The New BJP

The New BJP

There is a very good reason why the Congress has been caught flat-footed and out of tune this time despite nervous shows of dynastic ‘strength’. Times have changed, though Congress and the Liberal-Left commentary with its talk of ‘polarisation’, ‘divisiveness’ and vicious name-calling, is still playing out. But brazen as it may be, Congress is staring at the worst drubbing in its history. 

Today’s Congress, appears not to have grasped the key difference. The old BJP was indeed concerned with Mandir-Masjid politics and Hindutva that  pitchforked it from 2 seats in the Lok Sabha to the 150 odd seats mark, but unfortunately, no further.

The new BJP   is concerned almost exclusively with growth, modernisation, development, equal opportunity, and jobs. This new version of BJP is unbelievable to the Congress, whose spokespersons insist it is a sham, but not to the voter; and is a key reason for the Modi Wave. It has however left the Congress floundering and disconcerted. It is firing all its missiles at, for the moment, abandoned targets.

Rahul Gandhi is so rattled that he is busy repeating his B Team boss Kejriwal’s lines, silly as they are, in the apparent absence of any ideas of his own. And even experienced BJP baiters like General Secretary Digvijay Singh, are sounding like they are in a time-warp circa 2004 or 2009.

The old BJP did rise into the status of a national party in one fell swoop, mainly through the efforts and strategies of NDA Chairman  Lal Krishna Advani. This was reiterated by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi at the time of filing of  Advani’s nomination papers at Gandhinagar, attended, not only by Modi who accompanied Advani to the venue, but the entire Gujarat Cabinet as well.

Modi said that there would have been no surge towards a possible majority-showing for the NDA today, if the BJP had not been led to the status of a national level contender in the first place by party patriarch Advani. This was followed by a very successful term of governance under the leadership of Prime Minister Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Advani.

But, the fact remains, the master strokes of the nineties were already out-of-date in  2004, let alone 2009, with the rival Congress fully prepared for BJP’s no surprises pitch of Hindutva plus development. So this time, the BJP is seen  to have  radically changed its ways. Its strategists must have realised, early in the preparations for 2014, that it needed a game-changer. It called for a new face, a new aura and energy, a new emphasis, and a focus that could not be subverted, diluted, or thwarted by the competition. That it needed to mature its narrative and truly seize the right-of-centre political space in its economic tone, rather than muddy the water with what had become easy to attack majoritarian themes. As we go into the middle overs of this general election, the metamorphosis seems complete.

The change in stance is reminiscent of the ‘New Labour’ shift under Tony Blair in the UK, no longer trade unionist and hostile to capital, or the makeover of the US Democratic Party under Bill Clinton into a more economy friendly avatar. In India, most political parties have been more or less Leftist from inception, but as in Britain and the US, the time has come when its glaring ideological and implementation shortcomings have become a road block. The Congress Party, under Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, wound back the clock, despite the reformist changes of 1991, with ruinous consequences.

Our ‘democratic dividend’ of millions of young people demand jobs, and low or nil growth Socialism just cannot provide them. The unemployment rate in India for the eligible is an alarming 30%, and the voting public is not willing to feed on empty pro-poor rhetoric and live on demeaning doles.

Blair had to take a page out of the Thatcherite conservative, property owning revolution that preceded it, and likewise, Clinton had to capture some of the optimism and growth orientation of the Reagan years that he succeeded to. In India, the best and most consistent growth model in terms of industry, agriculture, infrastructure, security etc. over the last decade and more, is that of Gujarat. And Gujarat’s Chief Minister since 2001 was therefore seen to be the right man to lead the nation into similar growth and prosperity. It is also true that the Gujarat story owes its success to good governance, a business and industry friendliness that is unparalleled anywhere else in the country, efficient use of resources, and quick decision making.

With all this going for it, the BJP has become an elusive pimpernel for the attacking Liberal-Left and its adherents. The new BJP is not what it used to be, and what it has become is very difficult to fight against, in a country going through its worst economic crisis in 10 years. Also, it is no use attacking the BJP for being communal, because it is seen to be more truly secular than the Congress and its allies, with their virulent vote-bank politics, and blatant fear-mongering.

Modi is concerned primarily with how to make this country prosperous and secure, and this intention is resonating very well with the people.  And significantly, Modi, who has come out of the crucible of the RSS as a Pracharak, is being backed stoutly by it. The RSS, and the rest of the Sangh Parivar too, has dramatically changed its own emphasis, to make Narendra Modi’s rise possible, backed fiercely by the rank and file cadres.

Ironically, it is Congress which is astonishingly date expired, harking back to a failed and wasteful Leftist doctrine abandoned all over the world.  It is the BJP now which has a credible notion of inclusiveness and progress for all, without divisive reservations, without vote-banks. Congress, corrupt but playing poverty politics, negligent of most issues confronting the nation, seems clearly clueless and lost and fit to be thrown out of power.

(996 words)

April 12^th, 2014

Gautam Mukherjee