They say, we should always derive positive message from whatever or whomever we come across and just ignore the rest.
Today, it looks most of the people have started to write off BJP’s chances of resurgence forever. But isn’t it reading too much too fast by people who think being on TV channel’s studio means getting a licence to announce anyone’s demise.
It’s true that the BJP failed to ensure its leader Lal Krishna Advani becoming the Prime Minister of the country despite hectic campaigning. It has created a pall of gloom among its supporters all around. But it doesn’t mean end of world for anyone.
For, it will be naïve of anyone to state that a party, with 159 Lok Sabha MPs and such a huge support base and following in Hindu-dominated country, cannot regain its rightful place in future.
It would be quite dumb of anyone to write off the chances of success of such a political party, which has a long queue of charismatic, strategic and intellectual leaders along with numerous swaymsewaks (volunteers) of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh.
But the party does need a lot of introspection in the wake of modern-day hi-tech competition ahead.
Among some of the basic points is to realise the importance of grassroot workers and need to establish friendly relations with them.
The party needs to be judicious to use its under utilised work force (read leaders and grass root workers). Until leaders are a known face in his or her constituency, the gap will keep widening eternally.
Today, most workers complain facing ignorance at the hands of its own local party leaders. Look at the Congress Party, Samajwadi Party or Bahujan Samaj Party, they value their cadres and ensure rewarding them and keeping them motivated throughout the year.
Losing loyal workers, who actually debate and promote the party whole year at public places that matter, is suicidal for any party.
About voters, it is important to realize that people are anything but straightforward. They dissemble, evade, and lie — even to themselves. They confuse what they want to be true with what they know to be true. A person who does not contradict himself is a bore, an ideologue or both.
For a party like the BJP, the course correction should mean being futuristic and also being strict with the basic guidelines for all.
The party needs to revisit the idea of attracting youngsters and keeping them involved in youth-oriented works. Also, it has to look at the issues that often draw support of middle-class families in cities or in the rural areas of country’s different regions.
During elections, it would be prudent for the party to avoid speaking on rivals’ chosen subjects on which much brooding has already been done before making them public, why cannot the party has its own distinct issues to captivate or appeal maximum minds as well sentiments.
Having popular faces in the party, even if they turn a spent force for any reasons, also attract voters. Moreover, every party needs firebrand leaders to fascinate young hearts. They are assets not liabilities. But they can be told to focus of being pro-community instead of being anti-all communities.
There is need for a shift in approach to display the change. There is need for sharp but less loquacious speakers to put across the party’s viewpoint in clear and at times in circumlocutory terms, as the need be.
An important step could be to prevent leaders from giving statements that may draw limelight temporally but causing blow to the party in long term. The best rule should be to avoid going loud mouthed on sensitive issue and making sweeping statements. Deflect journalists’ query or keeping mum is also a good idea. Narendra Modi did it recently with NDTV on board.
The party need not forget that the issues people say are important are national but for the most part the voters insist on a local remedy. They vote for the man not the party. And, there is no reason the blame should be put on the tallest leader of party in stature but on every nook and corner where the drubbing has been exposed.
There are a huge number of voters with impressionable minds, especially among the young segment of demography, who need well-explained reasons to support a party which naturally speaks a truly Bharatiya voice and wants to save traditions and cultures all around.
But how would a concise and precise message reach public until the speaker speaks in a language which is easily understood by ordinary men. Using chaste Hindi by popular leaders can work wonders.
Today, to say the least about the party is to explain where and why it stands wherever it stands in the present political race, is to look at a person who believes the same thing on Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened [on] Tuesday. Events can change; this man’s beliefs don’t.
There is need to remember that people are complicated. And the only poll that matters has not yet taken place.
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