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 After Pramod Mahajan’s open admission that the 2002 riots were “a black spot for any civilised society”, it is now the turn of senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sunder Singh Bhandari to come out openly against the role of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the riots. In an interview to Hindi newsmagazine ‘Outlook Saptahik’, he has compared the riots to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and blamed the Modi government as well as the Union Government for failing to control the situation. His demand for a thorough inquiry into the ‘failure’ of the Modi government in dealing with the post-Godhra riots is really embarrassing to the party. While Bhandari had created ripples within the saffron party the previous day by raising an accusing finger at Modi and then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, his subsequent demand for an inquiry is bound to aggravate the crisis within the BJP. Asked if this meant he was not blaming an individual or the way Modi handled the riots, Bhandari said: “The point is to let the inquiry bring out facts. If something is necessary on the basis of the inquiry, only then I will be able to say.” His remarks are all the more damning because he was the Governor of the state at that time. He is also a hardcore Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) man. In fact what Pramod Mahajan and Bhandari have said is only the reiteration of what the rest of the world has been saying all along. If only they had found their voice when Gujarat was burning, things might not have come to such a sorry pass. It is not known whether Bhandari had sent any adverse report to the Union Government at that time. However the belated admission will be sufficient to cut off the lifelines that the BJP has been throwing to Modi. The revelations are a pointer to the disquiet within the party. They also serve to expose the growing factionalism at senior levels in a party that had been known for its discipline. It is an open secret that Modi has been surviving because of the support of LK Advani. The two are now likely to remain the focus of attack from the dissenting voices in the party. Whatever be the reasons for the growing attack against Modi, it is a fact that he has become a liability to the party. The BJP knows very well that if it is to nurture hopes of staging a comeback, it will have to shed him and his brand of Hindutva. Bhandari’s salvo is bound to hasten that process.
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