HVK Archives: No Paper Tiger
No Paper Tiger - The Times of India
Editorial
()
22 August 1996
Title : No Paper Tiger
Author : Editorial
Publication : The Times of India
Date : August 22, 1996
The impressive turnout at expelled Gujarat Bharatiya
Janata Party leader Shankarsinh Waghela's rally - where
he announced the launching of the Rashtriya Janata Party
- is proof, if any were needed, that the BJP is
hopelessly caught in a caste divide. Himself a blue-
blooded Darbar, Mr Waghela astutely positioned himself as
a leader of the peasants and other backward castes when,
in the early '90s, he brought the party out of its narrow
confines and built it as a viable alternative to the
Congress. If today he has confidently taken on the BJP,
it is largely on the strength of this loyal base. This
explains too why Mr L.K. Advani allowed himself to be
persuaded in September that he needed to overlook an
outrage like 'Khajuraho' and accommodate Mr Waghela and
his errant flock. But evidently that was only a
superficial effort at papering over cracks which ran
deeper. For the Khajurias and Hajurias (supporters of Mr
Keshubhai Patel) were divided not only by caste but also
by their loyalties to the RSS. It is not that the RSS
does not understand the importance of OBC co-option in
bringing about Hindu unification. On the contrary, it is
acutely conscious of it. And yet, the conflict arises
because of the organisation's disinclination to allow the
BJP to choose its leaders from these ranks. Mr Waghela
was without doubt the one clear choice for chief
ministership when the party rode to power in 1994. But
such was the RSS's discomfort with his growing clout that
it barred the post to parliamentarians only so as to
award it to loyalist Keshubhai Patel.
The shrewd tactician that Mr Waghela is, he has quickly
calculated that he could cash in on similar divisions in
the BJP, s other state units were he to project the BJP
as a party of "high castes". Little wonder, then, that
at the maha sammelan the urban middle class which forms
the backbone of the BJP's support base was conspicuous by
its absence. As if to drive home the point, Mr Waghela
made it his business to visit the Gandhi ashram and have
the meet inaugurated by two dalit girls. Mr Waghela's
actions and words also make it clear that his ultimate
aim is to capture the KHAM (Kshatriya, Harijan, Adivasi
and Muslim) space left vacant in the aftermath of the
Congress decline. The 'KHAM combination was put together
to great effect by the Congress' Madhavsinh Solanki in
the '80s. Unfortunately, Mr Solanki was ahead of his
time, and fell to the anti-reservation sentiments within
his own party. But post-Mandal, the formula is waiting
to be revived and that is where Mr Waghela comes in. Mr
Waghela, it is clear, is not in immediate hurry to
dislodge the Suresh Mehta government even though the BJP
is precariously placed in the Gujarat assembly and the
Congress too is ready for the kill. The fact that he has
given a national nomenclature to his new party suggests
that Mr Waghela has set his eyes beyond the borders of
Gujarat and wants to make the most of the BJP's troubles
in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Maharashtra.
Within Gujarat, KHAM may just work to Mr Waghela's
advantage, especially if he ties up with the Congress, a
la Chimanbhai Patel.
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