RSS IS THE NEW ISI, THE LATTER A FRIEND

RSS is the new ISI. Chetan Bhagat has hit the nail where the BJP should have but, inexplicably, hasn’t.

Ever since the Congress stormed back to power in 2009, it has launched such a vicious and relentless attack on the RSS that one cannot be faulted for believing that the organisation is as dangerous a terror outfit as the Al Qaida, and is out to destabilise and dismember India. At the same time, the party and the government have all but forgiven Pakistan for all its sins and launched an equally relentless campaign to convince Indians that they have more in common with Pakistanis than with Indians who do not subscribe to the views of the Congress and embedded media.

For Congress if the RSS is the new ISI, the latter has to be the new – though unstated, for obvious reasons -- friend. And so it seems it is.

When the Congress party did better than even it expected during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, among the many theories doing the rounds was one that was whispered but not openly articulated, the evidence then being not solid enough to substantiate it. As per this conspiracy theory, the ISI had a role to play in the victory of the Congress and defeat of the BJP. This was based on the following conjectures and assumptions that would have motivated the ISI:

• A BJP government is most likely to react militarily to another Mumbai 26/11 type of attack. After the terror attack on Parliament in 2001, the then BJP government had given the go-ahead for launching a military offensive that was called off only at the very last minute, thanks to the intervention of the US. Next time, a BJP government is more likely to not give in to US pressure. The Congress, on the other hand, made a lot of noise but did little after Mumbai 26/11. In future too it will try its best to avoid precipitating a crisis, no matter how grave the provocation, with an eye on Muslim votes.
  
• The Congress has lost its core dalit vote in UP to Mayawati and Yadav vote to Mulayam Yadav. It also no longer has any core vote among remaining Hindus, who are vulnerable to advances of the BJP. Due to this fundamental weakness, it needs Muslim votes to survive and win. A Congress government will, therefore, per force be very soft towards the activities of the SIMI and the Indian Mujahideen, and give them much needed time and space to expand their influence and multiply their hit capability, to be activated at the right time. This will help in furthering ISI's long term strategy of bleeding India to death through a thousand cuts.
• The Congress will also turn a blind eye to the radicalisation of Indian Muslims that is vital to achieving the ISI’s plan of the creating and expanding an Islamic sub-state within the secular Indian state so that the avowed objective of the SIMI and Pakistan to turn India into an Islamic state is achieved when an opportunity presents itself.
  

In support of this theory, the following facts were cited then:

• There has not been a single terror attack, big or small, since Mumbai 26/11. This is because the ISI ordered all such attacks to be put on hold at least till the elections to ensure that no Hindu votes get diverted to the BJP.
• Compared to 2004, the Congress has gained around 6% vote share in UP and some other states. But in UP, where the Muslim population is large, the party has gained a huge 10% compared to the Assembly elections in 2007, when it got just 8.56% of the votes. The fact that the only other party to gain vote share in the state since 2007 is the BJP, although by only 0.57%, while the both the SP and BSP have lost around 2% and 3% respectively, is conclusive evidence that it is mostly the Muslims who have shifted to the Congress in huge numbers.
• This tectonic shift in the Muslim vote to the Congress in UP that has helped it increase its seat tally to 21 from a paltry nine, has taken place virtually unnoticed. This could not have happened on its own. There was obviously a concerted effort by influential and powerful extremist elements and possibly some fundamentalist religious leaders to keep this development under the wraps, as it were, to prevent any polarisation of the the Hindu vote in favour of the BJP and away from the Congress, as a reaction, because had that happened, this shift of the Muslim vote would have got negated.

Two years have passed since Congress won the elections. These two years too have been free of any terror attack. But note the total contrast in the manner this incident-free period is being projected by the Congress.

ISI, LeT, SIMI, IM and other umbrella terror outfits have been virtually removed from public mind, thanks to an obliging media and the candle brigade that either do not talk about them or do so in manner that makes them look almost benign. The speedy trial and acquittal of the Batla House accused tried under normal laws, not UAPA or MCOCA, right in the heart of India’s capital has also been quietly buried, so that memories of people are not refreshed, and the design of the Congress is not revealed.

