When an election in a parliamentary democracy acquires an over-centralised presidential form in which money and official powers play the main role, the status of those contesting the poll (as well as the lower functionaries of the ruling party) is reduced to a figurehead.
Almost all the major decisions even at the district and constituency level are directly taken by one man at the top. This happened in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) when its upper-most echelon overruled the meek opposition by the Karnataka unit of going into alliance with Janata Dal (Secular) and by the Bihar unit with Janata Dal (United).
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
The explosion of the alleged sex racket in Karnataka has sparked off a blame game within the BJP where now the state-level leaders are being accused of keeping the high command in the dark – though the truth is not so. Murmurs can now be heard within the Bihar unit of the saffron party where rank and file are now regretting the decision to take JD(U) into the fold – largely because of the growing unpopularity of its chief, Nitish Kumar.
Both the Janata Dals, one of South and another of North, have become albatross around the stiff-necked BJP.
While there are some in the party who are in private conceding the horrible mistakes the leadership has committed, most others are just ignoring it as they are over-confident of victory. They are not realising that because of this over-centralisation of the decision-making process, gradually a feeling has set in among the lower rung: why should one bother about the party’s affairs and toil hard to secure votes when the star campaigner is very much there to ensure victory. And when this lone vote-catcher is a master craftsman who knows how to exploit religious sentiment and passion, then the task for
contestants becomes all too easy.
This has been the case with most of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance candidates in the fray in the last 10 years. But the scene this time appears to be changing, more after the Karnataka revelations. Though the saffron party has replaced more than 100 of its sitting MPs, a majority of those fighting election have won both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
No magic touch
Now that the man on whom they have been over-relying (read Narendra Modi) since 2014 has lost much of his ‘magical’ touch and has of late committed serious blunders, those in the field fighting election are struggling to mobilise votes in their favour. As they have themselves hardly done anything for the electorate of their respective constituency and cannot hope of winning on their own popularity, they are facing unpleasant music.
In most of the cases the easygoing and complacent sitting MPs of the NDA just wait for the Prime Minister’s election rally in their constituency. What is worrying for them now is that this time even Modi is not going to bail them out as anti-incumbency factor is working everywhere, especially in the Hindi heartland states where the NDA swept the polls last two times. While those at the bottom rung of the party till recently used to counter all the charges of price rise and unemployment, they are struggling to answer the sexual misdeeds of the bigwigs of the Janata Dal (Secular), less a party and more a cabal.
Rich and powerful
Since it is much easy to woo voters by indulging in majoritarian rhetoric – rather than talk sensibly on serious issues – the foot soldiers of the BJP, over the last decade, have developed the feeling that they do not need to work hard as they used to do in the pre-2014 years. Now the ruling party relies less on its committed workers and more on massive resources spent on bringing crowds for rallies as well as on ED, CBI and Income Tax department.
In the important state of Uttar Pradesh, the construction of the Ram Mandir and beautification of Ayodhya and Banaras were largely done by the rich and powerful with the help of the government machinery. Most of the donations came from the affluent class and NRIs rather than poor volunteers or Kar Sevaks. At the lower level, the spirit and commitment of the early 1990s were largely missing. Most of those who took part in the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 and who died in the Ram Janambhoomi movement were from the ordinary class.
From cadre- to mass-based party
As in the last decade, the saffron party has undergone transformation from cadre-based to mass-based outfit organisationally the BJP and its parent body, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has got weakened at the grassroots level. Over the years the RSS shakhas started losing volunteers who would attend the morning drill. Perhaps there is little use for it as the BJP is winning elections easily – thanks to the demagoguery of Modi.
In the past BJP workers and RSS volunteers were visible in the social works and relief operations. But the story is quite different now.
When Bihar’s capital witnessed unprecedented flooding and water-logging in the last week of September 2019 and the house of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi was completely submerged for several days none of the Sangh Parivar volunteers swung into action. Instead, he and his family members were rescued by the National Disaster Relief Force personnel. The photo of Sushil Modi in half-pants went viral then.
Ironically, the Shakha Maidan of RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad office in the vicinity too were totally inundated. In contrast, Pappu Yadav, who recently contested as an Independent candidate from Purnea, and his men carried out relief work for several days.
Till recently saffron party workers would eagerly campaign for the candidates of alliance partners and man booths for them, for example, Janata Dal (Secular) in Karnataka and Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party, Hindustani Awam Morcha and Rashtriya Lok Morcha in Bihar. But this time they are not showing eagerness in Bihar because they do not trust Nitish. They fear that he may once again ditch the BJP.
Incidentally, in Karnataka, the sex scandal got exposed too late. By then the election of the seats on which JD(S) was contesting was over.
