The BJP’s victory in the Maharashtra assembly elections wasn’t unexpected. Its scale, though — with the BJP winning more than 90 per cent of the seats it contested and its allies also securing handsome mandates — surprised many analysts. Coming closely on the heels of a spectacular victory in Haryana, this has led to euphoria among party cadres and supporters.
The BJP doesn’t take any election lightly or for granted. From panchayats to Parliament, it deploys all its energies in every election. It has the tremendous ability to learn from its mistakes and make quick amends. In the end, it may win some and lose others. But when the next election comes, the party is ready with all guns blazing. No other party in India has shown such legerdemain during the elections.
Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan, it is said. Maharashtra is no exception. However, the BJP leadership always understood that no victory or defeat in an election can be attributed to a single factor. There are certain constant strengths, but each election has some variables. If the party succeeds in managing those variables carefully without compromising with the constants, the success rate remains high. Hanging on to constants while ignoring the variables may make the party unsuccessful. But, at the same time, if the constants are ignored in the hope that the variable factors would get the victory, it would surely be doomed.
In its long political journey spanning over more than seven decades, first as Bharatiya Jana Sangh (BJS), and later as Bharatiya Janata Party, the party has firmed up its electoral machine. As far as the constants are concerned, it depends on the trio of leader, cadre and Parivar. It was A B Vajpayee and L K Advani in the past, and Narendra Modi now, who have played a crucial role in leading the party to heights. PM Modi provides leadership that is rare in the country’s political history. He defies conventional political wisdom about anti-incumbency. That is why the party unapologetically attributes its electoral victories to the ever-growing massive appeal that the Prime Minister enjoys even after over 10 years in power.
Along with the PM factor are two other important constants for the BJP — its well-oiled organisational machinery and the informal, yet crucial support it draws from the Sangh Parivar. In Maharashtra and elsewhere too, their contribution was immense.
Beyond these constants are variables that the party has mastered over decades of experience. Started as an ideology-driven party, the BJS faced its first litmus test in 1967 when it was faced with the dilemma of joining hands with ideological archrivals like the socialists and communists to form Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) governments in seven states or continuing with its ideological puritanism and sit out. The newly elected president of the party, Deendayal Upadhyaya, an RSS leader to the core, understood the importance of alliance politics and decided to join the SVD coalition, a decision that subjected him to sharp criticism from within.
In his autobiography, veteran leader Advani, a long-time colleague of Upadhyaya’s, recalls an animated discussion that took place at the Calicut party conference in December 1967 over this issue.
Vishwanathan, a Tamil settled in Punjab, delivered a powerful speech criticising Upadhyaya’s decision. “Let not the Jana Sangh delude itself that by cohabiting with Communists, we will be able to change them,” he averred, using a vivid metaphor to drive home his point: “Kharbooja chakkoo par gire, ya chakkoo kharbooja par; katega to kharbooja hi (whether a melon falls on the knife or the knife falls on a melon, it is the melon that gets cut).”
Upadhyaya had to use a combination of wisdom and realpolitik to convince cadres of the efficacy of the SVD experiment. “It is an irony that while untouchability in the social field is considered evil, it is sometimes extolled as a virtue in the political field. We, in Jana Sangh, certainly do not agree with the Communists’ strategy, tactics and political culture. But that does not justify an attitude of untouchability towards them. If they are willing to work with us on the basis of issues, or as part of a government committed to an agreed programme, I see nothing wrong in it. The SVD governments are a step towards ending political untouchability. The spirit of accommodation shown by all parties, despite their sharp differences, is a good omen for democracy,” he argued.
The Janata Party experiment followed the SVD experiment in 1977. After the birth of the BJP, coalition politics successfully took forward in 1989, 1996, 1998 and 1999. Those were the times when the party succeeded in deftly managing constants like ideology and leadership and variables like coalition partners and agendas. Occasionally, when the variables dominated the constants, the party faced serious challenges, like in 1984 and 2004.
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The last 10 years saw the party under PM Modi’s leadership managing both effectively. No one can complain that the party has abandoned its core ideological commitments. On the contrary, it stands vindicated for delivering on the majority of them including the Ram Temple, Article 370 and triple talaq. At the same time, it also managed to stitch an effective coalition of parties that did not always agree with it on all issues, yet was willing to work on a common programme and understanding. Where it overplayed one against the other, it faced electoral challenges too.
In essence, it is this flexibility and pragmatism, from Deendayal Upadhyaya to Narendra Modi, and from SVD to Mahayuti that kept the party growing and winning, not the manipulation of EVMs as some wish to complain.
The writer, president, India Foundation, is with the BJP. Views are personal