On the flip side they have got into overdrive about the common culture, language and ethnicity – the sameness -- of the people of India and Pakistan (South Asia for bubble gum kids) and the great love they have for each other. Indians are being told ad nauseum that a vast majority of ordinary Pakistanis are secular and want to have very close relations with their Indian brothers, but – this is critical – their wishes are not being fulfilled primarily because the RSS and the Sangh parivar are poisoning the atmosphere in India, just like terrorists with AK47s are in Pakistan.

The almost total silence about the many Pak-sponsored terror attacks that killed thousands of Indians, is being matched by the almost daily front-paging and prime-timing of leaks about four bomb blasts carried out a few years back – the last was in 2007 – by a handful of misguided Hindu extremists, in reaction to Pak-sponsored attacks. Almost all of them are in prison and no one has yet been convicted. But every other day, there are leaks by state agencies to the media about confessions or new leads found.

The picture being Photoshopped, very systematically and deliberately, is of a Hindu terror that is happening now and one that poses a real, present and growing danger to India and Indian Muslims. The RSS and the Sangh parivar, we are being helpfully told, are the only enemies that Indians need to worry about: India’s real war is not against Pakistan or Islamist terror promoted and supported by the ISI, but against Saffron terror spawned by the RSS.

The aim of this Goebbelsian refrain, tragically, is no more than to convince us to vote for Congress as our only hope, even as it plunders India like no one has ever, right in front of our eyes, with an arrogance and shamelessness that defies understanding.

The party, as I said in my previous post too, has so completely put all its eggs in the minority basket, that the only Indians left to oppose it, exceptions apart, are Hindus. Thus each one of us who raises his voice against the government is by default a RSS worker. It is, therefore, only natural that Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, the two leading faces of the anti-corruption movement that has erupted on the back of strong popular revulsion against what appears to be the only agenda of the present dispensation at the Center, are being vilified by the Congress as RSS agents.

The success that the Congress party achieved in UP in 2009 has manifestly led its strategists to believe that it can retain power in Delhi if it can get Muslims to vote for it en bloc again. The Hindu vote, splintered along every fault line possible, cannot pose any challenge to it as long as hatred and revulsion can be generated for the RSS and the Sangh parivar among enough Hindus. Other Hindu caste based parties and regional outfits will fall in line and make up the shortfall in seats, if any. The ongoing caste census may well divide them even further, making Congress rule even easier.

‘Unite Muslims, divide Hindus’: this is evidently the fail-safe election mantra that is being chanted in 10 Janpath now.

Why has there been no Pak-sponsored terror attack since 26/11? The answer, to my mind, is simple. When the Indian government has taken upon itself to unwittingly further the agenda of the ISI, where is the need for it to resort to active jihad that will inflame passions and undo the good work prematurely? For the last two years, little has been heard of the SIMI and IM too. Have these outfits dissolved or are they, with ISI’s help, quietly expanding their base even as Indian intelligence agencies look the other way in line with the dictates of their political masters who see the voting machine and nothing else?

Sonia Gandhi’s hatred for the Hindu Right is well known. Vir Sanghvi wrote about it and Wikileaks has confirmed it. But it now appears that her antipathy extends to Hindus as a whole. Nothing else can explain the manner in which the the Communal Violence Bill that she has approved, has been prepared in unholy haste by her handpicked, unelected team that includes known Hindu haters, even though there have been no communal riots for almost a decade.

In one stroke, the bill has achieved what a thousand terror attacks cannot. The Hindu has been virtually declared The Terrorist in his own country and, – if the bill is passed – subject to draconian provisions of law that even terrorists who blast innocent people are not. He cannot speak, he cannot write, much less do, anything that can be construed as offensive by a member of a minority community. Worse, even democratically elected governments, where Hindus are going to be in majority, have been declared untrustworthy; unelected bodies where minorities are in majority will decide whether the Hindu is guilty or not. His voice has, thus, been throttled and his spirit, his freedom killed far more effectively than the ISI could have in a hundred years, if at all.

