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BJP: ESSAY Changing Hues of Saffron With Vajpayee as its trump card, the BJP hopes to reap the dividends of moving from the fringe to the mainstream of politics. By Swapan Dasgupta
In January 1996, the then BJP president L.K. Advani made a unilateral announcement without even consulting the brass of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He declared that Atal Bihari Vajpayee would be the party's prime ministerial candidate in the forthcoming elections. It may surprise people today to learn that the decision wasn't ungrudgingly accepted in the party. Vajpayee may have been the tallest leader of the erstwhile Jan Sangh, the best known face in the Sangh Parivar and one of the most accomplished parliamentarians. Unfortunately, he was also a fierce individualist, a man who was out of tune with the Ayodhya-inspired Hindutva of the party. The man Sadhvi Rithambara once described as "half a Congressman".
Today, yesterday's perceived shortcomings have become the BJP's trump card. As India prepares to elect its 13th Lok Sabha in the aftermath of the Kargil conflict, it is Vajpayee who seems set to dominate the agenda. The BJP, which treated the early months of his prime ministership with some misgivings, is gung ho. "This election is to formalise the continuity of Atalji," says Atul Bhatkalkar, secretary of the Maharashtra BJP. "He will be the main focus of our campaign," asserts Gauri Shankar Shejwar, leader of the Opposition in Madhya Pradesh. The alliance partners are equally enthused. Even in Tamil Nadu where the BJP's presence is nominal, Vajpayee is regarded a vote catcher. "Just as Indira Gandhi came back with a thumping majority in 1971, Vajpayee will also repeat the feat," believes MDMK leader Vaiko. And in West Bengal, where the BJP was once regarded as a Marwari outfit, Mamata Banerjee has announced her willingness to join a future Vajpayee government. Vajpayee, it would seem, has taken the BJP well beyond the incremental votes that Advani hoped his leadership would attract. To begin with, he has conclusively destroyed the BJP's pariah status less than three years after his first government fell in just 13 days. Today, Janata Dal leaders like J.H. Patel, Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan are knocking at the door of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance. Dravidian nationalists like M. Karunanidhi and Vaiko are loyal alliance partners. The BJP hasn't even had to play the "Italian" card aggressively. "We have to ask the people whether the country is safer in the hands of Atalji or Sonia," says Rajendrasinh Rana, president of the Gujarat BJP. For two consecutive elections, the BJP has emerged as the largest party in the Lok Sabha. In 1998, it won seats in all the major states, except Kerala. It is no longer a party of the Hindi heartland. Nor is it an upper-caste party. It is represented among all communities, apart from Muslims. Has this expansion been at the cost of the party's famed distinctiveness? Has the BJP stooped to conquer? No categorical answer is possible. In economic policy, the Vajpayee government has pursued the natural instincts of its middle-class support base. It has kept its swadeshi ideologues at arms length. Contrary to the fears expressed at the time of the attacks on Christians in Gujarat and Orissa last year, Indian secularism hasn't really been compromised by the BJP-led government. Ayodhya remains on the back burner. In fact, Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi apart, none of the BJP ministers have pursued saffron agendas. To crown it all, the BJP has decided to fight this election with its allies on a common manifesto. If there has been one area of distinctiveness as far as the BJP is concerned, it is in the realm of national security. Here, ironically, the main initiator has been the "moderate" Vajpayee. Beginning from the nuclear tests and culminating in the decision to order air strikes against Pakistani intruders in Kargil, the prime minister has systematically pursued the goal of a strong state. Today, that is what distinguishes the BJP from the centre-Left opposition. It is still too early to say that the BJP has moved from fringe Hindu nationalism to becoming a conventional right wing organisation, along the lines of European conservative parties. Its deep roots in the rss argue against a full transformation. But there is no denying a difference between the BJP that rode the Ram wave in 1991 and the BJP that is readying itself for Vajpayee's third coronation. Expediency, it would seem, has tempered ideology. From the fringe, the BJP has moved into the mainstream. Now it is hoping to reap the dividends of that transition. |
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