BJP & Electoral Politics: Problems
faced in expanding the social base
by R.Upadhyay
K.Jana Krishnamurthy, the national president of the BJP in a recent
press interview (Times of India dated June 18, 2001) said that his first
priority "is to further strengthen the party, expanding its social,
organisational and electoral base" and prepare the party to face the
challenges of future Assembly /Lok-Sabha elections. Krishnamurthy,
with his long association with RSS since 1940 and politics for last 35
years has realised the problem faced by his party. Though, his
statement to expand the party base gives the impression that the BJP has
already acquired a social base, the ground reality is otherwise. The
BJP never had a solid social base covering a vide spectrum. The base
if any, is only the trading community.
To understand the real problem of the Hindu nationalists and their
political outfit BJP or its ideological mentor, the RSS, we may look back
to the strategy attempted by them for political unification of the caste
ridden Hindu society. The social order in ancient Hindu society was
basically a system of "Varna Vyavastha", which meant that
castes were exclusively the four fold occupational units. But a
thousand years of the subjugation and aggressive governance of Hindus by
the rulers of alien cultures created a chaotic situation in the society,
which gradually turned them into a large number of sub-castes linked to
their birth. Political unification of such a large number of castes
against the changing social order with a restless and ever growing
population and social conflicts particularly after the destruction of
village economy at the hands of the Britishers, is a Herculean task.
Reminding the Hindu Samaj of their glorious past under
cultural/spiritual unity was not an attractive slogan to transform the
feudal social order into an egalitarian society of ancient India.
Contrary to it, castes became a potent factor in the fragmentation of
Hindu society. Against such a fragmented social order of Hindu
society, the RSS initiated a move to unify them on the basis of the
cultural unity of the Hindus. Article 3 of the RSS constitution
says,
"The aims and objects of the Sangh are to weld together
the diverse groups within the Hindu Samaj and revitalise and re-juvinate
the same on the basis of its Dharma and Sanskriti, that it may achieve
an all-sided development of Bharatvarsh."( Rashtriya Swayamsevak
Sangh by D.R.Goyal, page 257 ).
Despite the potential in the logic of the glorious Hindu past given by
the Hindu nationalists, the ideology did not attract the lower
castes. The caste barrier of Hindu Samaj required a forceful reform
movement in rural India for which no serious attempts were made by the RSS.
Mahatma Gandhi took up the challenge of the political unification of
fragmented Hindu society against the Britishers through social movements,
which created an impact. The key to his success was that he focussed
on rural India. His 20,000 Km Harijan Yatra from Vardha to Varanasi
in 1932 in nine months against untouchability, created a tremendous effect
in involving the down trodden and humiliated section of the lowest ladder
of Hindu society in a political struggle against the Britishers. His
Namak Satyagrah from Champaran district in Bihar, which was one of
the most backward areas of the country and similar movement against indigo
cultivation were also against the exploitation of the lower castes of
rural India.
Gandhi and Ambedkar fought against untouchability and caste system
respectively with a view to free the Hindu society from the bondage of
such social evils. But the post-independence ruling elite under the
leadership of Congress used the caste as their vote banks for electoral
gains. Thus, this caste based electoral politics of the then ruling
class adversely affected the move of the Hindu nationalists to unify the
fragmented Hindus. The RSS on the other hand was branded by its
political opponents as a Hindu chauvinistic and fascist organisation.
They also accused them for their alleged attempt to re-establish the
Brahmanical order in Hindu society with a view to impose the political
hegemony of upper caste particularly the Brahmins in the country.
Dalits in rural India were given the wrong impression that the move was a
fresh attempt against the Dalit movements launched by Mahatma Gandhi and
Ambedkar.