When your own government nukes you, where is the need for the ISI to send Fedayeen to kill a few innocent people here and there?

If Sonia’s Congress continues to speed India to its ruin in this manner, a deceptive peace will prevail. This is not a peace to celebrate; it is a peace to fear. This is not a peace that will lead to peace; it is a peace that will end in mayhem. This is not a peace that will make India strong; it is a peace that will make its enemies strong. Do you want to go along, or would you rather be dubbed the new ISI?
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SONIA, THE NEW QUEEN VICTORIA

One did not expect Left-liberals, geographically and culturally displaced as many of them they are, to join the dots crying to be put together. But the fact that their poor cousins across the fence have not noticed, or have pretended not to, gives an indication of how decisively the balance of power has shifted and got concentrated in the last few years.

The Wikileaks on Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are far more significant and, at a fundamental level, much more disturbing than appears at first glance. They confirm the belief of many that under the unquestioned leadership of the duo, a paradigm shift has taken place in the very idea of India. This change, cleverly disguised as political, is actually deeply cultural, even civilisational.

Although she rules India and has been in the spotlight for a long time, little is known about what and who Sonia Gandhi really is as a person, and what her beliefs and ideologies are, except that she an Italian by birth and a Roman Catholic by baptism. As per the leaked American Embassy cable, after meeting Sonia Maria Shriver comes away with an impression that she “presents an intriguing enigma of a warm private personality that remains concealed and is available only to her closest confidants and family members.” The same can be said about Rahul Gandhi too; few Indians know what his views are about anything, much less what his vision for India is, if there is any that is.

Vir Sanghvi, the belatedly exposed and disgraced on-hire “dresser” of stories, had, a few years back, given India a tiny first-hand peek into Sonia Gandhi’s mind when he quoted her as telling him that she abhorred the Hindu right. At that time it was only logically viewed by most as a continuation of the inherited political viewpoint of the secular Congress party, battling the BJP to rule India. But the same cannot be said now.

Shriver has unpeeled a very telling layer of Sonia Gandhi’s personality, one that explains why she took Indian citizenship only after Indira Gandhi’s assassination in 1984, when her husband Rajiv Gandhi suddenly became India’s Prime Minister. As per Shriver, “despite her carefully erected India persona, her basic Italian personality is clearly evident in her mannerisms, speech and interests.” (italics mine)

The saree, the pallu, the well drafted speeches in Hindi and the few carefully choreographed interviews, then, are manifestations of political compulsion, not genuine interest in or understanding of India; Sonia's "Indianness" remains as notional as it was before 1984. Her “inherent opposition to the social conservatism of the Hindu right” likely flows from her European and Christian moorings. She is almost the new Roman Brahmin; her view is not simply political. But since it fits nicely with the manufactured secular-communal divide that is the bedrock of Congress party’s political strategy, the deceit has remained unnoticed by all except trusted Indian courtiers who have not talked.

Rahul Gandhi, Wikileaks all but confirms, is more a chip of the Italian block than of the family whose surname he carries.

Little is known about the young Gandhi’s religious and cultural beliefs. Publicly he has been saying that he is blind to religion and that the Indian flag is his religion. But, a couple of months back he gave a glimpse of his leanings when he shocked the whole nation by equating the RSS with the banned SIMI that eulogises Ghaznavi, rejects democracy and secularism, and aims, with the help of Pakistan and terror, to establish an Islamic state in the whole of India. A furore followed but died quickly, helped by a pliant media and the widespread perception that Rahul Gandhi is still a “baba”, who has much to learn.

But, this was not an isolated and immature political remark made to garner Muslim votes by playing down SIMI’s agenda that mirrors that of state sponsored/protected Pakistani outfits like the LeT. Rahul’s exaggerated abhorrence, as it were, for the Hindu right would have remained under the wraps but for Wikileaks. As per a leaked cable, US ambassador Roemer recalled Gandhi saying to him over lunch in 2009. "Although there was evidence of some support for Laskar-e-Taiba among certain elements in India's indigenous Muslim community, the bigger threat may be the growth of radicalised Hindu groups, which create religious tensions and political confrontations with the Muslim community."

