BJP IN CRISIS: IS AAP RIGHT, HAS PM MODI BECOME MANMOHAN SINGH 2?

NEW DELHI: Four women leaders of the BJP have effectively paralysed the party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has fallen completely silent. The charges against the four and the subsequent indecisiveness to take action against them, or to even react substantively, has earned the Prime Minister the AAP epitaph of “Manmohan Singh 2.”

PM Modi had mounted a strong campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, cashing in on then Prime Minister Singh’s indecisiveness, silent, policy paralysis amongst other issues. AAP that has decided to mount a nationwide protest if no action is taken in the next three days is now charging PM Modi with having become a second Manmohan Singh, more so as the normally garrulous leader has become very quiet all of a sudden.

The four women in the eye of the storm include Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, both with allegations on the support extended by them to former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi. Recent documents released by the Congress party confirm that Raje had indeed signed the incriminating document in support of Modi with the proviso that this should not come to the knowledge of the Indian government (UPA at the time). This has further spurred the demand for action against both, with Raje now digging in her heels with support from the RSS as well as the State BJP that she is reported to control. The old guard in the BJP is behind the two women leaders, both have good equations with leaders like LK Advani who recently gave an interview warning that Emergency could be imposed again.

The BJP kept a certain silence when the first information broke against Sushma Swaraj, with the first support coming for her and subsequently Raje from the RSS leader Indresh Kumar. The BJP was left with no choice then but to rally behind both, even as the Opposition and the media stepped up its demand for their resignation or dismissal.

The third name to be added to the list in recent days is that of HRD Minister Smriti Irani with a Delhi court taking cognisance of a complaint against her for submitting allegedly false affidavits for both the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha elections about her educational qualifications. The controversy that had subsided earlier with the BJP refusing to take note of it, has surfaced again with AAP in particular asking whether she would now be arrested, just as their Law Minister had been by the Delhi Police for a similar ‘offence’.

The fourth name is that of Maharashtra Minister Pankaja Munde who has been charged with purchases of Rs 206 crore through 24 Government Resolutions (GR) on a single day instead of inviting tenders. The Chief Minister is silent, as is the BJP with the Opposition stepping up pressure for action against her as well.

AAP’s Ashutosh explaining the Manmohan Singh 2 charge said that the former Prime Minister was charged with silence, indecisiveness, policy paralysis. PM Modi, Ashutosh told The Citizen, is guilty on all three accounts where these senior BJP leaders are concerned, in that he has shown himself to be completely indecisive, and has fallen silent. This is even more conspicuous as PM Modi has been loud in his tweets, and postings on the social media. However, his inability to take a decision about Swaraj and Raje in particular has opened him to the charge of indecisiveness which has fast moved into the allegation of “sheltering the corrupt”.

The BJP has been waffling on the issue, with even party president Amit Shah unable to take a categorical stand after his initial support for Swaraj. There is clear worry that action against the women leaders, particularly Swaraj and Raje could spiral a dominoes effect, that could impact on not just the Bihar polls but on the unity of the party in the states. Raje has made it clear that she has control over the Rajasthan unit, and as PM Modi and Shah know there are many veterans within the party who are looking for simply an opportunity to make their resentments felt.

The Prime Minister is also acting under remote control, according to Ashutosh. “If the remote in the case of Manmohan Singh was in the hands of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, then in the case of PM Modi it is in the hands of the RSS,” he added. It is widely perceived

The fourth similarly, according to the AAP leader is “policy paralysis.” “No decision are being taken, and industry is particularly unhappy as files are not moving, Ministries are not being allowed to take decisions with everything collecting at the Prime Ministers office,” he said.

The Congress has been holding press conferences insisting that PM Modi break his silence as well. The Left is also vocal on this issue, demanding the Prime Ministers intervention and charging him with double standards. Janata Dal(U) leader Nitish Kumar has started campaigning on this in Bihar already. Parliament, sources said, will be a stormy affair unless the PM takes action before that. However, the confusion within the BJP is visible with the reports on television reflecting different briefings. From a ‘action will be taken’ speculation based on ‘sources’, the coverage keeps moving into the realm of ‘explanations’ being given by Raje and others as if these are acceptable. Even at the time of writing this ‘sources’ seem to have told news television that Raje had signed the document in her capacity as a friend of Lalit Modi’s, whatever that means.

The Citizen writing on the Hobsons choice before the Prime Minister had made it clear that action against Swaraj and Raje would be as counterproductive as no action. However, now with more and more information coming out, and with Irani and Munde both in the loop, it has begun to seem that the weights are tipping on the side of action as silence and indecisiveness might extract a toll similar to that the Congress party had to pay. In this case not in the Lok Sabha as elections for Parliament are four years away, but in the forthcoming Assembly polls over the next one year or more. This in turn, will have an impact on the complexion of the Rajya Sabha that the BJP was keen to wrest from the Opposition but might not find the going smooth.