Is it old or new?

government”. The Prime Minister adds, for good measure, that coalition rule will probably be temporary and that the BJP ought to strive for one-party rule. The whole thing is topped off by a resolution attacking “pseudo secularists” and party leaders saying they will not “move away an inch” from the BJP’s real agenda, but will not make things difficult for a coalition government.

There are contradictions here, but they arenot illogical. As always with the BJP, they are aimed at confusing others. The message from BJP leaders’ speeches and the national executive’s resolution is clear enough. The BJP would like to implement its full agenda. Since it is hardly on its own, however, it must set aside contentious issues and labour to execute a widely acceptable programme. Alongside that it must seek power on its own in order to implement its distinctive programme. This is consistent with the party’s position in government and a reassurance to the rank and file that the “new” BJP has not overwhelmed the “old” one. There is too, for the BJP, the demanding imperative of keeping its own extreme membership and old supporters in its fold while winning new supporters of a more moderate hue.

But this party, more than any other national political grouping, is also a singularly dynamic one. As much as it has reshaped Indian politics in recent years, it has also been changed by it. Advani’s speech could be viewed as an exhortation toparty workers that old-style extremism will no longer serve the party well. His urging the building of a Rashtra Mandir is a clever use of a familiar party idiom to press on the BJP a far more inclusive agenda. Advani and Vajpayee’s speeches also should disabuse those who believe that the two men represent the BJP’s hardline and moderate poles respectively. Whatever the differences in their personal styles and beliefs, these two men never have encouraged the understanding that somehow they stand apart within the BJP. This is pure interpretation, and it has a kernel of truth. But it is also exaggerated, and the BJP has let this pass because it suits the party to alternately project a tough and an accommodating image of itself.

Vajpayee and Advani’s speeches this time round could be a message that they are not to be seen as contending partners in a fractious government. The BJP executive’s proceedings certainly highlight the difficulties that a party with an extreme ideology faces in capturing the imaginationof large numbers. But they need not be feared as an atavistic resurgence of pre-1992 form.