This is my rebuttal to all those who are advising the BJP to change strategy subsequent to the disastrous results of the 2009 Lok Sabha Elections.
I believe there are two kinds of politics in electoral democracy.
1. Politics of The Weathervane - this kind of politician observes which way the wind is blowing and then places himself at the head of the crowd, becoming their spokesperson, makes promises without necessarily having any intention of delivering, and uses this construct to win elections. In the process, he loses his originality and simply begins to define himself in terms of what janta likes and in the Indian context, what his firangi mai baap (in the intellectual sense) like. Essentially, he tries to be everything to everyone (well, not everyone, just about 25% of the electorate in the Indian context) with the aim of being an efficient election-winning machine. Quite clearly, he takes the path of least resistance and hides all his compromises under a “respectably liberal" cloak. Since the public's preferences and concerns are fickle and change ever so often, the weathervane neta can never have a strategy, let alone a vision ( I don't consider being everything to everyone, a "vision"). This style is all about tactics, there's no room for a vision.
2. Politics of the Lighthouse (or the Politics of the Polestar, if you like alliteration!) - This one has a well defined position on issues he considers relevant. His bright clarity of thought cuts through the darkness of populist confusion and shows aam janta the way. His position is a result of his own thoughts rooted in his history and heritage. His clear articulation of his position attracts people to his leadership. In fact, like the polestar, he helps people determine their direction. This is, quite obviously, the tougher path; and, much more so in a nation that has been brainwashed by Macaulay and Nehruvites into belittling itself and has long got used to taking the path of least resistance to buy peace. Therefore, this only attracts the most committed people, who may not be the most photogenic or come from the right side of town or have the right phoren degrees. In other words, not PLUs. But they are rooted. And they have a vision.
It's perfectly all right for our neta to adopt style #1 if kursi is all he aspires to. But that never elevates him above being a vote-catching machine. That certainly is not the leadership a nation that pretty much considers itself destined for superpower greatness (whether justifiably or not, is a separate long discussion altogether) should follow. Even if # 1 produces a stable government for 5 years, when you accumulate all the compromises this government will make and genuflections it'll do, the net balance will be a deficit. Compound these over multiple terms...well, we all know the power of compounding (Finance 101). This is how we ended up in the current mess in 60 years.
The election might have returned this government to power but that doesn't mean it is the best government for
- The UPA presided over the lapse of about a staggering 55 million people below the poverty line since 2004-05 which is a huge 20% increase in the BPL population (Source: Indian Statistical Institute).
- There is no incontrovertible proof that the NREG is indeed the unqualified success that the UPA makes it out to be. There is reason to believe that it was a waste and the resultant burden on the fisc served no purpose at all, except sustain the false image of aam aadmi ki sarkar. The NREG website cannot be expected to agree with this for obvious reasons!
- The UPA lied to the country about the Nuclear Deal with the
- The PM capitulated before Musharraf in
- And, of course, he went on to say that Indians lurrv Bush. Excellent judgement.
- He did not have the self confidence to face Advani in a debate. This despite cultivating the image of an intellectual with the help of a pliant media.
- The man can't win even a municipal election on his own. And he is foisted on us as the gaddi-warmer. He couldn't find one safe constituency out of 543 to contest from !
- Sonia Gandhi is the de facto head of this government and yet we don't know her views on anything. In fact, we don't even know whether she has views on anything. Worst of all, she has never shown herself to be capable of forming views on anything except her saris.
- They made a terrible attempt to communalise not just banking but even the armed forces (Sachar's jhoothi report).
- Not only did they fudge the whole Afzal Guru issue but they have reduced Kasab's trial also to a pathetic joke.
- Everything has become hostage to Congress' vote-gathering tactics. Internal security has been severely compromised. What use is a stable economy to the family of a man who gets bombed to death on the way back from office in a suburban train? And how can an economy achieve real stability in the first place if its people live in fear of dying everyday? FDI will run away just like cricketers have.
And, yet, not just the voters but also the stock-brokers welcome the UPA. Notwithstanding what glib mediamen might say, it is the biggest folly of 2009 to attribute deep wisdom to these people. Choosing bread over security betrays a very shallow understanding of our own society/country/neighborhood on the part of the Indian masses. So, what we have here is delusions of superpower grandeur combined with a very tenuous grip on reality. Both can't co-exist.
Just because these elections brought the Congress back to power, it doesn't mean everything is right with the Congress and everything that the BJP stands for is wrong. With that longish context, let's now see what should be the BJP's positioning. We have to be clear in our minds, first of all, as to what is a centre-right position in Indian politics, in case we don't want to allow any room for "contentious" issues in our political discourse. More about this later.
You can't blame the BJP leadership alone. A light-house leader is as good as the people he leads. While the weathervane will simply change direction to align himself to popular sentiment, Light-house politics is a two-way street and can't succeed unless voters sick by the party through thick and thin. If BJP's followers begin to force change of strategy on their leaders after every electoral setback, they'll reduce the BJP to a weathervane.
So, the BJP should shape public opinion rather than be shaped by it. Three-pronged strategy.
1. The Mindset ("Speak Up") - Break the Nehruvian shibboleth against the H-word. Get prominent personalities who are BJP-friendly to speak up openly on issues. That will help break this mindset of complete denial of legitimacy to Hindus’ concerns (the shocking treatment of the Shankaracharya, to name just one) that Nehru and his orphans have brainwashed most of us Indians into adopting. Hindus insulting fellow Hindus to curry favour with non-Hindus: this is a Kafka-esque tragedy.
2. The media - I think the Pioneer should start a TV channel to counter the BS put out by the likes of NDTV and CBN. All your good work is wasted if it is not presented positively to the public.
3. Caste system - If we are to build a solid pro-BJP vote block of about 25%, it is imperative to break the caste barriers. Not by preaching but by timely intervention. God forbid that there are any more caste-based conflicts. But if there is an atrocity on a lower caste person, bring in some respected religious leaders to assuage the feelings of the party hurt by the incident. Show them that the Hindu leadership cares for all Hindus, irrespective of caste. Make a public reconciliation between the oppressor and the oppressed. Slowly and surely, this will have a unifying impact. In a larger context, even if there were no electoral considerations, this should be eradicated. This atrocious practice has to go. Period. There's no way you can build a self-confident nation if a big chunk of its population are treated as sub-human.
But all this is mere pontification unless the BJP is ready to do some hard introspection. So far, there have been hardly any signs of that happening.
