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| Mohan Bhagwat |
The recent
statement of the chief of much-maligned Right-wing Hindu organisation Rashtriya
Swayam Sevak (RSS), Mohan Bhagwat on the massive win of the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) at the last General Elections was true but only partially so.
Bhagwat is reported to have said that the victory at the hustings for the BJP
was not because of one man, as claimed by many, but because the people wanted a
change. He went on to say that an individual alone could not have ensured the
Party’s victory unless people were keen on a change. He went on to ask why is
it that the Party was not voted to power when the same individuals and the
party existed earlier, too? The Party won because the people desperately wanted
a change.
This appears to
be the perspective of the chief of the supposedly parent organisation of BJP on
the majority obtained by the Party under the leadership of Narendra Modi. The
credit given to the voters to bring the BJP in power is unexceptionable. After
all, in a democracy there is no other power than “people’s power” which can
throw away a dispensation and bring in a new one other. It is the people who
decide on the basis of their experiences during the preceding tenure of a
dispensation to either retain it or to throw it out. At the last elections,
people overwhelmingly decided to terminate the 10-year rule of Manmohan Singh
government and to bring in the only other available alternative in its place,
and they did so rather enthusiastically – so much so that the BJP recorded a
historic win and a simple majority in Parliament. This happened for the first
time in 30 years, terminating the era of largely ineffective and corrupt
coalition governments consequential on fractured mandates.
Nevertheless, one
can go with Bhagwat’s statement but only for a little distance as his utterance
seems to be loaded. It somewhat bears out the reports of an ‘internal’ feud
between RSS and Modi. And, therefore, the RSS chief seemed to have attempted to
run Modi down and whittle down the latter’s achievement of winning for the
first time for BJP as many as 282 seats in the Lok Sabha – well above the
half-way mark of 272. However, notwithstanding his predilections, Bhagwat
overlooked the fact that Modi was into his third term as Gujarat chief minister
when he campaigned for the Lok Sabha elections having been anointed as the
party’s prime ministerial candidate – an unheard of initiative in a
parliamentary democracy – and eventually achieving a convincing win. Other
parties and other BJP leaders were in Gujarat too but he ensured successive
wins for the BJP since 1995, first as an election strategist and then as chief
minister since 2002 . The BJP in the State Assembly chose him for the chief
minister’s position not once, not twice but thrice. None, not even Bhagwat, can
really detract from his achievements as a strategist for winning elections for his
party and then working tirelessly to give Gujarat a new paradigm for
development taking it to a new level of growth and expansion as its chief
minister.
True, the people
wanted change. They were sick of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)
coalition government –its politicking, its corruption and its policy paralysis.
It ran from 2004-2009 largely on the strength of the strong economy handed down
to it by the former National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government of Atal
Behari Vajpayee. With a chest full of cash, it got into extravagant mode - sinking
massive amounts in unproductive sectors that took it inevitably towards the
abyss of slackening growth, high fiscal deficit, mounting inflation, absence of
investments, both domestic and foreign and rise in unemployment. On top of all
that, regular reports surfaced of loot and plunder of astronomical amounts by
its ministers. The Prime Minister may have been honest but he was not effective
in ensuring honesty among his ministers and bureaucrats. He acted as a mere
figurehead, being led by the nose by the dowager of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty to
whom he seemed to have been inexplicably beholden. With media clamouring for
blood of the corrupt and the venal the government lapsed into a “policy
paralysis”, even as people were groaning under never-seen-before price rises of
all basic essentials. Nothing was attempted or done to alleviate their
sufferings. The people, therefore, were
tired, angry and disgusted with the ineffectual government. No wonder, they wanted
to see the back of it, and, that too, quickly.
While people
were yearning for a break the BJP leadership helped them by ingenious policy
changes to cash in on people’s wrath. In Narendra Modi they found an ideal
party-man to lead the electoral campaign. Having won several elections in
Gujarat, he had the knowledge and the experience to turn people’s ire and their
aspirations to the party’s advantage. His background as the creator of a new
Gujarat, which the prestigious “The Economist” called “India’s Guangdong” as
far back as in July 2011, helped. Another master stroke of the Party was to
declare him as the Party’s prime ministerial candidate. Effecting a break from
the past, the Party pushed to the sidelines all the senior stalwarts. It did
have to face for a while a few long faces born out of frustrations and
disappointments but the RSS proved to be an efficient midwife in enabling
acceptance of the drastic makeover of the Party’s leadership profile.
Soon, Modi and
other leaders plunged into intensive campaigning. Traversing the length and
breadth of the country Modi set a blistering pace of travel and public
speaking. Discarding the communal card, he took on the opposition on two basic
issues of corruption and development, promising a strong government if given
adequate numbers. Regardless of distinctions of caste, creed and religion he
sought votes on the slogan of “sabka saath, sabka vikas” (essentially meaning
growth for all regardless of caste creed
and religion), a concept that stood
Modi in good stead in Gujarat and was described as a “great vision” by US
secretary of State John Kerry. Two other things helped. A snide remark by
Congress leader Mani Shankar Ayer about Modi’s humble origins as a tea seller
prompted a hugely successful campaign in tea shops across the country with
facilities of tele-conferencing, extending his reach to millions in towns and villages.
Then, induction of his trusted lieutenant, Amit Shah, an indefatigable worker,
helped in breaking the backs of the ruling parties in Maharashtra, UP and Bihar.
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| Modi's "chai pe charcha" |
Obviously, the
RSS chief, thus, erred in crediting only the people for voting in favour of
BJP. People have always played a stellar role in elections. But, how their
opinions are swung in favour of a political party depends heavily on its
leadership. In the same elections the lack lustre and listless leadership of
the more-than-a-century old Congress plunged its seats-share in Parliament to
an all-time low of 44, depriving it even of the stature of main Opposition.
Quality of leadership in electoral politics, therefore, is of the essence.
Photos - from the Internet
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