What’s BJP without Congress?

The case of the BJP is getting curioser and curioser by the day. Once a party of bright leaders who could throw a serious challenge to the Congress’s stranglehold on national politics, the party has reduced itself to a sad caricature of the Vajpayee days, when, despite its proclivity to get embroiled in communal politics, it was accepted as a party of substance.

It had the vision, fresh ideas to guide the country and the leaders who could convince people to accept the unpalatable. For a country stuck in the muck of misplaced socialist ideas, it was the only party enthusiastic about economic reforms. It was also the party which wanted India to drop the Soviet Russia obsession and build bridges with the US. Ideologically, it was the appropriate counterweight to the Left. In power for six years, it had proved that it was a party which could make a difference to the country.

All this, it appears, was ages ago. The party has buried its impressive past in undue hurry and jumped on to a politically suicidal course. At present, it is a confused party without any originality and ideas. With its USP — Hindutva — no more a vote-catching proposition and with no other emotive issue to grab public attention, its leaders seem to have resigned to hogging the television to stay relevant. Unfortunately for the BJP, the desperation behind being clever on the media shows.

It is difficult for any party to survive through reactions only. As things stands now, the Congress sets the agenda and the BJP reacts by opposing it. It is no cause of embarrassment for the party that some of the Congress ideas are originally its own. This we noticed during the party’s opposition to the bill on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal and to the government’s proposal on FDI in retail. It finds no inhibition in taking on the Congress on corruption when its own record at it is as abysmal or in supporting the Lokpal agitation of Anna Hazare when its own stand on the issue is dubious at the best.

Probably, the BJP needs the Congress to survive. Without the latter it would be left clueless on any course of political action — its bankruptcy of ideas is too evident. Its entire decision-making hinges on the Congress’s moves. It’s a curious state of affairs for the once promising party. Has it given up on leading the nation?

The Congress neck-deep in scandals and other controversies as it is, has too many chinks in its armour. The irony is, the BJP has failed to capitalise on these by being painfully short-sighted in its moves. When the obsessive, single-point agenda of a party is to embarrass its political rival, there’s little hope of its own growth. Political parties, especially those keen on being in power, need to do much more than that. They need to present themselves as a viable alternative to the rivals by rolling out a positive agenda and convincing people that they are responsible.

Proving the rival untrustworthy is okay but what is more important is proving oneself trustworthy. That is where the BJP has failed miserably.

The BJP does not represent any ideology today— neither Right not Left nor centrist. It does not have independent — forget original — stand on any issue either. As discussed earlier, it is a reactionary party, taking position on issues depending on where the Congress stands. It does not have a blueprint for its own political growth; no effective leadership at the national level; and no confidence to break free of the RSS— Atal Behari Vajpayee was successful because he stood his ground against the mother organisation. Worse, there’s no will among the Delhi-based leaders to reach out to the masses across the country.

The strongest thing going for the party is the effective leaders in the states, such as Narendra Modi in Gujarat, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh. But that is no solace for a party struggling at the national level.

The BJP must introspect hard on its obvious weaknesses if it wants to regain its status as a party with difference. With so many bright leaders at its command, it has to be a proactive party rather than a reactive party.