Foolish and immature

It is strange what electoral defeat can do to a political party. Just six weeks ago, the BJP had appeared well-organised, disciplined and invincible.

Today, as it tries to pick up the pieces after its soul shattering defeat in the 14th general election, it is looking exactly the opposite.

Indeed, the unkind would compare it to what the Congress had been between 1996 and 2004. Some of the confusion is understandable because the BJP's defeat came as a bolt from the blue and sudden shocks always have a disorienting effect.

But the true measure of a mature political party, which the BJP claims to be, lies in the sagacity and dignity with which it conducts itself in defeat. On both scores, as the ongoing meeting of its national executive shows, the party has failed.

It now appears cantankerous and vindictive. Cantankerous, because of the talk of reverting to the Hindutva mode, something that it had decided to avoid in a bid to appear responsible; and vindictive because of the manner in which its president, M Venkaiah Naidu, has sought to lay blame for the defeat at Mr Vajpayee's door.

But Mr Naidu is forgetting two important things. One, the BJP is the main party of the Opposition and the Hindutva plank does not sit well with the responsibility that goes with this position.

The more sober leaders of the party "" and it does not lack them "" must point this out repeatedly. They must insist on emphasising the real reason why the election was lost. This was not that the BJP avoided the Hindutva plank, but because it chose the wrong allies.

After all, in 1998 and 1999 it had won because it had chosen the right ones. Two, it was Mr Naidu, who as the president of the party approved the "personality cult" strategy. This consisted of elevating Mr Vajpayee to the status of an avuncular divinity.

To blame Mr Vajpayee now might bring some solace to the lunatic fringe in the parivar "" and allow Mr Naidu some slack "" but it will do the party no good at all because the people see Mr Vajpayee as a decent man, not as a weakling who refused to push the hard Hindutva line.

The BJP has to decide whether it wants to appeal to the nuts in its midst or the people at large. This requires it to recognise that, after six fairly successful years in power, the people have come to expect it to behave in a certain way.

Rabble rousing is not amongst them. It has to be a thing of the past for the party. If it fails to recognise this, it will only look foolish and immature.

One way of avoiding this is to remove the unspeakable Narendra Modi from the chief ministership of Gujarat.

By not doing so, and instead giving the impression that whatever it does will have to await the election in Maharashtra, the party is only signalling that it will not grow up and that it is still to learn how India really works.