The Bharatiya Janata Party's pride of being a disciplined party is in tatters as men and women in responsible positions, both in the party and the government, have been shooting off their mouths on various issues, without checking the line of either the party or the Narendra Modi government.
Despite party president Amit Shah's strict warnings to a few of the reckless leaders who made embarrassing statements, two ministers of state shot off controversial statements. While Minister of State for Home Kiran Rijiju talked about how north Indians, in general, liked to violate laws and rules, General V.K. Singh made a very insensitive remark on the horrific killing of two little children in a Haryana village by giving the analogy of stoning of a dog.
The feeling in the party is that leaders can get away with silly, provocative and inflammatory statements, as long as they are not attacking the leadership. Meanwhile, the opposition is focussing on the Prime Minister, questioning his silence over the atrocities as well as the freewheeling statements of his colleagues.
The fundamental problem is the flawed interpretation of the 2014 Lok Sabha election victory, which brought the BJP on its own to power for the first time.
While Modi has interpreted it as a vote for development and growth, rejecting the policy paralysis of the UPA government, many of his party leaders have interpreted the vote differently. Ministers and MPs with strong connections to RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad have felt the mandate was for a virulent Hindutva, endorsing issues such as ban of cow slaughter, minority containment and bringing the saffron agenda into the areas of education and culture.
Thus, leaders such as Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, junior minister Niranjan Jyoti, Lok Sabha member Sakshi Maharaj have gone on an offensive, chastising their class enemies.
Modi, who has built the reputation of being a very tough man in Gujarat, has not had any success in silencing even his own ministers, as the outbursts of Rijiju, an old time BJP activist and V.K. Singh, a new entrant to the party, have shown. Even though some months ago, the north east states' affairs portfolio was taken away from Singh, the army veteran has not learnt circumspection.
Interestingly, Amit Shah has turned to his predecessor Rajnath Singh to caution the ministers. Rajnath, who is number two in the government, handling the home portfolio, has been party president twice and was also the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.
When the opposition had targeted External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj over the Lalit Modi travel document issue during the winter session, it was Rajnath who had called both Sushma and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to ensure that they spoke in the same voice in Parliament, especially as Jaitley's ministry was upset that Sushma had helped a man against whom enforcement directorate had a case.
Rajnath had played the peacemaker. His style is conciliatory compared to Shah, who is seen as a brusque taskmaster, who had been brought into the high levels of party organisation just before the general elections. After Modi was made the prime ministerial candidate, Shah was made general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh.
Shah used aggressive methods, but also ensured tickets to more than two dozen active workers of RSS and VHP. The party's spectacular show in Uttar Pradesh saw Shah's stock rise and he was made party president, in place of Rajnath who became Home Minister. But Shah did not have the long organisational experience and he had to turn to the Prime Minister every time. Now, Rajnath is trying to tell the ministers and party MPs to be more sensitive while reacting to events and opposition statements, and has warned them that opponents will twist their statements.
But Modi, Shah and Rajnath have to persuade the hotheads that they must stick to the Prime Minister's call to the nation from the red fort on Independence Day last year, within three months of becoming Prime Minister, to put a ten-year moratorium on all contentious issues.
The party ministers, MPs, MLAs and local leaders have to be converted wholeheartedly to the publicly stated agenda of the prime minister. There is a proposal to call meetings of the national council, national executive of the party as well as the BJP parliamentary party to discuss the need for internal discipline. The meetings could be called after Bihar Assembly results come on November 8.
Tailpiece: Narendra Modi has kept the choice of the chief guest for the next Republic Day function as a closely-guarded secret. This year, he had stunned everyone by ensuring the presence of American president Barack Obama, which was a first for an American president. The names doing the rounds in diplomatic circles include Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.