40 years of BJP: A Remarkable Journey

On April 6, 2020, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quietly completed 40 years in Indian politics. Though, as an ideology, it existed from 1951 in the form of Jana Sangh, but it truly tasted electoral and political victory when it was born in the avatar of BJP in 1980. At any other time, BJP’s 40 years would have dominated the news landscape, but now coronavirus pandemic dominates the news priority.

BJP not only truly transformed Indian politics, but also achieved what Jana Sangh could not despite playing an important role in 1967 and 1977. On both occasions, it was with Jana Sangh and RSS’s help that non-Congress parties were able to form governments both at the state level and in Centre.

Unfortunately, Jana Sangh could never become the principal Opposition party in Indian politics. BJP was founded in 1980 and it could achieve this feat in straight just 11 years. In 1991, Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Leader of Opposition. In 1990, it was because of Left- BJP’s support that VP Singh could become the Prime Minister. BJP got 15 seats in 1980, 2 in 1984 and 89 seats in 1990 Lok Sabha elections. From 1991 till today, BJP has always remained a three-digit party in Lok Sabha and maintained a presence in at least 5 to 6 seats all the time.

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The change in fortune was brought about by a change in the strategy. BJP became unapologetic about the Hindu sentiment in Indian politics. It also came up with word pseudo-secularism in 1980s. Many forget that this word was irrelevant till, Indira Gandhi, during emergency, inserted both socialism and secularism in the preamble of the Indian constitution during emergency. Two words on which even the Constituent Assembly could not come to terms with. Nonetheless, Vajpayee took oath as PM in 1996 to resign after 13 days, but by 1998, BJP had emergedon its own and assumed power in the shape of NDA. It subsequently got simple majority on its own in 2014 and 2019.

How does one evaluate BJP’s last 40 years? We can broadly divide it into 7 parts.

Unapologetic Hindutva

After vacating power in 2004, BJP’s relationship with Hindutva became ambivalent. It became more contested because of Gujarat riots and backlash. BJP’s performance deteriorated in 2009. BJP changed the gear and selected Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who was already an undeclared face of strong Hindutva politics. BJP corrected its ambivalent stand on Hindutva and consolidated its core vote around it which broke barriers of dominant caste politics in India. BJP’s Hindutva for the first time subsumed multiple layers of OBCs and Dalits reducing traditional parties to a hump. 2017 elections in UP stands as the best example of this politics where BJP got 300+ seats.

Simple Majority

The second biggest achievement of BJP was to get simple majority in 2014. After Rajiv Gandhi in 1984, BJP became the only party to get simple majority in Lok Sabha. BJP effectively ended bi-polarity in Indian politics which existed from 1996 till 2014. BJP became the new political hegemony in 2014, removing Congress from the scene which ended up with 44 seats. Congress continues to remain in two-digits whereas BJP was able to breach 300-mark in 2019, a feat previously achieved only by the Congress Party.

Renewed Commitment to Core Values

BJP after 2019, renewed its commitment to its core values. Despite being called divisive by many political parties, BJP in its second avatar still did away with Article 370 and brought into force CAA. On both counts, BJP invited resistance from the street. It is a hearty lesson to political parties that despite strong numbers in Lok Sabha, political issues can be contested from streets. The same vigour was also displayed when it came to the issue of triple talaq. The only pending issue with BJP is Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

Non-dynastic Succession

This has been the biggest contribution of BJP in Indian politics. Dynasties in politics cannot be removed, but the inheritance of political party by a family can be challenged. Unfortunately, in India, liberal parties are dynastic in nature. Families control party coffer in India which has become a new form of crony capitalism. BJP too has its share of dynasties, but no single family or individual is in control of BJP. RSS-BJP also showed that no single individual or family gets to dominate the party. Whether it was sidelining of old Jana Sangh leaders or setting aside of Advani for Narendra Modi, RSS-BJP has ensured that a conservative party like BJP remains non-dynastic. It is an irony of sorts. Social and political mobility remains at the heart of liberal politics and by being non-dynastic, BJP implements the central principle of liberalism.

New Territories

Unlike Congress, which in last 50 years, reduced bit by bit and lost presence to regional parties, BJP has been able to make its way to new territories. Whether it is North-East or Jammu and Kashmir, BJP was able to do well in all these areas. Today, Congress does not have a single state in its hand. BJP, on the other hand, has emerged as the principal opposition party in the state of West Bengal by marginalising Left Parties. Territorial expansion of BJP to non-traditional areas of Jana Sangh has been the biggest achievement of the party. This was preceded by BJP gaining a foothold under Advani and Vajpayee in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. Subsequently, in 2005, BJP, in alliance, gained power in Bihar, and in 2008, on its own, in the Southern state of Karnataka.

Paradigm change and New Norms

It was under BJP that second nuclear test was conducted in India. Vajpayee was the PM then. BJP shifted the time of budget presentation in Parliament in the 1990s. BJP also introduced the office of National Security Advisor during Vajpayee’s tenure. It aggressively pursued liberal economic policies kickstarted by Narsimha Rao. It reworked foreign policy by junking SAARC and doing away with Nehruvian consensus in foreign relations. Even in defence, BJP has changed the paradigm by counter strikes and use of Air Force against Pakistan. It also finally created the office of Chief of Defence Staff.

Split Wide Open

Another contribution of BJP in politics has been polarised position which has come to become the hallmark of Indian politics. Every political and economic decision has lost a consensual approach. BJP’s first growth moment came through Ram Temple movement and second has come through a heady mix of nationalism and hard Hindutva.BJP today dominates social media space and remains uncontested at the Centre though it continues to get a challenge from regional parties. It pushed cultural nationalism and reaped the benefits.

Epilogue

BJP today is completely dominated by Narendra Modi, whose influence on India politics surpasses many Prime Ministers. Question is when the time comes for change, how will BJP and RSS family deal with it? My sense is that going by the precedence, change may see hiccups, but RSS will not hesitate to push for it as the true strength of the ‘Parivar’ lies in the primacy of organisation over an individual and that principle will remain uncompromised.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)