Has BJP lost its purpose of existence?
Many political analysts have by now loudly wondered about the raison d’etre for BJP anymore.
It came with a bang about Hindutva, making a lot of promises to the 800 million Hindus of India. However, throughout its period in power, it took great care not to do anything for the Hindus. And it was kicked out, quite ruthlessly.
The purpose of existence of the BJP was originally to be a political party giving a voice to the Hindus. The political atmosphere in India is religiously charged in that all parties clamour to favour and please the Muslims due to the community’s highly adhesive nature when it comes to elections.
In such an atmosphere it was only a natural process that a party should emerge catering for the much bigger Hindu community. Jan Sangh was born which later metamorphosed into the BJP. All parties and anybody familiar with Indian politics know that that there is no such thing as a Hindu votebank - whatever the promises being made to the community.
Hindus just don’t stick together for a political reason. Otherwise the armies of the numerous kings of India would have presented a very formidable barrier to the Mughals and later to the British. Hindus stick together in religion for that is the label in this case, and in no other sphere does religion count. (Which I think is how it should be about religion and politics).
So BJP came and was voted into power mainly because of their Ayodhya circus. A mosque built over a temple was torn down and the Hindus came together to vote for a “religious” cause. BJP came into power and got blinded by it - they forgot their raison d’etre, the Hindu cause.
There are two other reasons for BJP to be called “the party with a difference”. Firstly, the discipline amongst its members used to be, until of late, legendary. There was devotion to the leaders, not one of its members spoke a line out of place, and the party was one unit.
The second is related to being disciplined - the lack of corruption. I should rather say the apparent lack of corruption, because afterall, we are talking about a political party. Among all other parties, BJP stood proudly with least corrupt leaders who strove for ideology rather than power or wealth.
However, we see today that the party has fallen from the high pedestal that it had set for itself. It lost ideology, discipline and integrity thereby losing its purpose of existence. The party with a difference has become today another Congress, at a time when India is finding it hard to contain just one!
Part II: BJP’s Near-Death Experience coming soon…
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Interesting viewpoints, and quite justified from a sentimental perspective, but I don’t agree fully with what you’re saying. Let’s look at things from a practical perspective. BJP got in because of its Hindutva agenda, and of course, low on corruption and all, but now it’s much more than that. Being at the centre (or slightly right), it is ideally positioned to attract foreign investments, improve infrastructure and develop India into another China. Despite seeing China attract huge FDI’s, the commie bastards in India are totally against this - which is highly detrimental to our economy. And as the Congress votebank hinges on the commies, they can only do so much for the country, while BJP can play more of a free hand. Otherwise, why is it that BJP is more lucrative to NRIs in all countries?