But the relegation to a virtual second position is the not the only fallout for the BJP, for the party cannot be too sure of the agenda it will like to follow. That the Hindutva plank is out is obvious. As it is, it was put on the back burner in 1996 when Vajpayee realized after 13 days of failure to form a government that unless issues like the temple, the uniform civil code and Article 370 were put in cold storage, the BJP would not be able to come to power at the centre.

The issues would now have to put in deep freeze. But this continuous retreat is bound to arouse the displeasure of the Sangh parivar. Neither the RSS, nor the VHP and the Bajrang Dal will like it. Their disquiet will be all the greater because a “secular” individual will become the head of the NDA, ending, perhaps for ever, the prospects of building a temple. The dream of ushering in a Hindu rashtra, which was the basis of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, will end in a nightmare where India’s pluralism will triumph.

Some of the difficulties, which the pragmatists in the BJP will experience, can be gauged from a pathologically anti-Muslim article published in the saffron-tinged Organiser. Detecting an anti-Hindu bias in Barack Obama’s itinerary, it said that the government “selectively showcased places and people” that had nothing to with Hindus, starting with the US president’s visit to the Humayun’s tomb. Then, the minister-in-waiting for him was Salman Khurshid. Is it because, the RSS weekly asks, “that he is a Muslim, (and) more importantly not a Hindu?”

The guest list for the state dinner also invited saffron ire – Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, A.R. Rehman, Aamir Khan. “It was as though the government, led by a selected Sikh PM and controlled by a Catholic Christian, wanted to give a message to the US president that India today is dominated in all spheres by non-Hindus”. It is not difficult to believe that in the lower middle class urban localities where the saffronites gather over vegetarian meals, Nitish Kumar’s victory will not be joyfully hailed.
Besides, what will be the fate of the RSS’s programme to mobilize public opinion in favour of the temple in December? According to Ram Madhav, a senior RSS functionary, the organization will hold public rallies all over the country from state capitals down to the block levels to show the government that “people are as passionate about the Ram temple today as they were in the 1990s”. It is unlikely, however, that Nitish Kumar or the JD (U) will be as passionate about this demand as the parivar. The chances of Nitish Kumar allowing thousands to congregate in Patna, as the RSS hopes, are dim lest such a gathering should scuttle his well-laid plans to reach out to the minorities.

But it isn’t only the virtual abandonment of the pro-Hindu agenda which will discomfit the BJP and create a rift between it and its fraternal allies in the saffron brotherhood. Even more contentious will be the downgrading of Narendra Modi as a major figure in the NDA. The latter, of course, has meekly swallowed the insult meted out to him and his party by Nitish Kumar, who made Bihar out of bounds for the Gujarat strong man. No ally has treated a partner so shabbily as the Bihar chief minister did. If it hurt Gujarat’s “asmita” or self-respect, Modi said nothing about it.

Post-election, nothing will change, for Nitish Kumar is now even stronger than before. Besides, an acceptance of his brand of inclusive politics, coupled with development, means that Modi’s grudging acceptance of Muslims as citizens may no longer enthuse even his admirers in the corporate sector, who may see the social peace in Bihar as a better bet than the latent tension which still prevails in ghettoized Gujarat.

Till now, the maut ki saudagar or the merchant of death, which was the Congress’s description of Modi, did not have much acceptance outside the saffron circles. Now, he is a persona non grata even within them. For the BJP, therefore, the loss is two-fold. It has lost its agenda along with the man who was its poster boy as a Hindu hriday samrat. (IPA Service)