The saying, ‘A watched pot never boils’ has had its day if India’s Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) current predicament is anything to go by. Under India’s unrelenting glare, the BJP’s political brew pot is reaching boiling point. You cannot miss the steam of dissent escaping and the scum of infighting spilling out from under a loosening lid as a rebellion in the ranks is turning up the heat by several degrees. Narendra Modi’s appointment as the man who would lead the BJP to a sweeping victory in India’s national polls next month, and by extension, take India towards an economic utopia, seems to be taking its toll on the BJP in a predictable manner.
The latest crease in its fold — Jaswant Singh’s open displeasure at being denied an election ticket — has confirmed what was always a fact — that the genuflection towards Modi is far from a unanimous party credo. The divide within BJP is at best a transparent secret and at worst an open wound. The loyalists of BJP’s patriarch, Lal Krishna Advani, were never vanquished by Modi. Rather, they co-opted to appear to be so under exigent circumstances. But as the elections near, there is no more time to be lost in playing possum. Clearly, the BJP’s old guard is loath to surrender its precious heritage to an upstart of its own making.
As the din and dare of the apportioning of party tickets create their inevitable aftermath, the possibility of BJP haemorrhaging even more in the coming days is begging to be considered as a fact.