Ironically, the blame for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948
was put on the shoulders of the RSS by its opponents even though the court
did not endorse this view. Mahatma Gandhi had a reputation of a Messiah
among the lower castes in the villages. His assassination followed by a
ban by the Government on RSS therefore, further alienated the lower castes
in rural India from the Hindu nationalists. Perhaps the casual
approach of the RSS leadership in tackling this problem kept the major
chunk of Hindu society known as OBCs and Dalits, who constitute about
seventy percent of the Hindu population away from them. The upper
castes, particularly the Brahmins were in fore front of freedom movement
and became the ruling class under the umbrella of Congress and therefore
became its natural vote bank after independence
Theoretically, the ideology with majoritarian politics may sound
logical but in the absence of any vibrant movement against the prevailing
social order and economic disparity and lack of their penetration in rural
India particularly among the lower castes, political unification call of
Hindu nationalists for the fragmented Hindu society remained a far cry.
The RSS did not make any attempt to develop any feed back channel in rural
India to gauge the mindset of village folk. The idea of Hindutva
could not be sold in rural India, having 80% of country’s population.
which is the backbone of Hindu society, in which castes became the symbol
of class. No serious attempt was ever made by the forces of
Hindutva to transform the caste-ridden rural India into the ideology of
Hindu nationalism and as a result no solid social base required for
electoral politics could be created by them.
The political out fit of the Hindu nationalists, which started its
journey in Indian polity under the banner of the BJS in 1951, which was
reborn as BJP in 1980 could not change the situation as far as the
expansion of the ideological base of the party is concerned. They
had to face the political challenge of a highly aggregating party,
Congress, which had been a broad based coalition of different interests,
classes and religious as well as caste groups. Inheriting the legacy
of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress could create a solid ideological support
base in rural India and convert it into a vote bank for the party. With a
solid caste group of Brahmins, Dalits and Muslims and divided opposition,
the Congress could rule over the country, hardly facing any electoral
challenge for long years.
What Mahatma Gandhi could achieve by creating a strong social base for
the Congress within fifteen years by mobilising the Harijans in favour of
the party, the Hindu nationalists could not do it in the last seventy-five
years. The BJP incorporated the philosophy of Gandhian socialism in
its political ideology but it hardly took any lesson from his Harijan
movement from rural India. The post-Mandal scenario and the
magnitude of unending reservation for Dalits and backward castes further
aggravated the caste conflicts in Hindu society. The growth of caste
organisations, as seen in recent conferences of various castes and the on
going power struggle among the upper castes, OBCs and Dalits, have torn
the social fabric of Hindu society into pieces with no possibility of its
repair in the near future.
Though, the BJP could manage power at centre in the closing decade of
twentieth century and is ruling the country for the last three years
as head of the coalition Government, it failed to expand with a
nation-wide ideological support base. Though their target covers 85%
Hindus, the BJP with the support of the forces of Hindutva, which have
been working for over last seventy five years- has not been able to
increase its share of voting percentage above 25.47 in 1998 Lok Sabha
election, which was further reduced to 23.75 in 1999.
Due to its narrow support base, which by and large is confined to the
upper castes of Hindi speaking states of north India and western states of
Gujarat and Maharashtra, the BJP leadership had to make an ideological
compromise with their junior regional partners for the sake of
power. At the same time, regional forces did not allow them to
expand their social base in their respective regions for obvious
reasons. Telegu Desam in Andhra Pradesh, the Dravidian parties in
Tamilnadu, Biju Janata Dal in Orissa, Lok Dal in Haryana, Akali Dal in
Punjab and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal never gave reasonable space
to the BJP in their states. Besides, the central leadership of the
BJP kept the state leadership of the party subdued and demoralised due to
the pressure of the regional partners in the coalition.
Under the prevailing political scenario in the country, both the
Congress and the BJP are the primary contestants for political power at
centre. To grab the space occupied by the Congress, the BJP raised
some emotional issue like Ram Temple at Ayodhya and achieved some short
term political gains by the closing decades of twentieth century.
But these could only be transitory and the gradual increase in the
aspiration for sharing political power among the different caste groups,
is going against the consolidation of Hindutva movement.
It is not clear what strategy the BJP is going to adopt, to expand its
social base. Unless it makes a determined initiative to expand in
the rural areas, where 80% of Indian population lives and win over the
lower caste, there is no possibility of BJP expanding its social base.
( The analysis is based on the personal perception of the writer.
E-mail: ramashray6o@yahoo.com)
