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Analysis | Share This Page | |
BJP Needs Reinvention |
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by Dr. Subhash Kapila |
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In comparative real terms, the BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party) was nearly equal to the Congress Party in terms of party seats won in the 2004 national elections. The BJP with just being two years out of power is displaying no resilience to raise itself to new heights once again. Neither is it as the main Opposition Party virtually equal to the ruling Congress in number of seats in Parliament , playing the role of an energetic and activated Opposition posing a threat to the ruling party in terms of its survival. The recent Assembly elections in some states did not indicate that the Congress despite being the ruling party at the Centre, was on a winning spree. It was others who did. Political opportunities exist for the BJP to exploit, only if it was cohesive and gutsy to do so. Current indicators of happenings within the BJP do not suggest that it has the resilience to do so. The BJP has to reinvent itself by ridding itself of the 'Congressifcation' that overtook this Party in the closing stages of its being in power. This extended from leadership group rivalries, personality cults, intolerance towards inner party dissent, ignoring the cadres which were its strength, and diluting the very ideology and ethos of the Party. The BJP needs to reinvent itself with a younger generation of leaders and new political strategies. In terms of political strategy, the BJP , despite all its efforts to woo the Indian Muslim vote has been unsuccessful for the simple reason that this 12% percent segment is a captive in the hands of its feudal religious clergy and leaders fed by the Congress and 'secular' parties. In any case they now seem to be inclined to form their own Muslim political outfits to fight elections as visible in Assam and Uttar Pradesh. That effectively rules out the Muslim vote for the BJP until a visible progressive segment makes its appearance in the Indian Muslim community and which one day is bound to appear because India at large offers them the opportunity to do so. It was the above that neutralized Advani's political leadership of the BJP. His terming of Jinnah on Pakistani soil as a secularist was distorting historical facts. The Pakistanis who revere him as the founder of a Muslim theocratic state in South Asia were bemused and the millions of Hindus who were forced into migration to India in 1947 by Jinnah - contrived genocidal communalism felt cheated by Advani's remarks. The rest of India too was not bemused. The main challenge of a reinvented BJP would be to break the casteist and backward classes vote-banks especially in the Hindi heartland. This is possible with dedicated hard work at the grass-roots level both by BJP leaders and a rejuvenated grass-roots cadre. They could establish a separate organization within the BJP for setting up educational, health and social service facilities in backward communities to win over the hearts and minds of these deprived classes and visibly show their commitment to their upliftment even when the BJP is not in power. The senior BJP leaders should set an example by moving out of their air-conditioned rooms in New Delhi and spending a couple of weeks each year at outlying communities where such social upliftment schemes are put into action. Finally, a re-invented BJP should not be politically apologetic about its credentials that it represents Indian nationalism and that it represents virtually a billion Hindus, only because the remainder two million Indians remain held back by fears of majorityism generated by so called secular politicians and the Communists. The re-invented BJP should both by articulation and deed should forcefully assert that the future of all Indians is safe in its hands and that it offers an alternative to dynastic rule and parties with extra-territorial loyalties. |
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21-May-2006 | ||
More by : Dr. Subhash Kapila | ||
Views: 2038 Comments: 0 | ||
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