If adversity brings out the best in a political organisation, it can also throw up the worst. The swing factor here is the moral fabric of the party in question
The tensile strength of a political party in a democracy is tested in times of adversity. If a party takes defeats on its chin, recognises the reasons for the setback and works with greater vigour to connect with the people, it can reasonably nurse hopes of a comeback. If it spins excuses, blames all but itself for the loss, and turns its ire on its own people who do some plain-speaking, the prospect of a turnaround in the fortunes gets dim. Several twists and turns have taken place in Indian politics since independence, but one truth has held firm: Parties that have shown humility and not arrogance in defeat and willingness to learn, have always bounced back.
The stories of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress since independence are poles apart, but they converge at one point: Both have gone through difficult times but have resolutely scripted comebacks. The euphoric moments of victory often hide the strenuous effort that goes into a revival. And such a recovery is not automated; it has to be conscious, focussed, directed and sustained. Simply because there is a mass of people out there wanting a party to make a return is no guarantee that the return will happen. Besides, if the positive change does not happen fast enough, people are not prepared to wait forever. The longer period a party languishes in the backyard, the greater the chance of its being written off for good.
When the Bharatiya Jana Sangh was formed 65 years ago, the Congress led by Jawaharlal Nehru was at its peak. Its founder Syama Prasad Mookerjee was the lone warrior. The party had to wait for more than 25 years before it tasted power, and that too as part of the larger Janata Party conglomeration in 1977. After the Janata Party experiment failed, the Jana Sangh found for itself a new name, which we now know as the BJP. It straightaway plunged to a humiliating defeat, winning just two seats in the 1984 general election. But just a little more than a decade later, it emerged as the single largest party in the lok Sabha and went on to form a Government with allies at the Centre. However, only five years after completing its first full five-year term, it suffered a shocking defeat — followed by another one. With two back-to-back losses in the lok Sabha poll (2004 and 2009), the BJP’s rivals were ready to write it off. Its dramatic comeback in 2014 provides a valuable lesson for students of Indian politics — a people-centric organisation can eventually tilt the scales in its favour.
If the BJP had a rocky beginning only to stabilise later, the Congress started on the strong foundation Nehru had laid. But within five years of his death, the party headed by Indira Gandhi faced a massive crisis. The 1967 lok Sabha election saw the Congress considerably weakened, a trend which continued with the party faring poorly in various State Assembly polls as well. Indira Gandhi’s leadership came into question and a kind of coup was simmering within. Indira Gandhi was expelled by the old guard; she went on to form her own outfit, triumphed and purged the party of dissidents. Barring the post-Emergency defeat of 1977, she reigned supreme until her assassination.
The Congress under Indira Gandhi and the BJP under Atal Bihari Vajpayee resuscitated themselves because they understood the pulse of the people. Not even in their worst moments did the leaders allow their connect with the masses to be diminished. They continued to inspire their workers and party leaders to keep moving ahead and not lose steam or optimism. More importantly, they acknowledged the reasons for the debacle and went about course-correcting. Additionally, they learned from the mistakes of their rivals and exploited them to the hilt. That’s how Indira Gandhi triumphed in 1980 and Narendra Modi scored in 2014.
There were those who refused to learn, and they were cast aside. The left Front in West Bengal and the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh are two recent examples. It must be said here that the last two parties still have the potential to restore their lost glory if only they see the writing on the wall (this is also true of the Congress, stuck with a leadership that neither has the intellectual heft of Nehru nor the charisma of Indira Gandhi). For now, that realisation is not evident in any of the three parties.
The left organisations, particularly the Marxists, appear to be a lost case — not only because the ideology they cling to stands discredited but also because they have failed to strike a rapport with the new generation of voters who have different aspirations and are (or want to be) upwardly mobile. There are many reasons, one among them being the left’s colossal illusion that Marxism as a political ideology still has takers in India. Merely because the left rules in a couple of States in the country, it must not entertain the belief that it’s acceptable pan-India. The message is clear: Disconnect with the people, and you can kiss goodbye to a return to power.
If adversity brings out the best in a political organisation, it can also throw up the worst. The swing factor is the moral fabric of the party in question, as it would be in the case of an individual. Rejected and ridiculed, an individual may take to a world of crime or sink into depression, or reform for the better. Similarly, a political party can either slip into a coma, lulled by self-denial, or shake itself up by seeking answers — however unpalatable they may be. Both the Congress and the BJP have demonstrated that willingness over the decades, being veterans in the political arena. The Aam Aadmi Party, on the other hand, is devoid both of moral/ethical strength and political acumen. It is, therefore, threatening to crumble under just two Assembly election losses and a defeat in a municipal body poll. The leadership is so rattled by what would have been a blip on a serious political organisation’s radar, that it has lost sense of proportion and has taken to hallucinating. Instead of understanding that baseless rants of its leaders have contributed to a loss of image among the public, the party has actually stepped up the slander campaign. It desperately needs sane counsel — and this can come for free.
Worse will surely follow for the AAP if it continues to make a mockery of the trust the people had reposed in it. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal has promised to re-connect with the people, but that would be an exercise in futility if the party insists on re-connecting with issues that sound like pathetic excuses — rigged EVMs, for instance. On the other hand, if it adopts an honest approach and admits to its blunders, behaves like a responsible organisation, stops casting aspersions on independent institutions such as the Election Commission of India, and desists from flinging spurious allegations on rivals, it may yet be able to ward off a humiliation in the next Assembly election.
(The writer is Opinion Editor, The Pioneer)