This is difficult to believe, much less swallow. The Prime Minister and others have been saying for years that the greatest threat that India faces is from Maoists. The whole world is grappling with the threat of Islamist terror. India has been battling it for over two decades and thousands of innocent Indians have lost their lives in numerous terror attacks, the worst being 26/11. How can any informed Indian, much less a future PM, one who has access to information not available in the public domain, say – and that too not to Indians but a foreigner -- that a few radicalised Hindus are a greater threat to India than the LeT helped by some Indian Muslims, SIMI, IM etc? The only ones who will readily share this view are the Pakistanis and, let it be said, aggressive Christian missionaries, not to forget the liberals who are often – some unsuspectingly – the secular mask of the latter.

Arundhati Roy, daughter of a Hindu father and a Christian mother, articulates openly what Sonia and Rahul Gandhi cannot, for obvious reasons. Roy says India is not a sovereign, democratic, secular republic. She calls it is a corporate, Hindu satellite state, or an essentially upper caste Hindu state. The hatred for all things Hindu is unconcealed in her speeches and writings. She equates Hindu organisations – the “socially conservative” Hindu right of Sonia -- working for the upliftment of the tribals in Maoist affected areas with Nazis. She has not one to say word against the Christian NGOs and missionaries either doing the same and/or converting Hindus – Muslims they will not dare -- to Christianity in the jungles of Dandakaranya or anywhere else in the country. That is why she projects Maoists as fighting against a “Hindu” state, as she does Kashmiri Muslims, who she has convinced herself were discriminated against by their Hindu king before 1947.

In a similar vein, Digivjay Singh, former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, and reportedly right hand man of Rahul Gandhi, has also been vocalising what the latter cannot in as many words. Initially, he mindlessly repeated what the original plan of Pakistan and some Indians was: 26/11 attack was a RSS conspiracy. Mind you, had Ajmal Kasab not been captured alive, this is what would have been passed off as the truth by the Congress party, much to Pakistan's glee. Although Singh backed off in the face of severe criticism, he continues to allege that ATS chief Hemant Karkare was under threat of and was shot by Hindu terrorists. He was snubbed by Karkare's widow and failed to provide any evidence of his claim that Karkare has rung him up about the danger he was facing. But this ex-royal has so lost his mind and integrity to his master that, tacitly encouraged by Rahul, he continues to try and make the RSS look a far more lethal and anti-India terror organisation then any that Pakistan has been able to produce till now, perhaps even more dangerous than the Al Qaida.

This battle is clearly not political and is not limited to the RSS or the Sangh parivar. The leader-inspired hatred is visceral, the kind no one today exhibits even for Pakistan which, in fact, is now being almost fawningly courted with an eye not just on Muslim votes but also to ensure that the deeper war against Hinduism itself is not challenged or deflected either socially or electorally. The message is unambiguous: if you speak of and for Hinduism beyond the four walls of your house, you are not just communal, you are radical, you are anti-national, you are a bigger threat than even the LeT to the new 'India' that Sonia is attempting to forge.

In sum, under Sonia’s rule, Hinduism is being subtly projected as oppressive, fascist, backward, anti-secular, even anti-Indian. No wonder Roy believes, and rightly so as is now evident, that Sonia and Rahul -- the “People’s Prince” as she calls him fondly -- are not part of this Hindu state. They are here to rid India of the Hindu tag. That is the new definition of secular. That is why things have come to such a pass that the moment anyone utters the word ”Hindu” positively, he becomes an untouchable; to pass muster as a secular Indian, you have to openly criticise everything Hindu, see no good in the religion, and do exactly the opposite in respect of Islam and Christianity. That is why, to give an example, the moment a Hindu swami is found having consensual sex, the media plays the tapes 24/7, hitting at the religion through the person. That is why when the entire Western media is full of news about pedophile Christian priests and questions the Pope on his handling of many such cases, the media, crawling and corrupt, blocks out the news totally. India’s tragedy is that its smug, deracinated, copy-cat zombies who influence public opinion either cannot see, or do not wish to, the insidious dynamics at work.

