Results of 2024 General Elections have come as a reality check for overconfident BJP karyakartas and many leaders. They did not realise that Prime Minister Narendra Modiji’s call of 400+ was a target for them and a dare to Obpposition. Targets are achieved by hard work on the field, not sharing posters and selfies on social media. Since they were happy in their bubble, enjoying the glow reflected from Modiji’s aura, they were not listening to the voices on the streets. However, I am jumping the gun. There are many other lessons, too, of the complex results of these elections.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh: First, I must address the insinuation that RSS did not work for Bharatiya Janata Party in this election. Let me say bluntly, RSS is not a field force of BJP. In fact, BJP, the biggest party in the world, has its own karyakartas. The routine electoral work of reaching out to voters, explaining party agenda, distributing literature and voter cards etc are its responsibility. RSS has been raising awareness among the people about issues that impact them and the nation. Except 1973-1977 period, RSS has not taken part directly in politics. It was an exceptional period and it worked hard for the restoration of democracy. In 2014, it raised the call for “100 per cent voting”. This campaign saw an appreciable rise in voting percentage and saw a change in regime. This time, too, it was officially decided that RSS workers will organise small local, mohalla, building, office level meetings of 10-15 to request people to go out and vote as a duty. It also addressed issues of nation building, national integration and support to nationalist forces. In Delhi alone 1,20,000 such meetings were held. In Mumbai last I heard, there were over 60,000 meetings. One can safely guess that there must have been conservatively speaking, more than 20 lakh such meetings.
Clinical Approach in Candidates’ Selection: The idea that Modiji is fighting on all 543 seats has a limited value. This idea became self-defeating when candidates were changed, imposed at the cost of local leaders and defectors given more importance. Sacrificing even well performing Parliamentarians to accommodate late comers hurt. It is estimated that around 25 per cent of candidates were seasonal migrants. This happened despite the shocking experience of 30 per cent rebels in last Himachal Pradesh elections that resulted in defeat of BJP. Local issues, track record of the candidate does matter, one can see. Disinterest of local BJP workers was due to this factor too.
Unreachable Netas :
The biggest grouse of any BJP or RSS worker and common citizen for years have been difficulty or even impossibility of meeting the local MP or MLA, forget Ministers. Insensitivity to their problems is another dimension. Why are BJP elected MPs and Ministers always “busy”? Why are they never visible in their constituencies? Why is it so difficult to respond to messages? If one were to seek out an MP, who has traversed his/her constituency intensively at least thrice in five years, you may count them on finger tips. Just one anecdote – a cultural body to promote Hindu Sikh harmony that took three years to form with no formal office or staff under the last Maharashtra BJP-SS Government as the Minister was ‘busy’, was dissolved in seven days by the incoming MVA Government. After the return of the Mahayuti Government, the team has been waiting for an appointment for one year!
Netas with fast fingers on Twitter and FB etc mostly kept quiet on murders of BJP-RSS workers. The impression that BJP leadership does not care for its workers has struck roots. Is it so difficult to show sensitivity and show public support for them? People insulting Ram and Hindu Dharma get a red carpet welcome but a young seasoned Nupur Sharma is scolded harshly, publicly. Though I have repeatedly said, she only quoted Hadis; even if she made a mistake, is this how you treat your frontliners? How does a worker feel secure in difficult battle fields like West Bengal, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu or Kerala?
Unnecessary Politicking: Maharashtra is a prime example of unnecessary politicking and avoidable manipulations. NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar joined BJP though BJP and split SS had a comfortable majority. Sharad Pawar would have faded away in two-three years as NCP would have lost energy with infighting between cousins. Why was this ill-advised step taken? BJP supporters were hurt because they had fought against this Congress ideology for years and were persecuted. In a single stroke, BJP reduced its brand value. After years of struggle to become numero uno in Maharashtra, it became just another political party without any difference.
Induction of Congressmen, who had actively promoted the bogey of saffron terror and persecuted Hindus, who had called 26/11 RSS Ki Sazish and branded RSS as a terrorist organisation, became BJP leaders without as much as a regret note that they made a mistake or that they were forced by their bosses to speak a lie. This showed BJP in poor light and hurt RSS sympathisers immensely. The false ego that only BJP leaders understand “realpolitik” and RSS cousins were village bumpkins is smirk worthy. When people like me raised certain concerns in last few years, the most common response from different leaders was “you are too sensitive, everything is fine”. More amusing is new hyper social media warriors trolling people like us who criticise BJP on some issues.
