Jethmalani Goes. Gadkari Stays. Shameful.

So the BJP did fire someone. They gathered all the courage and took a decisive action. However, it was the wrong guy. Ram Jethmalani is an old-fashioned rabble-rouser with an acute understanding of Indian Law. In that way he is a lot like Subramnian Swamy without the political heft. He brings a keen legal mind and a propensity to speak his mind to the table. He says what most are afraid to say out loud. In that regard, he served a valuable role for the BJP. Now let us examine what Gadkari brings to the table. He brings physical heft, a loud mouth, poor management (amply demonstrated by many losses at state level under him), uninspiring leadership, and a corrupt image. You would be hard pressed to find any redeemable feature in this guy. However, as we can see, he stays and Jethmalani goes.

So we ask my favorite question – “Cui bono” i.e. “Who benefits”? Indeed. Who benefits with Gadkaris’s continuing as the BJP chief? Obviously the party has not benefitted from him. They did not win any election under him (GOA DOES NOT COUNT). In fact we lost seats in UP. His penchant for reckless statements has repeatedly left red-faced BJP leaders fumbling for answer. Does he have any kind of mass appeal, which will benefit the party? NO. Does he benefit any segment of Indian population or even (hate to say it but) a caste or a community. The answer again is a resounding NO. The only people who benefit from him being there are the RSS leaders who control the BJP using him as a remote control. Kind of like Sonia controlling the Indian government using Manmohan Singh as the remote control.

One would have thought that after getting caught in an extremely immoral way of making money, the so called nationalistic Hindu leaders of the RSS would wash their hands of this guy Of course not. The RSS leaders love the power with the responsibility or answerability like Sonia Gandhi. Even now they are hell-bent on giving Gadkari a second term. It is old-fashioned hypocrisy at work. They do not want to lose their stooge in the BJP even though he is accused of the same sin, as the worst detractors of the RSS are – corruption. Now even that may be forgivable in some alternate universe if he were an extremely competent politician (like Mulayam Yadav) but he not even that.

The current RSS leadership has either lost touch with reality or they are willing to cut their noses to spite their face. The BJP has a great opportunity to win in 2014 and install a difference making government in New Delhi. However, with Gadkari firmly ensconced (thanks to the RSS) and Swaraj/Advani/Jaitley clearly unable to provide a good leadership, the BJP continues to shoot themselves in the foot. Instead of firmly standing behind the one guy who is going to give them a huge victory in Gujarat, Swaraj et. al. are content standing on the sidelines offering platitudes and tepid support for Narendra Modi.

This is a sad story. A very apt example is that of the Republican Part in the US, who was on the verge of defeating a weak president like Barak Hussein Obama in an extremely winnable election, they shot themselves in the foot. In fact they blew their feet off (to create a new cliché). I have a sinking feeling that the BJP will find a way to lose the next general elections because of petty egos of the RSS and BJP leaders. If these people do not rise about their pathetic and petty egos then they will be responsible for BJP’s loss and re-electing Congress to yet another disgraceful term.