An Obituary to the party "with a difference"

The expulsion of Jaswant Singh, who was their Leader in Rajya Sabha, their External Affairs and their Finance Minister not before long for writing a book echoing views somewhat similar to what L K Advani said (who remains a key figure in the BJP) a few years back is diabolical to say the least.



Does this mean RSS is getting back to pulling strings big time after Vajpayee and Advani (to a lesser extent) kept it at bay. 2 consecutive defeats in national elections have left it confused, and a throwback to the "core ideology" shows the second generation leadership's nervousness and clueless-ness in taking the party forward. Somewhat like Congress, BJP now seems to be dominated by people who are not necessarily popularly elected, or have eroding bases of popular support that are not likely to hold for long. The attempt to sideline Vasundhara Raje Scindia seems to have massively backfired after she proved conclusively that the majority of BJP MLAs in Rajasthan still supported her, and the expulsion of Jaswant Singh smacks of a cheap manoeuvre to show who is still in control before the December organizational elections in BJP.



Despite Kandahar, Jaswant Singh was one of the more respectable leaders in the BJP, someone that the English-speaking voters connected with for he was seemingly erudite and moderate. BJP has now lost that face and seems set for a turn to extreme right under the tutelage of RSS and a confused leadership.