Sonia’s limited connect with, and interest in, India is manifestly driven by her desire to rule it, whatever it takes, and ensure that her son wears the crown. She has no time or respect for its ancient culture or any or its religions. May be a coincidence, but Priyanka’s husband is Robert, whose mother was of Scottish origin; the names of her two children, Raihan and Miraya, are not Indian. Rahul’s girlfriend, the one he is likely to marry, is a Columbian. The Nehru-Gandhi family is, for all practical purposes, now a European family. That is why, aided actively by a media populated by similarly cross-bred journalists, and a few Rajput royals, among others, selling their — and India’s -- souls again, another attempt is being made to uproot India from India, to erase it from this land, may be even partition it once again. Unbridled, unprincipled plunder, the tried and tested grease of the invader and coloniser, is again being effectively employed to create, buy, keep firmly in line greedy, myopic, even motherless tribal chieftains, and the throne secure.

Sonia, make no mistake, is the new Queen Victoria.
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BHAGWAT'S GAME-CHANGER IN MAHARASHTRA

There is something puzzling but defining about what is happening in Maharashtra.

In the run-up to the last elections, Raj Thackeray had lit and stoked anti-North Indian fires with the "Marathi Manoos" mantra. Every one knows what he did to the Bachchans. Every one also saw the fake tears of Naresh Goyal after he threatened that he would not allow Jet Airways to fly from Mumbai unless its sacked employees were taken back. The disturbing visuals of Raj's boys beating up non-Maharashtrians who wanted to take the Railways exam were also not missed by anyone who watches TV.

During those days, uncle Bal Thackeray and cousin Uddhav Thackeray were on the back foot, not sure perhaps whether Raj's aggressive "Maharashtra for Maharashtrians" strategy would yield electoral dividends, again. In the event, even though he fared much worse than he had anticipated, Raj Thackeray took sufficient number of voters away from the Shiv Sena, the resultant split handing over unexpected 'victory' to the discredited Congress-NCP government that was heading for sure defeat. More significantly, macho Raj Thackeray also ensured that the gentle Uddhav, who led Shiv Sena's campaign, was so humiliated by the worst ever performance of his party, that he was left with little choice but to re-invent himself and his party in a manner that would neutralise the stridency of Raj and bring angry Shiv Sainiks back into the fold.

There were voices even then who were shouting that Raj Thackeray was being made to look bigger than the slight man he is because of the support of the Congress and the NCP. The old 'Bhindranwale Trick', some said, was being employed to divide the opposition, that being the only way in which the ruling combine could hope to get back to power. But, during those days, no one was listening, including the Marathi manoos who were being conned in broad day light into ensuring their own defeat.

Mission accomplished, with both its prime opponents defeated, one was expecting that India's premier national and secular party would take some steps to reclaim Mumbai for India and Indians irrespective of their region and religion. But no, the Congress had a more practical and pressing problem to deal with: it had to ensure that Raj Thackeray remains no more than an irritating but vital 'spoiler'; another Bhindranwale could not be allowed to upset its plans again.

One way of doing it was to place the nation firmly in its sights while ensuring that sentiments of locals were taken care of. The second way was to claim the agenda of Raj Thackeray as its own. Which politician will not choose the easier option these days? So, when the question of granting new licenses to taxis plying in Mumbai came up, the government did a Raj, issuing a diktat that they would be issued only to those who were resident in the state for at least 15 years and could "read and write Marathi".

This stance of the Congress enraged every right-thinking Indian. So, it was no surprise that when Mukesh Ambani was asked a question on the issue during a panel discussion at the London School of Economics, he responded by saying "We are all Indians first. Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi belong to all Indians".

