009 at 4:06 pm
The split is within and not just vertical. It is sooo multi-directional, that it is crumbled and is lying TOGETHER in a heap!
20 August 2009 at 4:23 pm
The only way out is to keep trying to muzzle anyone who speaks the truth till everything magically goes away.
20 August 2009 at 7:22 pm
yes agree
20 August 2009 at 7:23 pm
Shambolic party, Shameless leaders!
20 August 2009 at 8:51 pm
So it is the mother congress versus appa makla parties!
The rise and fall of BJP all in 20 years and that too five years in power!