Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee?s googly has disturbed more than one batsman within the sangh parivar. It has brought the factionalism within the Bharatiya Janata Party out into the open. Mr Vajpayee?s backhanded endorsement of the position of Mr K.S. Sudarshan, the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has put Mr L.K. Advani on the backfoot. Mr Sudarshan had declared that old men in the BJP leadership should step down in favour of the younger generation. His target was both Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani. The artful Mr Vajpayee responded by saying that since he occupied no position, he could not step down, and added that Mr Advani would have to take his own decision. The tension and rivalry between Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani have always been just below the skin of BJP politics. It has now come out as a boil on the skin. The BJP prides itself on being a monolith, but this has always been part of the myth that the BJP has created about itself. It is now evident that factionalism in the BJP begins at the top. Factionalism will also have a determining influence over the succession question once the two old men decide to bow to age and not to the saffron flag. The battle over succession cannot do any good to the image of the BJP and to its political future.

Mr Vajpayee?s wrong ?uns have always brought to the fore the attenuated relationship between the BJP and the RSS. The contradiction between the two organizations appears to be beyond resolution. The BJP finds it convenient to use the RSS for mobilization and campaigning during election time. But once in power, the RSS and its agenda disappear from the BJP?s radar screen. The RSS, in its turn, knows that, without the BJP, it will be no more than a weird organization based in Nagpur. There is thus mutual dependence, but a conflict of purpose. The RSS wants to propagate Hindutva, the BJP wants to project itself as the party of governance. The dependence cannot eradicate the embedded contradiction. Mr Vajpayee, when he was prime minister, could not eliminate the influence of the RSS, but he did minimize the influence. Mr Sudarshan?s ire is directed against this achievement of Mr Vajpayee. The latter took cognizance of this but, in the process, could not resist the opportunity to score a point off Mr Advani, somewhat like an ace undergraduate debater. As a result, the saffron flag may not yet be in tatters but it is certainly drooping.