One would have thought that Raj Thackeray would erupt in anger at these welcome-all-Indians remarks of Mukesh Ambani and his goons would vandalise offices of Reliance Industries in Mumbai. But, surprisingly, he did not utter a word. The same thing had happened earlier when Sachin Tendulkar had said that he was an Indian first and that Mumbai belonged to all Indians. Even more surprisingly, Raj did not react at all when Shahrukh Khan spoke in favour of having Pakistani cricketers in the IPL. The same Raj, it may be recalled, had earlier so wanted to take Pakistan out of Mumbai that he had forced a shop owner to change the name of his shop from 'Karachi Sweets' to 'Mumbai Sweets'! One can only wonder what it would have taken a grateful Congress to turn him into such a pigeon.

The Shiv Sena, on the other hand, has now become the new 'Raj'. Bal Thackeray has asked "Pandit Mukesh Ambani" to not "meddle in the path of Mumbai and Marathi manoos". Earlier, he had slammed Sachin Tendulkar and warned him to "keep off the political pitch". A few days back, Shiv Sainiks also demonstrated in front of Shahrukh Khan's home and asked him too to not interfere in politics.

But there is a real twist in the tale this time, one that should shame the Congress. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat - a Maharashtrian himself - has been quoted as saying that "Mumbai is for all Indians. People of all languages, communities, tribes are children of India. Nobody can prevent Indians from moving to any part of the country in search of employment." Bhagwat also believes that "This is a misconception that employment has decreased at our place because of migrants. Solution of this grievance should be found but the solution is not that you refuse people of your country to migrate to your area. The solution can be found if administration and government are dedicated. All political parties should rising above the vote-bank politics and consider this issue. National integration is above all," Signalling that the RSS is ready and willing to take on both the Shiv Sena and the Congress-supported MNS of Raj Thackeray, he has gone to the extent of asking RSS volunteers to protect North Indians in Maharashtra and prevent spread of anti-Hindi feelings.

This unexpected stance, which has surprised the BJP and come as the proverbial bolt from the blue for the Shiv Sena, has angered Uddhav Thackeray who has again stated in his party mouthpiece 'Saamna' that Mumbai belongs to Marathi manoos. The BJP is in a spot. It is in alliance with the Shiv Sena but cannot go against such a nationalistic view publicly aired by the RSS chief. Even the Congress, semantics apart, cannot now afford to keep towing the Raj-Uddhav line quietly and claiming with any credibility that it is still the same visionary national party that led India to freedom.

A potential game-changer has been introduced into Maharashtra politics by Mohan Bhagwat. If he is serious about pursuing the thrust line that he has so unambiguously articulated, politics in the state is in for a transformation. The alliance between the BJP and the Shiv Sena can then survive only if the latter backs off and effectively gives up its anti-outsider stance. That might well be impossible for it because of the danger that the MNS will become the real Shiv Sena. Be that as it may, as far as the BJP is concerned, it must take the risk and bite the bullet. With both the RSS chief and the BJP President being from Maharashtra, it is in the best possible position to do so. The shining example of neighbouring Gujarat which is speeding away at blistering pace by, among other things, keeping all its doors and windows open to all Indians, is also there for it to show to all.

The ramifications of what the BJP does in Maharashtra are bound to be felt nationally. A window of opportunity is opening up for it in the state, and it must be taken at the tide. Raj and Uddhav are relics of a bygone era. They may incite passions but can only take Maharashtra back as they can do little better than help a non-performing and hopelessly corrupt Congress-NCP government do what it pleases and yet return to power once again. If they are not put out of business quickly, Maharashtra will most likely become the next West Bengal - a wasteland where entitlement by identity will remain but opportunity will go elsewhere. The sooner the Marathi manoos understand this, the better for them - more than anyone else.

THE RSS SURGERY: WILL IT HELP REVIVE BJP?

