There is no evidence in the BJP’s intellectual output of awareness that the nation is crying for freedom from corruption and political immorality. Can Modi change thatIJ
Mulayam Singh Yadav may be characterised as an opportunist, but his voice carries importance in politics. In spite of being an ally of the UPA, he put forward a fireball of allegations against the Government, accusing it of blackmailing political parties and leaders to remain in power. However, what is dismaying is that even such volcanic statements fail to create a political backlash in our democratic society.
The reason for that is obvious. Political morality has fallen to such a low today that the people are disenchanted and alienated from the political system. This is not only ominous for the party system but also for democracy. While Mulayam Singh’s public utterances open new hope for the resurrection of non-Congressism, it is not however a final solution. lK Advani is right when he says that the weaknesses of both the national parties, the Congress and the BJP, have created a political vacuum in the country. It’s been long since ideology as well as morality has been expunged from the dictionary of the Congress. India’s ruling party recognises only one ideology; the ideology of sharing power with loose morality. Its slogan is “Power First”.
Alternative
The BJP has for long been a party symbolising hope and expectation even by those harbouring apprehensions about its ideology. Such a feeling has got reinforced in recent times, thanks to the entrenched corruption in the ruling party. It’s moot whether the BJP itself recognizes this evolving, favorable atmosphere for itself. The party seems to be reconciled to playing the role of a passive opposition. It also dreads the prospect of antagonising its allies in the NDA on the ‘minority’ question. This fear is a result of practicing politics in a vacuum while living detached from the realities of India amid luxurious environs in lutyen’s Delhi.
It is not possible to have an alternative route to politics, nor engage in substantive ideological debate without keeping the RSS at the centre. The language of democratic India has gone through significant transformation in recent times. Anti-RSSism which defines it is another name of opportunism. In 1967, the Communist Party of India shared a coalition cake with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and in 1989 the CPI (M) joined hands with the BJP to install the VP Singh government at the centre. No party or group in Indian politics can claim to have not aligned with the BJP. Therefore, it is time this nonsense of keeping “communal forces away” ended.
Inherent weaknesses
On its part, the BJP has got to fight its own inherent weaknesses. The party’s organisation and credibility had been built assiduously during the initial years against the backcloth of hopelessness. As the party document reads, “We pledged never to forget that our triumph of today is built on tapasya of yesterday. We will remind ourselves daily that, by the same inexorable principles, our success tomorrow will be guaranteed by our hard work today. There is simply no other time tested formula for sustainable success.”(Vol . IV P.35).
Many may not feel the need to read party documents, but it’s time to introspect. The BJP may not have shown either ideological weakness or a decline in organisation. But it’s new ‘party’ culture is a matter of deliberation and debate, and requires immediate address. This has led to related controversies — regarding the sources of funds, the style of grooming new leaders, and the creative and critical intellectual (policy) outputs of the party.
The party fails to optimally absorb the potential of Sangh Parivar organisations. There seems to be utter disregard to the need for developing inner resilience and capacity to facilitate the utilisation of ideological inputs as well as draw on the organisational strengths of the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram, Seva Bharti and other Sangh outfits. At present the RSS has 42, 981 shakhas at 28,788 places all over the country, besides the number of weekly and monthly shakhas, which are respectively 9,597 and 7,178.
The BJP needs to ponder if it represents the wishes and expectations of those dreaming of an alternative political culture driven by dynamic ideological actions. It is pertinent to quote the party document of June 2004 — “We should , in particular, mount powerful and sustained counter offensive against all those ideologies and political forces who reject Hindutva as the basic identity of the Indian Nation; who have perverted the ideal of secularism for their narrow political ends ; for whom maligning our party and our larger movement as ‘communal’ has become necessary to keep alive to nefarious strategy of anti-BJPism”.
The question before the BJP leaders and the rank and file is this -- Has this pledge become a matter of the pastIJ Rajnath Singh, after taking the helm of the Party, contested the statement of Home Minister Sushil Shinde (regarding “Hindu /saffron terrorism”) with determination. The government had no option but buckle.
Flexibility
This could be a sign of resurrection of the ideological metaphysics of the party. Of course, politics requires a blend of political realism and moral idealism. When in a state of ambivalence regarding the two, the party should always prefer the latter. A variety of indicators confirm that all is not well in the top organisational structure of the party. This is one of the reasons, which does not mitigate the fear of getting delegitimised in its own core constituency.
No party should be a prisoner of history and closed ideology. The second RSS chief, Golwalkar, frankly stated, “I am not concerned with ‘isms’ if our ideology contains any ‘ism’ or any part of any ‘ism’ I do not mind. Even if it does I do not bother.’ It is this saffron world view which had given the BJS, and now the BJP, enough space to expand its self definition. The party’s rearticulation of the Five basic Commitments (Panch Nishtha) — Nationalism, Democracy, Egalitarianism, Positive Secularism and Value-based Politics is the result of this flexibility.
The present challenge for the BJP is to infuse confidence not only among the workers but also within its own rank and file. By doing so, it can achieve the desired goal provided it portrays its image of a “party with a difference”. Instead of taking clues for it from political pundits, it should rather reopen the pages of the party documents where it is said, “Each one of us must realise that we are what we are because of the party. It is Party Consciousness, Party Personality and Party Identity with which we should align our own Individual Consciousness, Individual Personality and Individual Identity. That is what we mean ‘Nation First, Party Next and Self last.”
However, the intellectual output of the party does not lend credence to the BJP’s claim of being a party offering any hope for 1.2 billion people who are left feeling manipulated and cheated by the United Progressive Alliance. And this is the very reason which continues to hamper the progressive unfolding of its self-definition and the decline of progressive political and ideological struggles. Moreover, the party has to realise that the collective sub-conscience of India has been increasingly tilting towards single party government at the federal level.
Sooner, rather than later, the people of India will use their mandate for single party government. The day of common minimum programmes will soon be over. The question before the BJP is — is it ready for that dayIJ
Rakesh Sinha | (The writer is an Associate Professor, Delhi University and Hony. Director, India Policy Foundation)