Communal riots etc....

People in general view the silence on communal riots as a tacit approval of the methods of the fringe elements of the parivar which I believe is a fair one.

There are, probably, elements in the BJP that would intentionally sit mum on such crucial issues hoping to make electoral gains out of a polarised society, an experiment, if it could be called one, that has backfired and turned BJP on its head in two states UP and Orissa (remember Rajnath visiting Varun in jail!!) What is needed is a major image makeover for the BJP as well as redrawing its priorities in swing states like ours, just as u said. For all of this to happen a change in the thought process at the leadership level is required. Its time parties starts debating on what kind of a leader it needs and changes the horses ASAP. (If they have disappointed Siddarth Varadarajan who writes for the hindu then something is seriously wrong!!)