First and foremost, the BJP-RSS is down in the dumps over the diminishing returns from the Sabarimala agitation. The BJP leaders themselves admit, albeit in private, that the Sabarimala stir has lost steam.

Then came the party’s electoral drubbing in the Hindi heartland. The adverse result dealt a debilitating body blow to the Saffron camp. The shoulders have slumped; and the swagger has gone out of the leaders’ speeches.

As if all this was not enough, the BJP-RSS has had to face a stinging snub from the people off Kerala when the party imposed a totally uncalled for hartal on Friday in the name of Sabarimala issue. The hartal was called “to pay homage to an Ayyappa devotee”, Venugopalan Nair who immolated himself next to the BJP’s protest venue in front of the Secretariat on Thursday. allegedly pained by the LDF Government’s stand on the Sabarimala issue.

That the BJP’s claim that Nair self-immolated over the Sabarimala issue was an unadulterated lie was proved by the dying declaration of Nair himself. In his declaration, recorded by a magistrate, Nair says that he was killing himself as he was disgusted with life. In other words, the suicide has nothing to do with Sabarimala issue! The BJP has ended up with egg on its face, having failed, yet again, in its attempts to create a martyr out of the Sabarimala issue.

For the first time, the people of Kerala came out ibn large numbers against the BJP-sponsored hartal. BJP cadres who tried to force closure of shops had to beat a hasty retreat in the face of stiff opposition from angry shopkeepers. State transport buaes plied as usual. Attendance in offices was more than it is in the normal days. Public sector banks functioned too. The people delivered a clear message that the politics of bandhs and hartals will not be tolerated.

Rubbibg salt into the wounds has been the severe poll setback the party had to face in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. An immediate upshot of the electoral debacle has been the setback to the efforts to expand its base in Kerala cashing on the Sabarimala struggle. The party’s efforts have fallen flat with the people seeing through the saffron brigade’s hypocrisy on the issue.

Adding to the BJP’s discomfiture has been the coming to the fore of the simmering discontent within the party itself over the handling of the Sabalrimala issue. The party is vertically divided over the state leadership’s squandering of a ‘golden opportunity’ to expand its base in the State. The dilemma before the State BJP is: how to end the Sabarimala stir without losing face. Understandably, the BJP leaders are in a blue mood over the setback to their ambitious plans to capture, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, at least four seats, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Attingal and Ernakulam where it has ‘bright chances’ of winning!

True, the Supreme Court verdict on the Rafale deal has come as a big relief for the beleaguered BJP. The party leaders hope, short-lived of course, that the SC’s ‘clean chit’ would undo the damage caused by the electoral defeat.

But the BJP leadership must realise that, at best, the verdict is cold comfort for the party the position of which is akin to that of a drowning man trying to clutch at a straw.

No doubt, the verdict has given the BJP a breather. But it has also left many questions still unanswered. The Congress has made its intent to keep the heat on. Congress president Rahul Gandhi has made a very pertinent point. The Supreme Court, he said, has based its judgment on the ‘fact’ that the CAG report on the pricing detals had been examined by the Public Accounts Committee(PAC). But PAC chairman, Mallikarjun Kharge says he is not aware of any CAG report or PAC report. How can the report be tabled in Parliament without the PAC chief seeing it? That is the crucial question posed by the Congress, which has repeated its demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee(JPC) probe into the Rafale deal. If the BJP leaders, Prime Minister downwards, are so sure of their innocence, why can’t the party and the government face a JPC probe? That is the question being asked. The very fact that the BJP is afraid of facing a JPC probe is proof of their guilt, assert Congress leaders.

Last but not the least, they say there are still many questions unanswered? First, why was HAL bypassed? And why was the contract given to a 12-day-old company of Anil Ambani, which has no experience in making aircraft? The BJP speaks day in and day out, about national security? Then, why did the Government decide to buy only 36 aircraft instead of 126? Equally noteworthy, Rahul Gandhi says, is the Prime Minister’s refusal to face the media on the issue.

This being the reality, the BJP leaders’ fond hopes that everything will be hunky dory on the Rafale issue hereafter are misplaced. The party and the Modi Government will continue to face uncomnfortable questions in the days ahead too, perhaps with renewed vigour.

The BJP must realise that what matters the most in politics is the perception. And the prevailing perception, despite the SC verdict, is that not everything is ok as far as the Rafale deal is concerned. Unless and un til the BJP can come out with convincing answers to clear the doubts and misgivings uppermost in the public mind, the Rafale ghost will continue to haunt the Modi Government. It will also have a decisive bearing on the result of the crucial 2019 Parliamentary elections. (IPA Service)