At present the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) complete domination of Indian politics is very visible. BJP is now spreading wings even in places, where just couple of years ago the party had only signboard presence. Absence of a formidable opposition may be one of the factors behind such dominance and control. But to say that a weakened opposition has made the task easy for BJP is far away from the truth. Apart from being a disciplined party, BJP has been working and planning to dominate Indian politics for years. What they lacked was the proper implementation of those plans. But under the stewardship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his trusted lieutenant Amit Shah, BJP has achieved a feat which has few parallels in Indian political history.
BJP gains strength from its organisations. Various frontal organisations of Rashtriya Swangsevak Sangha (RSS) work throughout the year at the grass root level top strengthen the political wing. For example, BJP’s recent electoral success in West Bengal was not a result of windfall but rather, the RSS knew well that BJP’s chances of making it big in Bengal were slim, yet the organisation kept on harping and tried to influence the people living in bordering areas and the tribals. For years, such efforts yielded no results. But RSS and its frontal organisations did not lose heart. Now finally, BJP has established itself as the major opposition party in the State, leaving the Congress and the Left far behind. The same strategy was adopted by BJP in Tripura and the results are for there everyone to see. The fear of failure of entering into a bipolar polity never deterred BJP. It vowed to make the impossible possible and now they are tasting success.
Planning is another area where BJP is way ahead of its opponents. As soon as the results of last general elections were declared, the party along with RSS finalised the strategy to be adopted in the forthcoming Assembly elections in five states. As a result, BJP is already in election mode in Maharashtra and Haryana. In Haryana, while BJP almost finalised its list of candidates, opposition parties are still in conversation to form an alliance to stall BJP’s juggernaut. But the writing is on the wall. Unless something unprecedented happen, BJP’s return to power in Haryana is almost a certainty as in recent times the electorate has shown preferences for a party with a stable leadership than a hurriedly stitched alliance with an eye to grab power.
This particular mindset of the electorate has become BJP’s greatest strength. Since 1989 to 2014, the country was in coalition era. But coalition politics didn’t offer anything new to the people. A coalition government had always found busy in keeping the alliance intact rather than forming policies and implementing those. For example, Goods and Services Tax (GST) was long in the pipe line. But no government could implement it because of opposition from alliance partners. When BJP came to power having majority, the government implemented GST within two years. Opening up crucial sectors like defence, banking, mining, insurance were vociferously opposed by Left parties during UPA rule. But as BJP has the requisite strength in Lok Sabha, it went ahead to liberate Indian economy further. So, for this decisiveness in the working of the BJP Government, the electorate has now shifted its preference from coalition politics to single party rule. This is the real strength of BJP.
