One of the tallest leaders of the BJP and former finance minister Arun Jaitley passed away on Saturday. Within the span of a few days the BJP has lost a second big leader. Earlier, former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj died on 6 August. Over the years, the saffron party has lost three important leaders, namely, former ministers Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, who were seen as liberal voices in the BJP. They were considered leaders who followed the political ideology of former prime minister AB Vajpayee, who believed in the politics of consensus-building, which is rare these days.
For this very reason they had friends cutting across political lines. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is perhaps the last remaining politician in the present BJP regime from the Vajpayee school of politics. But he is voiceless in the present regime which is dominated by Hindu hardliners, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party chief-cum-Home Minister Amit Shah. The duo holds absolute power and runs the show. With the death of liberal stalwarts like Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, in the coming years the saffron party is expected to veer more towards hardline Hinduvta politics. This may have repercussion across the country. The BJP needs the last few remaining sane voices like Rajnath Singh to be more vocal on issues concerning the country. The macho nationalism being unleashed by the Modi-Shah duo is only causing more harm to the nation. The people of India will miss liberal leaders like Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj.