Why BJP Losing State After State?

(KC Kalkura)

Even as I started preparing this quick piece, there is a FLASH: “Mamata Banerjee lost her election in Nandigram by a thin difference of 1,622 votes.” Mamatha sportively accepted her defeat at the hands of her former trusted lieutenant, Suvendu Adhikari. In the background of her party,  Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) landslide victory, against all odds to the West Bengal State Legislative  Assembly, her future course of action is anybody’s guess.

It is worthwhile to recall a question put to Mahatma Gandhi in the erstwhile Madras province in 1925 on the eve of the elections to the Legislative Council.  “What is the duty of the voters in the coming elections to the Legislative Council?”

He answered by stating, “If I were a voter and exercise my right to vote, I will first of all scan the candidates from top to bottom and ask, do you believe in Hindu-Muslim-Parsi-Christian- Jewish unity?”.

Considering the results, did the electorate in the recently held elections to the five State Assemblies eschew casteist, communal, chauvinistic, and parochial divides and did not succumb to liquor, money, and muscle power?

I hasten to add that the love for mother-tongue or urge for safeguarding the regional special interests shall not be ignored in the national perspective.  Bengal, Maharashtra, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu (TN) were at the forefront of the National Movement.  Why are they now, differ from the national mainstream, choosing regional parties?  Though both the Communist Parties are recognized as National Parties by the Election Commission, in active politics they are confined to Bengal and Kerala. Now Bengal is also gone electorally.

Since the beginning of parliamentary democracy, there has been no regular effective opposition to the ruling parties.  This is mainly due to the conglomeration of regional parties. Some of them have firm routes in their respective States. The alternative is also another regional party. At times it shakes the foundation of the federal structure. There have been continuous and consistent allegations of fascism and dictatorial attitude against the Central government. On the other hand, the Centre points out divisive tendencies by the regional parties.

In post-independent India, the leaders of the government and the administration were conscious of the regional interests from the national perspective. As their tribe decreased the Congress started ignoring the local interests and imposing its will from Delhi. Nijalingapppa in his Autobiography My Life and Politics says that Nehru had a ‘distinct dislike’ for him. But he knew that Nijalingappa was the ‘strong man of Mysore’ (present Karnataka). BJP’s alliance with regional parties including with TMC and Shiv Sena in Maharashtra earlier and now with AIDMK in Tamilnadu and Puducherry and Jana Sena Party of Pavana Kalyan in A.P. are only make-believe affairs; an entry to set firm footings in the states. The big fish eat the smaller ones. It expects them to play only second fiddle. The polling in the elections to the Assemblies in April 2021 cannot be totally branded as on communal lines. If it were to be so, MIM would have fared better in Bengal and TN. Most of the Muslims in South India and Bengal and a considerable number in Gujarat speak the local language and they do not know Urdu. UNESCO proposed  21st February to become International  Mother Language day to commemorate the 1952 killings of four students in Dhaka during the Language Movement. They were demanding Bangla and not Urdu as the Official Language of East Pakistan.

Cuttamanchi  Ramalinga Reddy said the credit goes to Mahatma Gandhiji for injecting morality into politics. “He was both a political leader and a spiritual thinker.” Mahatma’s disciples, stalwarts adorned the State Legislatures and Parliament and brought laurels to the Indian Parliamentary democracy.

It is a known fact that from election to election persons with value education (as distinguished from literacy), character, honesty, simplicity, and sincerity are distancing themselves from participating in electoral politics. As a result, it looks as though the days of parliamentary democracy are numbered.

In Mahatma’s own land, courtesy of his supposed followers political, corruption has reached a ‘ point of no return level.’ Anti-defection law is honored in the breach. Indiscriminate defection, particularly in West Bengal, from Trinamool Congress to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was welcomed and engineered.

Quickly I add that immediately after the first general elections in 1952, the Historian Neelakanta Sastry predicted the Congress’s doom as the elected representatives from it consisted more of ‘August Thyagis’ than those participating in the National Movement.

August Thyagis means those, after confirming that the freedom was round the corner, plunged into the movement by picketing the police stations, stoning at the post offices and removing the electric and telephone poles, and pulling wires.

Congress was disintegrated by such elements only.  Defections, particularly from TMC to BJP were indiscriminately welcomed and engineered by the BJP. It is a writing on the wall for the BJP.

From Cooperative Societies to Lok Sabha, defective voters’ list is the order.  At times a whole street or a colony is missed. Almost the same machinery which prepared the voters’ list in the first general elections in 1952 is charged with the responsibilities in 2021 also when there is an increase of fivefold in the number of voters.

These elections were no exceptions. There must be separate machinery to regularly revise the voters’ list which is common for the Assemblies, Lok Sabha, and local bodies.

Further Election Commission is an independent body. Is the election machinery Independent? They are all civil servants under the state or central governments. They flirt with the Election Commission at the time of the elections.

Apart from Mamta’s charges of interference by the Central Govt in its functioning, some actions of it were patently hostile to the local parties.  E.g. seven-phase elections in Bengal.  Added to that, the whole central government machinery and the central leadership were arraigned against one injured, physically disabled individual, Mamata Banerjee, moving in a wheelchair. Without mentioning Ayodhya she sarcastically said: “Modi and Shah do not know the power of Kali.”

BJP was exuberant about the Dubbaka in Telangana by-elections held on Nov. 3, 2020, where its candidate Rahgunandana Rao won with a narrow margin. Swelling is not strength. At Tirupati in AP and Nagarjuna Sagar in Telangana BJP just lost deposits.

Finally, the role of Social media shall also be mentioned. BJP rode to power in 2014 and 2019 through the hype of social media. Any criticism against BJP is considered ‘anti-national and sedition’. Motives attributed. Every supporter of BJP raises his eyebrow and expresses his anger in clear terms.

The Supreme Court interfered to explain the Constitutional provision on Freedom of speech and expression. This is the most opportune time for the Judiciary and the Press to play a proactive role to set right the shortcomings in the functioning of our democratic setup. It is called the ‘checks and balances’ game in political science.

National leaders like Vajpayee, Advani, and India Gandhi lost electoral battles. Only leaders like Nehru, Pawar, and Y.S.Rajasekhar Reddy has an unbroken record of success.  If Mamata is defeated, as she rightly said, ‘ it is not the people of Bengal’. TMC is now alive and kicking.

(KC Kalkura is an advocate and political commentator from Kurnool,Andhra Pradesh)