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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 NEW DELHI 001329 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL PINR KDEM IN
SUBJECT: BJP: NOT THERE YET 
 
REF: A. NEW DELHI 1278 
     ¶B. NEW DELHI 559 
 
¶1.    (U) The BJP,s two-day national executive meeting held 
in Lucknow was expected to be a fire-works show, complete 
with stinging accusations and counter charges.  Embassy 
contacts and media report that passions ran high, and the 
meeting lived up to its controversial billing.  In the 
aftermath of the BJP,s two-day national executive meeting, 
the party leadership asked Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. 
Khanduri to resign. Uttarakhand Health Minister Ramesh 
Pokhriyal has been appointed Chief Minister in Khanduri,s 
stead. After a series of public resignations from party 
ranks, the ongoing factionalism and public debate show signs 
of abating.  END SUMMARY 
 
UTTARAKHAND: "TAKING FULL RESPONSIBILITY" 
--- 
 
¶2.    (SBU) The BJP lost all five of the Uttarakhand Lok 
Sabha (lower house of Parliament) seats in the 2009 general 
elections, and Chief Minister Khanduri has received the 
lion,s share of the blame for the dismal defeat.  Embassy 
contacts report that the former Indian army general lacks 
support in Uttarakhand and is seen as oblivious to the 
concerns of both the plains and hill populations.  His 
original selection as CM was laced with controversy; Khanduri 
was chosen by Advani,s team and begrudgingly accepted by the 
strong RSS base in Uttarakhand.  BJP President Rajnath Singh 
said Khanduri "takes full responsibility" for the 2009 defeat. 
 
RECASTING HINDUTVA, DISTANCING VARUN? 
--- 
 
¶3.    (U) Through the mudslinging and factionalism, BJP 
leader L.K. Advani reminded his party that 116 seats in the 
Lok Sabha and 47 seats in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of 
parliament) still left the BJP as the second largest 
political party in the Indian parliament.  Striking an 
optimistic tone, Advani pointed out that the BJP continues to 
head eight state governments. (Note. The BJP heads state 
governments in Karantaka, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya 
Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.  In Punjab and 
Bihar, the BJP has partnered with regional parties to form 
governments and is the junior player.  End Note.)  "BJP is by 
no means an inconsiderable force in Indian politics", said 
Advani and added, "if anything, by decimating the third and 
fourth fronts, the recent elections have concretized BJP as 
the only alternative to Congress".  He reminded his party 
that they have rebounded from far worse.  In the 1984 
elections, the BJP managed to win only two seats in 
Parliament. 
 
¶4.    (U) Advani quoted former RSS chief Balasaheb Deora,s 
1980 speech to RSS at the national executive meeting, urging 
the party to evolve while citing historic precedence.  He 
urged party members to move beyond "any narrow or bigoted 
anti-Muslim interpretation of Hindutva," recognizing the 
concerns of Muslim BJP MPs who, along with several other BJP 
MPs, blame Varun Gandhi,s incendiary speech (Ref B) for 
significantly contributing to the BJP,s defeat.  Advani 
claimed that he had tasked BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar 
Prasad to "disown Varun,s statements," a few days before the 
national executive meeting.  (Note.  Varun Gandhi claims the 
footage of his speech has been doctored; Advani and the BJP 
stand by this assertion.  Since the national executive 
meeting, local media have quoted Advani saying "BJP will not 
disown Varun, only correct him".  End Note.) 
 
¶5.    (U) The meeting was a mixed-bag in terms of the BJP,s 
ideological redefinition.  Party members made much of the 
"Hindutva-Hinduism" distinction and the party,s self 
definition as a "right-wing entity" vice "nationalist 
organization."  However, no clear ideological direction 
emerged at the meeting or in the aftermath.  Party operatives 
pointed out the need to reach out to Muslim voters with 
 
NEW DELHI 00001329  002 OF 002 
 
 
concrete development plans, with one giving anecdotal 
examples of Muslim mothers crossing religious lines and 
voting for BJP candidates because of the "superior child 
development schemes" put forth by local BJP candidates. 
 
ALL QUIET ON THE RSS FRONT 
--- 
 
¶6.    (U) The BJP,s ideological fountainhead, the RSS, has 
been conspicuously quiet in the aftermath of the national 
executive meeting, making no comment on the proceedings and 
talk of the "evolution" of Hindutva.  BJP leaders were 
careful to stress the RSS,s strong historical partnership 
even while justifying a more inclusive approach to Muslims. 
The meeting was held at an RSS center in Lucknow instead of 
at a luxury hotel where prior BJP national executive meetings 
were held, thus explicitly underscoring BJP ties with the 
RSS. 
 
STILL THE ADVANI SHOW 
--- 
 
¶7.    (U) L.K. Advani took center stage at the national 
executive meeting, and no mention of future leaders or plans 
for his succession have surfaced.  Reports of the meeting 
resounded with the cacophony of several prominent leaders 
taking potshots at each other and defending their own 
records, however no prominent new leadership made a debut. 
Advani seems determined to focus his energies on the upcoming 
assembly elections in Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Haryana and 
has left New Delhi to campaign. 
 
ARE WE THERE YET? INCHING FORWARD 
--- 
 
¶8.     (U) COMMENT: The declining public blame game after the 
national executive meeting, the silence of the RSS, and the 
removal of CM Khanduri might signal the slowing of the 
post-election chaos within the BJP, and the beginning of an 
action-oriented approach. With party leader L.K. Advani 
throwing himself into campaigning, the media and public focus 
is slowing shifting from BJP,s internal meltdown. Although 
the ideological direction the BJP will take is far from 
determined, the national executive meeting provided a voice 
to the BJP,s Muslim members and their call to turn away from 
hard Hindutva rhetoric and toward a more inclusive approach. 
The RSS,s reticence during the meeting might signal their 
openness to a less hardcore Hindutva position. Post will 
continue to monitor BJP,s future strategy.  END COMMENT 
BURLEIGH