Decoding The Rise Of BJP

Political scientists and analysts have divided India’s electoral politics history into several phases, such as the one-party domination phase of the Congress Party, the rise of anti-Congress parties in the 60s and a multi-party coalition government phase from the 90s. The coalition government phase seemed to dominate the electoral scene in the country until 2014 when the BJP crossed the magical number of 272 in that year’s General Election, becoming the first party to gain majority in nearly 30 years. 

This feat was yet again repeated in the 2019 General Elections. By noon on May 23, 2019, it was clear that the BJP would cross the 300-seat mark on its own, registering an even more significant victory than 2014. How did it manage to pull such a performance? What went behind this extraordinary rise in India’s electoral politics sphere? Bhupender Yadav, Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Ila Patnaik, Indian economist & Former Principal Economic Advisor to the Government of India, discuss their book “The Rise of the BJP” to decode what went behind in making the world’s largest political party.

Strong Historical and Ideological Roots

Yadav credits the solid historical and ideological roots of the party and the commitment by the members in carrying forward the political struggle even after setbacks in early elections for its success in current times. “After independence, the philosophy of Jan Sangha was that apart from reforms in governance, there should be reforms at the ideological level as well. Whatever we formulated in the 50s is being carried forward even today, and there has been no dilution from those principles,” he says.

He recalls the rise of Atal Behari Vajpayee after Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s demise. He says that in the late 60s when some anti-Congress governments were on the rise, the party faced a dilemma. “There was an ideological movement within the party that whether we should join governments which are not aligned with our ideology, such as the communists. In the end, under Atal ji’s leadership, the party decided that if we are in the political sphere, we have to become a part of the governance and ensure its optimal delivery to the citizens,” he says.

He further tells how for the party, the nation always comes first and recollects a sort of political untouchability against the BJP where other parties used to describe it as communal and part ways with it. “For us ideology was important, we merged with several opposing ideological parties as we felt that democracy should be protected, but soon our nationalistic ideology was questioned and we felt that it is better to part ways and not compromise on our nationalistic ideology,” he states

Yadav describes that because of this consistency and flexibility in the political sphere, added with the hard work of a generation of party members, we have been able to go from two seats in 1984 to where we are today.

Delivery of Schemes

One of the critical reasons for the party’s success has been the targeted delivery of socio-economic welfare schemes at the governance level. Patnaik says that in the last eight years under Prime Minister Modi, the government has tried to achieve the right balance between growth and redistribution and welfare programmes through better governance.

She recalls the foundation of institutional infrastructure in the first NDA government under Vajpayee. She says, “The emphasis on things like telecom reforms in the first NDA government, they were all an attempt to get growth up, you need to get growth up because you can’t redistribute poverty without getting growth up. So, the reforms back then laid the foundation of the institutional infrastructure and growth.”

Patnaik adds that this growth momentum got carried forward in the last eight years both by the government and the party, where many schemes were well-governed compared to previous governments. “You got rid of leakages; the entire Rs 100 is going in a targeted way to the people for whom it is meant. You get six-times the impact with such targeted delivery,” she says.

The combination of party and government coming together on common themes and communicating to people and reaching out to them, as well as the balance between growth and redistribution, defines this success, according to Patnaik.

Expansion and Outreach

Since 2014, the BJP has doubled down on its membership drive with nearly 18 crore members, according to a 2019 report, making it the world’s largest political party. Yadav dwells on this massive expansion and outreach and says that we began a digital membership drive in 2014 under the then BJP President Amit Shah’s leadership.

“We digitised our membership programme, which worked on a single missed call, granting you membership of the BJP. Through this, the party made around 12 crore members, which is the biggest expansion,” he states.

 He further describes the ground-level efforts by the party to familiarise members with the party and its ideology. “We didn’t stop after adding members; we started a sampark abhiyan after the membership drive and familiarised these new members regarding the party’s ideology and its commitment to efficient governance,” he says.

A Party for All

Patnaik says that in its initial days, the party was associated with baniyas or the Hindi Belt, but today it has become mass cadre-based and has come to a point where different communities feel that this party represents their interests.

“The way the party can reach out to people to become active in the political sphere, to encourage them to come out to vote, that is something which has largely resulted in the success of the party,” she states.

Yadav emphasises values like non-dynastic politics, firm expansion, inclusive development and governance, and preserving India’s democratic ethos to fulfil the aspirations of society, which will continue to define the party’s success in the future.