BJP losing grip as factionalism, indiscipline mounts

It is still cadre-based, but the disciplinary regime has loosened, while the drive for power at whatever cost and indiscriminate poaching have diluted its ideology

The recently-presented Budget should not take away from the fact that the chinks in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s armour can no longer be ignored. It’s premature to talk about a crisis in the BJP, but after the subpar performance in the recently concluded general elections, it is fair to say that the party is being buffeted by strong headwinds and the leadership seems to be coping more by inaction than by bending its energies.

Before getting into the specifics of the BJP’s contretemps, one point is worth keeping in mind. It’s not an original insight, but a useful one, that the BJP’s spectacular growth has profoundly changed its character. It used to pride itself on being a disciplined, cadre-based party with a defined ideology and consensual leadership. That started changing the more the BJP captured power — at the Centre and in various states. Now, the drawing into its fold of leaders and cadre from a variety of other parties, including the Left, as in West Bengal, has made the party fractious and faction ridden.

It is still cadre-based, but the disciplinary regime has loosened, while the drive for power at whatever cost and indiscriminate poaching has diluted its ideology. Power is now concentrated in a duumvirate, too. The BJP is not a party with a difference.

The shenanigans of West Bengal’s Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari shine a light on both the ideological diffuseness and disciplinary problems. At a state party meeting in Kolkata on July 17, Adhikari said there was no need for a Minority Morcha in the party and its slogan ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ should be junked.

This was gross indiscipline because it is not for any member to suggest that a party wing be dissolved, nor that the party’s considered policy encapsulated in the slogan should be abandoned. Adhikari was obliquely admonished, but no disciplinary measure seems to be contemplated though he’s stuck to his stand. Adhikari was positioning himself as a far-Right sectarian in a Right-wing majoritarian party that has diluted its ideological position, at least in stated terms, in its pursuit of untrammelled State power.

The twist in the tale is, of course, that Adhikari is not a BJP veteran with a lifelong commitment to the majoritarianism implicit in the BJP’s dream of a Hindu rashtra. He’s been in the party for less than five years, having earlier been a fierce critic of the BJP’s sectarianism. This looks like a factional manoeuvre.

On the same day, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma chucked the dog whistle to launch a frontal assault on the Muslim community, saying in Jharkhand that infiltration from Bangladesh had increased the share of Muslims in Assam’s population from 12% in 1951 to 40% now and that Jharkhand should take heed of the current government’s ‘appeasement’ policies. The provenance of the latter number wasn’t disclosed, but we’ll let that ride and the crass senselessness of the comment need not detain us. But we need to note that Sarma has become a Sangh parivar favourite on account of his incendiary statements and anti-minority policies.

Sarma, too, is an import into the BJP, having defected from the Congress in 2015. His positioning as a far-Right sectarian has much to do with cementing his position in the party by aligning himself with the BJP’s majoritarian position. He hasn’t really infringed party discipline, though, given that Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes divisive attacks on the Muslim community, especially on the campaign trail.

It is difficult not to conclude that the leadership — comprising Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah — tacitly encourages people like Adhikari and Sarma to increase the majoritarian pitch from time to time because the fringe is the mainstream in the BJP.

But Uttar Pradesh showcases the BJP’s weaknesses best. Under the cosh after a woeful election performance, the fractures in the state unit have come into the open. Deputy Prime Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya criticised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath by implication at a party meeting on July 14, valorising the organisation, which, many feel, has been eclipsed by the government under Adityanath’s tenure. The chief minister on his part sought to shift the blame, citing overconfidence in the party.

Whether or not the Modi-Shah duumvirate is encouraging attacks on Adityanath to reduce his stature can hardly be verified, but there’s no doubt that public squabbling is weakening the party in India’s electorally largest state. It’s hardly a good look for the leaders.

If contradictions are allowed free rein, many will start wondering whether the BJP’s seemingly impregnable centre can continue to hold if things start falling apart.

(Suhit K Sen is author of ‘The Paradox of Populism: The Indira Gandhi Years, 1966-1977’.)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.