Anil Anand
April 6, 2022: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) biggest political party of the world celebrated its 42nd Foundation Day. More than anything else, in pure electoral terms the highlight of this journey has been a tale of reaching from two to 303 Lok Sabha seats. And as the 42nd Foundation Day drew close the party also achieved the distinction of becoming first in the last three decades to cross the 100-mark in Rajya Sabha. And not to forget at one point in time till recently the BJP directly or indirectly (read NDA) was ruling in 21 states and Union Territories.
This is no mean achievement by any standards. Such a stupendous success, particularly after 2014, has to be the outcome of meticulous planning, of men and material, and brinkmanship of the top order at whatever the cost might be.
This metamorphosis from the famous Vajpayee- Advani days, that laid the firm foundation for future experiments or for further carrying forward the Hindutava agenda from the time of Ram Janam Bhoomi movement and the accompanying Rath Yatra, to the current Modi-Shah era is in itself an interesting journey. From Vajpayee-Advani to Modi-Shah era, it is a story replete with total transformation in terms of founding principles (laid by the RSS) and the value system preached by it. These key ingredients, the very foundation of the BJP and its erstwhile avtar Bhartiya Jan Sangh, have given way to the big ticket practical politics where there are no encumbrances and inhibitions of any kind.
As a result the party under current dispensation has become an election-winning cavalry. The other highlight of this journey, mostly credited to Modi-Shah duo, has been the courageous implementation of what used to be described as the core agenda of the RSS-BJP with abrogation of controversial Articles of 370 and 35A of the Constitution that gave special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, and construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya though under Supreme Court ruling.
This metamorphosis has another interesting aspect presented in the governance models of Vajpayee-Advani to Modi-Shah era. The latter model is more akin to the Congress’s iron lady Indira Gandhi’s governance system, commonality being centralised system with no space for debate and dissent, than to the Vajpayee-Advani model.
In former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s own words expressed once on BJP’s foundation day: “The country’s problems cannot be solved by one party. One individual, however popular, cannot find a way out of the complicated problems. You need political consensus for that.”
This statement that visualises a consensual approach sounds alien when juxtaposed with the BJP’s current thinking. The word consensus seems to have become the biggest casualty as the party celebrated its 42nd Foundation Day and marched towards the half century mark.
It is a misnomer to say that a strong leader necessarily embodies the spirit of autocracy and authoritativeness. Yes, there are examples to this effect world-over when strong leaders under democratic set ups turn authoritative. But there are also examples to show that strong leaders cherished the spirit of democracy through encouraging debate and dissent.
Leave aside the first Prime Minister Pandit Jawharlal Nehru, whose commitment to democracy is widely recorded and difficult to erase how so ever strong the efforts be as he is being portrayed as cause of all that is plaguing the country by the present ruling system, the other example of a powerful leader strongly harping on the democratic values was the BJP’s own Mr Vajpayee- the last of the statesman of his era.
The BJP on its 42nd Foundation Day has emerged as a dominant political force and that could be credited to its repeated electoral victories particularly in the last decade or so. The jury is out though far away from delivering a judgement, for obvious reasons, on the methodology behind these victories, that has strong trappings of money and muscle power and using the statecraft to its optimal which is a great departure from the system followed by the Vajpayee-Advani’s BJP.
As the adage goes; everything is fair in love and war, and adding to it, politics. How does it fit in on an organisation that till recently found pride in describing itself as a “party with a difference”. Agreed there is no straight route to political or electoral success and all political parties at one time or the other have used strong-arm and manipulative tactics which many fancy in describing as “Chanakya Niti”. But in a democracy there are self-prescribed limits enumerated by the Constitution.
Whether these limits have been violated or not? There is not a single instance when during any of the previous Governments’ rule these limits were adhered to the fullest. And the current system is no exception. It is one thing to leave it to the posterity to evaluate the extent of violations by the world’s biggest political party with a strong leader. At times it becomes imperative to handover the judgement without waiting for the history to judge the contemporary period.
What has been the role of the RSS in this metamorphosis from Vajpayee-Advani to Modi-Shah era? It is an open secret that BJP is the political arm of the RSS like it has innumerable oganizations working in different fields and the latter has its points-persons at the central and states unit levels. And to imagine BJP working independently of the RSS could only be an act in self-deception. At least not in the current scheme of things!
One striking aspect of this metamorphosis is qualifying from the RSS-preached culture of frugality and simplicity to the one of five-star and VVIP trappings in which the current BJP has ushered itself in. Has the RSS mooted this cultural change or has been forced to accept the changing circumstances? None else but the RSS itself can explain its position on this discernable cultural change.
Another aspect on which the judgement is awaited is on the deliverables of the BJP-led dispensations particularly those related to the bread and butter issues. The party and the dispensations have developed an effective system of narratives and headlines management which is yet another high-point of its celebration of 42nd Foundation Day.
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