Importance of Conversations with Communities: In my previous article about expectations from Modi 3.0, I made a point about conversations with communities, groups about their ideas of development, rather than imposing ideas of well settled people in seminar rooms and Government babus. I am privy to a management consultant’s ambitious ideas on these lines. He conducted 100s of such meetings before funds dried up because of lack of private or Government support. There were great insights. BJP cadre on the ground can definitely carry out this exercise. It could be a great way to reconnect with people, to learn and share the inputs with the Government. Such conversations could have seen course corrections, saving important legislations like land acquisition laws, farming laws and Agniveer scheme with negotiated outcomes.
The biggest grouse of any BJP or RSS worker and common citizen for years have been difficulty or even impossibility of meeting the local MP or MLA, forget Ministers
Hindutva:Hindutva remains the central theme of BJP, whether one likes it or not. It is the glue that makes its well wishers stick to it. Importance of cultural renaissance resulting in national rejuvenation is well understood. Vikas and Virasat slogan from Modiji signifies it. There is a huge rise in spirituality and religiosity due to these actions and positivity for Dharma. However, some of the core issues on which our cultural nationalism rests have not received attention. Scoring points in debates but not acting on these issues helps no one. Core voter base is unhappy about it.
For example, if secular Governments are not going to nurture a Dharmic knowledge system or education. It must be done by Hindus. Hindu temple funds raised with devotees’ monies are, however, locked up with the Governments with token utilisation for Hindus but more for other secular and non-Hindu purposes. Temples as the centre of art, culture, education and industry can be a reality if they are freed from Government control.
- BJP and RSS criticised the education system and the text books for years. NEP took too much of a time. It is yet to be implemented. But what stopped BJP from changing the CBSE books? Was it possible for RSS to provide new books? Irony is that NCERT had confirmed Leftists and seculars on their boards till a year back. An entire generation since 2014 got educated and lost to an amoral biased narrative.
- More cow protectors have lost lives than cow smugglers. No empathy has been shown for them.
- The Culture Ministry could not change even the misleading boards on ASI properties. It took funds from Aga Khan Foundation to preserve and beautify Mughal structures. But ancient Hindu forts and other structures had no such luck. Most are neglected.
- WAQF Act allows Muslims to take away any property misusing this law. This land grabbing law was left untouched, and there is no mention of modifying or scrapping it.
Threat From Divisive Politics: Right to Education has Amendment 93A that exempts minorities from enforcing them. Many left Hindu fold to save their institutions. It would not have been a non-secular or communal action if this exemption were to be removed. Afterall, there are excellent minority institutions who too should serve the dispossessed.
Congress and its friends need to think hard whether they wish to create a disaster in society with such an agenda. They have done better in these polls. They will love to carry on with the same agenda, but at what cost? They need to come back to sane politics. And, BJP needs to respond to it vigorously with logic and data. Lampooning and creating memes is not an ideal response. IT Cell needs restructuring and retraining. This game played by the Opposition based on caste and religion was responded inadequately. Risk of economic unrest with ideas of 1960s Communist model that led to killing of nearly 11 crore innocent citizens was not recognised and highlighted till Modiji raised the issues. Was it intellectual lethargy?
Threat From AI and International Attempts to Tarnish BJP, Hindus as Fascists : Though the threat was visible, lack of proactive actions led to severe societal problems. BJP lost ten per cent votes of SC/ST communities and a large number of seats, besides being looked at with suspicion. Rebuttals on social media and election platforms are not adequate. This needs serious response. BJP should drag such people to the courts immediately who fought an entire election on fake news of scrapping of reservations and destroying the Constitution. Opposition too needs to understand that this is a two edged sword and it can hurt it too. It will definitely hurt our society and the nation. Government must act very harshly with AI- generated false narratives, fake videos and false news.
If the Opposition thinks it is custodian of the Constitution and the nation as an alternative, it must act responsibly and eschew this destructive approach to grab power. We have seen BJP respond to new challenges nimbly. It has the honesty to accept its shortcomings and take corrective action. That is why it has reached where it is, despite facing worse challenges. It shall overcome this temporary setback too. Positive news is that it has won over new areas with vigorous hard work. It just has to win back the confidence in the areas where it has lost support, mostly due to fake news and to some extent easy going local leaderships. I am sure, it can turn around the organisation with re-training on its core ideological issues and re-organising teams and come back stronger by winning back people’s and well-wishers’ goodwill.
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