A few months back, senior BJP leader Arun Shourie had asked the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS) to bombard the headquarters and take over the BJP. Being an insider who was privy to the steep decline in values and principles which once differentiated the party from the Congress, he could see better than most that there was no other way of saving it from the clutches of unprincipled and greedy individuals who had seized control and were not letting go, despite the general election disaster .

The RSS has evidently listened to him, if reports are correct that Rajnath Singh, that unmitigated disaster of a party president, is being booted out and replaced by Nitin Gadkari.

RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat had also said sometime back that the BJP needed chemotherapy. At that time, however, he believed that it was for the party, and not the RSS, to decide what medication it should take. But after the recent by polls in UP, where BJP candidates lost their security deposits in nine out of 11 seats, it was clear to everyone that the coterie that was ruining the party would have to be surgically removed, without further delay, so that the party could begin the process of resurrecting itself.

Nitin Gadkari is Bhagwat's choice. Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj, the famous Dilli4 stars about whom much has been said and written in the last few months, have been summarily brushed aside. Swapan Dasgupta, not surprisingly at all, is livid at this turn. In a lively discussion on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation program, he openly called this development a "military takeover" by the RSS. My namesake from Hindustan Times who belongs to that core group of politically committed journalists whose affiliations are clearly visible behind clever smokescreens, was also upset at the development and 'advised' Dilli4 to not take it lying down.

There may well be a Mahabharat in the BJP in the coming months, even years, before a 'new and improved' party emerges, if at all. Whatever happens, one thing is certain: the old leaders and master strategists who contributed directly to the party's poor image and performance in the last Lok Sabha elections will have to either accept the new realities or quit the party. Perhaps the latter will be better. Remember how in the middle of the election campaign, Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitley had a disgraceful public row, with the latter openly showing his arrogance by keeping away for two weeks? That spat exemplified the rot of lack of discipline and commitment to the party that has overtaken the BJP at the highest level. No party that wants the people to believe that it is capable of governing the country can afford to let such immature petulance and defiance go unpunished.

Is a relatively unknown leader like Gadkari the right choice as party President? Wouldn't a big leader like Narendra Modi, for example, been better? Is the control of the RSS going to help the party get more votes or is it going to marginalise it even further?

This perhaps is not the right time for a big leader to take control of the party Gadkari may be a relatively - not physically - light-weight leader but he carries no baggage. And that is saying a lot for a man who has been Maharashtra's PWD minister, a 'wet' portfolio that most lust for. What the BJP certainly does not need are leaders who appear much taller than they are because of what they say in TV studios, to which they are always dying to rush at the slightest opportunity with multiple objectives, many not becoming. Nor does it need media sympathisers who actually harm it since they look and behave like poor cousins of the many media friends of the Congress and, as a result, almost invariably wind up inadequately 'defending' the BJP against the aggressive terms of discussion laid down by their opponents.

If the BJP wants to emerge successfully from the intense, painful but inescapable churning that is now beginning to gather speed, it will need to do much more than appoint a new party president. There are many issues that it will have to fully address well before the next general elections in 2014. Some of these, in my view, are:

• The RSS must limit its intervention to life-saving surgery and amputation only. It should not thereafter succumb to the temptation of running the party full-time.
• Leaders of proven integrity alone should form, to begin with, at least the core of the party's leadership.
• Lumpen elements of the Sangh Parivar must not, under any circumstance, be patronised or encouraged in any manner.
• Criminals must not be given party tickets, no matter what the immediate cost. Definition of 'criminal' must not be dishonestly legalistic; it must be based on the perception of voters - it is their trust that needs to be won, not just in one constituency but across the country.
  
• Dynastic practices should be firmly banished. Not more than one member of a family should be allowed to contest elections at any level.
  
• The party must find, as Sagarika Ghose puts it pithily, "a modern leader rooted in the traditional idiom".

Will the BJP be able to do what is needed to pull itself out of the swamp it has got itself into? Will it re-emerge as a party that does not see power and values as being mutually exclusive? Will it be able to convince millions of Indians who once voted for it because it promised to be "a party with a difference" that it will not break their trust again?

At this point of time, skepticism is fully in order.