Why BJP Should Effectively Deal With JNU Fire

16 May, 1982 is permanently etched in my memory as a date that helped me shape my political thought. On this day, Late H.N. Bahuguna (Congress leader and ex chief minister of UP) was to address a public gathering at Dehradun’s famous Parade ground as part of his election campaign that lasted almost two years.

Bahuguna was challenging the might of the then powerful Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The atmospherics of that meeting was successful in sowing the seed of ‘anti-congressism’ inside impressionable and inquisitive mind of a 7 years old kid, that I was then.

Saving the larger story of Garhwal’s historical bye-election for some other time; this incident emphasises the importance of political events in shaping a political thought process and consciousness to build a case for dealing with the recent JNU issue effectively.

Much through the late 1980s and early 1990s, Congress’s politics fuelled events helped sow millions of such saplings of ‘anti-congressism’ in the minds of politically aware citizens of India.

Amidst unfolding of a chain of political, social and economic events, several ideologies and political thoughts were competing to nurture and nourish ‘anti-congressism’ saplings thus planted. However, BJP, thanks to its well-timed Ram Janmabhoomi (RJB) movement emerged as the rallying point for the masses who were looking away from Congress. It was BJP’s ‘ideological scaffolding’ that helped enable those millions of saplings transform into what we now know as its core support.

Much of the 1990s also saw rise of an aspirational class of citizens with an ever rising bar. Riding its ‘party with a difference’ tag, BJP was again successful in scoring over its rivals by attracting majority of this class of citizens in its fold, which we know as supporters of its economic policies (ERW or economic right wing). This brand of supporters would not mind BJP following up on its ideological agenda but has a non-negotiable position on economic policies and vision that it wants BJP to implement.

Rise of BJP couldn’t have come without the fall of Congress, which did. Frozen in past and obsession with one family saw Congress cede its pan India status. BJP’s emergence saw it become the new pole, as is evident from thumping BJP victory in May 2014.

However, what helped BJP edge out Congress to become a pole of Indian polity was the backing of a floating block. This block of supporters, unlike ERW (as explained above) are not indifferent to BJP’s movement on the implementation of its ideological agenda.

If the politics of 1970s and 1980s was largely defined by anti-Congressism, the word for politics of 1990s & 2000s was secular vs communal, not the case anymore. Politics of this decade is increasingly about which side of Modi you are on. Besides, majority of the political developments in the aftermath of Modi’s victory increasingly prove that Indian polity has now accepted BJP as a ‘new normal’ of Indian politics.

In the wake of this perceptible shift in Indian polity, BJP’s ignoring JNU type political events will be at its own peril. These high-decibel events, fed largely by 24/7 media, is as much a diversionary tactic as is a ploy to sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of large sections of floating block that rallied behind the BJP in 2014.

BJP in general and Modi government in particular is faced with an onerous task of striking a balance between the competing claims of three separate classes of its support base that powered its 2014 victory. While it cannot be seen to be alienating its core and ERW; ignoring floating block too can prove costly.

Government and the party will now have to work in tandem with one another by employing a joint strategy whereby Modi government, by applying the least common denominator rule, will have to govern such that all three sections are able to receive their own share of fruits of governance pie. BJP, the party, on the other hand should simultaneously work towards blurring the line that separates its core and ERW; for a larger core will act as a magnet and help it subsume floating block in its fold, permanently so.

As Congress will increasingly become marginalised, BJP, owing to its newly assumed ‘pole of Indian polity’ role might feel tempted to position itself as a centrist party- something that it must avoid. On a political scale, any efforts by BJP to move to centre to occupy Congress’s space is fraught with risk of alienating its core. Instead BJP should be content with its achievement in moving the political scale so much that its position determines the pole and not the erstwhile centre.

Coming back to the importance of political events and their ability to become a rallying point for masses to pursue a brand of anti-politics, both BJP and its government will have to work extra hard to avoid giving opposition any leeway to plant saplings of ‘anti-BJPism’ in the minds of large section of young India - just as happened with Congress in late 1980s and early 1990s.

Make no mistake, young India, which comprises majority now, hasn’t seen much of Congress’s bad governance; nor are they culturally as rooted as purists would want them to be. Also advancements in media and technology mean that results are now visible faster than earlier.

Hence a word of caution for BJP: do not let media use JNU as a catalyst to do what you successfully did to Congress via RJB. So, deal with it effectively; and more importantly expand the core, don’t neglect it.

PS: If it wasn’t for RJB, I wouldn’t have come to BJP’s fold, nor would have millions like me.