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Ram:Thanks for answering my question on Modi as President.In my opinion he is the best Person India had ever had in terms of development and image.We had enuf of Gandhi's and Nehru time for modi.What is your take?.

Bhupendra Chaubey: He has his strengths, but he is also someone who cant remove the stigma of Godhra. Thats why I think he wont manage to be the president

Varad Seshadri:Can Jaswant fight the ban on the book, in the court of law?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Sure, But dont think that he will. Controversy will anyways help in selling the book. All his moves will factor in his politics and his book

Sudhir:The BJP has shown that it cannot accept an opinion - a personal one that too which goes against its own ideas from one of its own seniormost members. If this party ever comes to power again in future, what assurance do I have, as a citizen of this country, that it will not throw me in jail if I say anything which goes against their beliefs.

Bhupendra Chaubey: I dont think that India is so immature as a democracy, Its more a problem of the BJP. Its also to do with the pschye of the respective party, who within the congress is in a position to write a book thats critical of Indira Gandhi say for imposing emergency, A somnath Chatterjee was ejected out of the cpm for defying the party orders, Its only in the bjp where you have a lot of internal democracy that its now becoming a problem

Ram:Who is the most capable leader in BJP right now to lead the party and face the people?

Bhupendra Chaubey: My vote will be for Arun Jaitly

sandeep:Isn't it strange that in India the world's largest democracy so much of ruckus is being made over a book.Cant one freely express his views over a topic of his choice. The Da Vinci Code had no obstacles in being released in many European countries. Don't you think that in India we need to progress a lot in being moderate and tolerant?

Bhupendra Chaubey: There are all kinds of books that have been written in India on all kinds of individuals. Fact is that a Varun Gandhi is still in the BJP while Jaswant Singh is now out. Jaswant's sacking is little to do with his book and more to do with the kind of factional feuds that have been erupting within the BJP

navin:Hi Bupen, Do you think the timing of the book has something to do with the job of leader of Oppsition which was declined to Jaswant as Sushma was made Dy leader of Opposition and LK Advani has decided to hold the post of leader of opposition for somemore time ? Your take.....

Bhupendra Chaubey: No, the book was ready for sometime. He didnt release it only and only because he was asked by the bjp leadership not to release it.

Guru Chawla:Is this move aimed at setting an example for other detractors like Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinya?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Not just these two that u have mentioned Guru, its aimed at silencing any possible dissidence in future

meenakshi:mr chaubey...do u think the BJP was right in expelling Jaswant singh a loyal party member for 30 years just for a book???

Bhupendra Chaubey: I dont think that he should have been expelled. Maybe a reprimand would have worked

Ram:Projecting Modi as the president.What is your take on it?.what will be the outcome of BJP meet in shimla?. Will the party revamp it's state units?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Narendra Modi wants to be the president, no doubt about that. But I am not sure if that will be possible, given the fact that there are so many hassles that he is currently confronted with. Godhra will always haunt him. BJP cant have a situation where its president faces the prospect of a sc enquiry

theba:Bhupendra: Do you consider BJP to be party now formed on a ideology which itself has taken wrong assumptions like Sardar Patel being a faultless character and because of Patel's and Nehru's stubbornness, Pakistan was created....

Bhupendra Chaubey: The problem with the BJP is that it has always tried to position itself as a party with a difference , which takes the high moral ground, I remember Advani once mentioned that the BJP's formation was like a miracle. Because they live in a make believe world, thats the main reason why they are struggling now

Varad Seshadri:Don't you think its a stretch to go out and ban the book in certain states, just because it does not match with government's beliefs?

Bhupendra Chaubey: I agree that its a wrong move by the BJP to ban the book. But Narendra Modi, cm of gujarat is a person who wishes to endear himself to the RSS. He looks at himself as someone who could be the next BJP president if the RSS allows him to do that

Varad Seshadri:Why is there a lot of friction between Rajnath singh and many others in BJP? Is it the RSS and non-RSS ?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Its not just RSS vs non RSS. Its actually a war for greater stakes within the BJP. Rajnath Singh vs the rest

navin:Hi Bupen, Do you think its pure tactics by Jaswant to get out of BJP & join some other non congress parties like JDU (Nitesh) as many BJP leaders see more future by joining with them. Jaswant Singh has simply tried to purify himself by appeasing the Indian Muslims by writing this book in order to show his secular crendtials. Leaders like Kalyan Singh/Jaswant Singh/ Arun Shourie and Yashwant Sinha have openly revolted aginst the BJP party leadership in the past. Your take?

