I do not know whether political parties in India think deep and long any longer about ideology. Elections are won by populist slogans and alliances at the macro level, and clever constituency management on the ground (like tying up community leaders and local warlords or Imams or whatever). Ideology (or its absence) falls within the turf of the commentariat. It is understandable therefore if seasoned politicians scoff (almost chuckle in fact) at all the fancy advice columnist unfailingly volunteer as elections draw nigh. At the cost of being scoffed at for being eminently presumptuous, I’ll nevertheless volunteer some advice to the BJP. Take it or leave it!
Tagore cracked the problem of right wing nationalist ideology in his novel Ghare Baire (The Home and the World), when he painted the Bande Mataram chanting charismatic radical Sandeep as one stranded between the modernity he craved and the symbolism of an ancient archetypal India he could not dispense with. The right has always had to grapple with this problem. The forms it appropriated in giving itself structure always belonged to the modern world. In terms of dress (the RSS sports western shorts, looking somewhat ridiculous with spindly legs protruding from baggy late 19th century style khaki half-pants), martial marching tunes, and so on, the models that have appealed to the right have been modern/western. Yet in terms of underlying cultural symbols and typologies, there was a harking back to the ancient past.
The extreme poles that mark these two contrasting pulls explain to an extent some of the tension on view in the run up to the 2014 elections between the different factions within the BJP. The lines are not very clearly drawn though. Yashwant Sinha is a non RSS moderniser aligned to Advani; Modi is an RSS background moderniser who stands for himself. The inflexions that define the top leaders of the party can be worked out by the reader. What is desirable for both supporters of the BJP, and those who cannot ever get themselves to like a right wing party is this: That the BJP somehow is able to merge its modernising agenda (economic upswing and so on that the Modi campaign emphasises) with the project of seeking fundamental reform in society, specifically Hindu society.
Since Swami Vivekananda is the emergent symbol of the brand of neo-Hidutva being bandied by Modi, perhaps the BJP can practice what Swamiji preached — service to the marginalised people of this country and the awaking of a consciousness that has been deadened by habit, and not service to stone Gods ensconced in gilded temples. Instead of fighting for meaningless pilgrimages and supporting cacophonous kawars, the BJP needs to say it will ban caste based matrimonials, clean up temple administrations (which are institutions of grand loot and loose patronage), and come down heavily on practices such as dowry, female foeticide, honour killings, and so on.
Every right wing party likes a strong cultural agenda. let the BJP have the courage to proclaim a reformist agenda for mainstream Hindu practices. In the process the party should let other communities blip off the radar. Instead of pillorying the Muslim Personal law Board, the BJP must look within.
If it is able to do this, and it can’t be very much difficult for it to claim it envisions a modern reformist and liberating brand of Hindusim, it can easily slide its economic vision centrestage without having to sound embarrassed about being caught between this and that. Further it will provide the BJP with a 360 degree slogan for change. Change is always desirable when things are going wrong. Most people see Mr Modi as someone who can get the gravy train rolling for the middle classes. The constituency and its expectations are rather narrow. To mean much more to many more people, the BJP has to signify change in more identifiable and significant terms.
To become the very symbol of change, the BJP has to abandon its status quoist image. The problem is significant. Right wing parties are essentially conservative. The do not stand for radical change. Yet, given the shenanigans of the incumbent Congress regime, and given the intensity of the discontent on the street (Anna Hazare), this country is crying out for change. Can the BJP employ the language and ideology of change, while being itselfIJ Tough ask, but good question, I think!