In this file photo, Sushma Swaraj greets then President Pranab Mukherjee on his 78th birthday at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
With Congress still a force to reckon with in the state when he parachuted into politics in 1997, Naveen, as the head of the breakaway faction of the erstwhile Janata Dal, Naveen s...
Geeta, a deaf-mute Indian woman who accidentally crossed over to Pakistan, breaks down during a condolence meeting for former Union minister Sushma Swaraj, in Indore. Geeta, who wa...
Bansuri Swaraj, daughter, and Swaraj Kaushal, husband, of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, pay tribute to the mortal remains of the latter before being taken for her...
In this file photo, BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj (Left) and Arun Jaitely (right) inside a police van after they were arrested on the 5th day of BJP's week long "Satyagraha" in Bangalo...
In this file photo, then BJP National President Nitin Gadkari with senior leaders L K Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley during party's National Executive Meeting in Lucknow.
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh pays tribute to former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj during a prayer meeting for her, in New Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses after paying tribute to former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj during a condolence meeting, in New Delhi.
Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj pays tribute to her late mother during a condolence meeting, in New Delhi.
Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi offers condolences to Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former external affairs minister late Sushma Swaraj during the 'Uthawani' ceremony, in New Delhi.
Namita Bhattacharya, daughter of former prime minister late AB Vajpayee offers condolences to Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former external affairs minister late Sushma Swaraj during...
Puducherry Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi offers condolences to Swaraj Kaushal and Bansuri Swaraj, husband and daughter of former external affairs minister late Sushma Swaraj during the '...
Artists perform during the 'Uthawani' ceremony of former external affairs minister late Sushma Swaraj, in New Delhi.
Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, immerses her ashes in River Ganga, at Garh Mukteshwar in Hapur district.
Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria pays tribute to former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, in Islamabad.
Members of Ministry of Foreign Affairs attend a condolence meeting in the memory of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, in New Delhi.
An artist paints a mural of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who passed away yesterday, in Howrah.
Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik has created a sand sculpture of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, who passed away yesterday, at a beach in Puri.
BJP National Vice president Uma Bharti pays floral tribute to former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj during a condolence meeting, at state BJP HQ, in Bhopal. Swaraj, 67, pa...
Sushma Swaraj (1952-2019)
Vir Sanghvi takes the recent suggestions made by Arun Jaitley ('can there be a BJP without shrillness? Its chosen persona is of the Hindu with a grievance. And a party of grievance can hardly mumble its complaints'), Swapan Dasgupta ('The BJP without Hindutva is like Pizza Hut without the Pizza') and after dealing with them, comes to the third suggestion: that new leaders will revitalize the party, and writes on Advani wanting Sushma Swaraj to succeed him:
But is Sushma a 21st century leader? It is not unlikely that Rahul Gandhi could be the face of the Congress during the 2014 campaign. Is Sushma going to be effective in countering all the things that the Congress will claim that Rahul represents: youth, a forward-looking approach, empathy with the Kalawatis and other disadvantaged people of India etc?
Read the full article at the Hindustan Times
It is hard to say. Certainly she will have to transform her persona from the xenophobic, rolling pin-wielding middle class housewife she now represents. And with Sushma at its head, the BJP will more or less have embraced shrillness as its tone of voice, regardless of what Jaitley wants.
But if not Sushma, who? Arun Jaitley perhaps. But does he have the electoral credentials any mass leader will require? Narendra Modi? Could be, even if the current mood is against him.
But do any of these people strike you as having the ability to lead the BJP in the way that Vajpayee did?
Meanwhile, Swapan Dasgupta has a very coherent explanation for his insistence on the need for the BJP to abandon the H-word:
Its nominal presence on the BJP platform deters the modern Hindu and frightens non-Hindu Indians. It raises a profound question in the minds of voters: "What sort of India does the BJP want?"
The answer, I am afraid, isn't very wholesome. Muthalik may be anti-BJP and Togadia may be on his own crazy trip but together they espouse Hindutva. The moment a political party has to explain that "their" Hindutva is different from "our" Hindutva, it has lost the plot.
Is it any wonder that BJP governments in the states want to dissociate themselves from Hindutva.
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