Day after: BJP won’t pinpoint blame, many target Bhagwat

New Delhi: A day after the people of Bihar gave a third consecutive term to Nitish Kumar as chief minister and rejected the BJP-led NDA, RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat on Monday told BJP president Amit Shah that the party had failed to properly explain the Sangh’s view on reservations to the voters. Mr Bhagwat’s remarks were perceived as anti-reservations and were used by the Oppo-sition to target the NDA.

The BJP was also told that over-confidence was one of the key reasons for its drubbing in this high-stakes battle. Mr Shah had gone to meet the RSS chief, who has been camping in New Delhi for the past week. The BJP, whose parliamentary board also met on Monday to review its debacle in Bihar, has ruled out holding anyone responsible for the rout and rejected the view that the remarks by Mr Bhagwat had any impact on the elections.

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Rejecting the contention that the results should be seen as a referendum on the Narendra Modi government as the PM was the party’s lead campaigner, the BJP said referendum was a word that belonged in “journalistic parlance” and that all elections were fought on different issues.

In the almost hour-long meeting, sources said Mr Shah briefed the RSS supremo on why the party had lost the polls. After the results were out on Sunday, the BJP had vehemently denied that Mr Bhagwat’s reservation comments had had any impact on the poll outcome.

He also met President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday evening, in what was termed a “courtesy call”, according to the President’s official Twitter handle. But sources said Mr Bhagwat had informally discussed with the President some issues he highlighted in his Dussehra address during their half-hour meeting. Sources said this meeting had been fixed around Dussehra.

The BJP, whose parliamentary board met to review the defeat, ruled out holding anyone responsible for the rout in Bihar. The party also rejected the criticism even from within that Mr Bhagwat’s reservation remarks were one of the key reasons for the defeat.

The party admitted that the size of the “social arithmetic” put together by the Opposition alliance was bigger than the NDA and acknowledged that its assessment that vote transferability among JD(U), RJD and Congress would not happen had proved “incorrect”.

A section within the BJP state unit is also blaming the party’s allies for failing to gather the votes of their core votebanks in the BJP’s favour.

Mr Bhagwat’s remarks on reservations were perceived as anti-reservation and were used by the Opposition to attack the NDA, after which both the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to come out with clarifications. But the RSS is of the view that the BJP, including Mr Modi, had failed to clarify Mr Bhagwat’s statements and instead were seen disassociating with it.

In further rumblings within the BJP over its loss, party MP Hukumdev Narayan Yadav said Monday Mr Bhagwat’s quota comments had “agitated” the backward castes, who then rallied around the Grand Alliance, and asserted that many who had voted for the Narendra Modi government were not RSS supporters. “Not everybody who voted for the Modi government agrees with the views of the RSS or is its supporter. The party and government at the Centre should be sensitive to their sentiments too,” he said.

Reacting to Mr Yadav’s comments, RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha asked the BJP MP to stop making “foolish comments” by linking the party’s poll drubbing with Mr Bhagwat’s comments. He instead countered the MP by asking him what he had done to expand the party’s social base in his state.

The BJP’s Bihar ally, former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, also said Mr Bhagwat’s remarks and Mr Shah’s remarks on celebratory firecrackers in Pakistan, could be among the possible reasons for the NDA’s debacle in the Assembly polls. He also said the controversial remarks on the beef controversy by NDA leaders could have been avoided. Sources said that after Mr Manjhi talked on the phone with Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi paid him a visit.

After the BJP parliamentary board meeting, that was also attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior leader and Union minister Arun Jaitley said: “As far as accountability is concerned, the party collectively wins and collectively loses.” He was replying to a question on whether the party would hold someone accountable for its defeat. He also strongly defended Mr Shah when asked if a second loss after the Delhi debacle reflected on his leadership. Mr Jaitley also rejected suggestions that Mr Bhagwat’s remarks cost the party dearly in the elections.

On the controversial remarks by some party leaders, he said everybody should speak with decorum. “All should make efforts to ensure that we continue to maintain our development narrative,” he said.

Mr Jaitley also said recent incidents like Dadri lynching and the killing of rationalist M.M. Kalburgi in Karnataka were “aberrations” and “not the pattern” in India, and called for distinguishing between those committing such crimes and those just being “loose talkers”. The Union minister added: “During the period when elections were being contested, some irresponsible statements did change the narrative. That is not expected from responsible (persons). I had repeatedly intervened in order to make sure that the narrative comes back.”

In Patna, meanwhile, BJP filmstar MP Shatrughan Sinha on Monday met both Mr Nitish Kumar and Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav. Mr Sinha called Mr Kumar a “mascot for good governance” and the “tallest political personality”. He also demanded that his party leadership introspect on its defeat and “fix responsibility”. Mr Sinha, who had been sidelined within the BJP, also described Mr Kumar as a “close friend”.

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