Bhupendra Chaubey: I dont think Jaswant Singh is the kind of person who will immediately join hands with any other party. Maybe your views will act as suggestions to him. I am told the next person who will now find the going tough is Arun Shourie

Guru Chawla:Does this move indicate a clear shift of BJP power centre towards RSS.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Oh without doubt, flashback to 2004 after the BJP had lost the lok sabha elections. Then RSS chief KS Sudershan did an interview asking advani and vajpayee to let the younger leadership take over. Nothing happened then. Now with Vajpayee gone and ADVANI bearing the stamp of a failure, there is no one within the party whose word carries weight. Thats why its easier for RSS to maneuver the BJP

Suresh:What do you think about the next moves of Jaswant Singh?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Well he is doing a press conference right now. So I do think that he will continue to dominate the headlines and mind space for sometime

manoj:Bhupendra, here's a request. Can the drought and impending food shortage be your headlines for the next 10 days atleast? How's NREGA doing on the ground? Does it really matter what happens to Jaswant or BJP when people are starving?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Manoj, we have been focussing on those stories as well.

priyanka0402:if Rajnath singh will be the last man standing then definitely there will be no BJP down some years, as a party can keep its feet firm on national ground only when it has leaders!

Bhupendra Chaubey: In 1994, When Atal Bihary Vajpayee was going through a tough time in his life, a man named rajnath singh surya (( not the rajnath we are are talking about )) who was gen secy of UP BJP predicted that Vajpayee had failed in all his responsibilities and hence had no business of being in politics. Many thought that in this sense Vajpayee and surya should be the worst of enemies. The first thing Vajpayee did in 1996 when the BJP first came to power was to help surya in coming to the Rajya Sabha. Hence he managed to win over a prospective rebel. Therein lies the difference between Vajpayee and the rest. No one has that kind of persona to win over dissidents

sri:Hi Bhupen, It shows how badly the party is being managed that a senior leader of 30 years has been sacked by just a phone call. It is so mannerless lack of courtesy. I used to a bjp follower till atalji, but no more. i hate congress as well as bjp equally.

Bhupendra Chaubey: I agree with your feelings sree. Thats the problem with the BJP and the congress today. While Jaswant surely could have been dealt with perhaps more gracefully, he had no right to question the ideology of the party while being a part of it. He could have left the party and then wrote what he wanted to. But being a senior leader he should have known better. The only difference between the bjp and the congress for me is within the BJP there is a culture of sending messages, within the Congress, no messages straight directive

K. Muralidhar:Dear Mr. Bhupendra Chaubey, Its very sad the senior leader being treated by a party in such a manner. Jaswant singh may not have a charishma like Vajpayee, but he was core to the BJP's politics and a secular face of BJP. after this episode Is there any future for the BJP, because Rajnath does not have any mass following, Jaitley and others are fighting for power. is this the end of BJP. If that is so it would be very tragic for the democratic process in India.

Bhupendra Chaubey: Politics has a strange cyclical pattern to it. In 2004 for instance, no one expected the Congress to come to power. They did. In 2009 everyone expected it to be a messy government, it was a clean majority for the congress, I think if the BJP can put up a brave united face and ride the present storm they can achieve their goals. They just have to get out of the identity crisis that they find themselves embroiled in

Guru Chawla:I wanted to check the legality of the issue. Does the Constitution of BJP allow expulsion even without issuing a show cause notice?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Expulsion from the party is possible without any show cause notice in exceptional circumstances.

Kapil:Hi Bhupendra, Don't you think BJP is moving towards end or a big downfall in the leadership of Rajnath Singh?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Well Rajnath Singh is a very intriguing kind of a character. I get the sense that he is playing the game by principal of elimination. He hopes to be the last man standing

suresh TV9:Why not BJP saked advani before when he made similar comments??

Bhupendra Chaubey: Advani and Jaswant actually cant be compared. Advani is a cofounder of the BJP alongwith Atal. His contribution is unparalleled. Jaswant rose only because he was a friend of Vajpayee. Plus the situation in 2005 in Advani's case was different from 2009

wali:if he sent a copy to advaniji, why did the bjp not tell him earlier not to publish it ? are they making him a scapegoat ?

Bhupendra Chaubey: Jaswant was on our channel yesterday where he admitted that the book was actually ready two years back. He was requested by bjp leadership not to publish it before the polls as they thought it could have damaged them. So Jaswant did keep his part of the deal

Chat Master

Bhupendra Chaubey

National Bureau Chief

Bhupendra Chaubey, National Bureau Chief of CNN-IBN is amongst the most formidable political journalists in the industry. He has reported on all top political stories for the last decade. He interviewed LK Advani and got him to admit that he indeed had Prime Ministerial ambitions. From former Prime Ministers to Amitabh Bachchan to SRK, he got the biggest newsmakers making the biggest news points.