The Indian elections threw a surprise for once - a pleasant one too! The mandate circumvented the usual anti-incumbency factor. It seemed like regional aspirations and religious fanaticism were abolished. Congress got a definite majority from the Indian people.
So where does that leave the other big party in the country - Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)? BJP has been the only other practically workable choice for India since the country was procreated out of the British Empire. The seeds of the BJP bore out of the agitation against the immense power abuse by the Congress establishment and the Gandhi-Nehru family bastions. The Emergency was sort of the first step towards a multi party democracy. But after several half-baked results, there was the need for a big bang launch.
The Hindu sentiment against the pseudo secularist Congress provided BJP the much-needed launch pad. L K Advani was in the forefront of this event. The politics of Ram and Ayodhya were revived out of extinction as Advani led the RSS supported BJP towards establishing itself as a Hindu right wing party. The first chance India got to get a 2 party working democracy was thus severely affected by the Congress policy of using minorities as a vote bank on the one hand and an equally ugly manifestation of the other end of the spectrum against the minorities on the other.The next decade saw the Congress lose its sheen over a barrage of Hindutva and the third front - consisting of miscreants like the communists and regional parties. The debate that separated the Congress and BJP came down to the garb of secularism and the nationalistic Hindu fervor. India went through some of the worst third party establishments throwing incongruous and embarrassing prime ministers like HD Deve Gowda onto the national stage. The country was ready for a stable government. It came in the form of a newly discovered beast called a coalition.
The BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) swept the polls under the able leadership of Atal Behari Vajpayee and gave the nation a moderate leader from an extremist party the keys to India's future. This coincided with the growth of India as an economic bigwig. BJP at the same time had enviable bench strength of second-string leaders - Pramod Mahajan, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharti. This was a time; India could imagine a future with a party that had a democratic and corporate way of giving able people an opportunity to make a difference. On the other hand Sonia Gandhi was a minion within the Congress establishment with nothing going for her but the family name.
The Gujarat riots disturbed the equilibrium within the BJP. The eggs of extremist Hinduism hatched as they had in the Mumbai riots of 1992. Vajpayee could not save the BJP from losing the 2004 elections. The state sponsored pogrom could not be balanced by the realization and promises of a shining India. Though BJP lost the elections, Congress did not get a full mandate. It was just about enough for them to be offered a shot at the government. Sonia Gandhi grew exponentially in stature by refusing the top slot. She gave way to one of the most non-controversial and intelligent individuals in the country -Dr. Manmohan Singh.
The BJP failure was not an orphan for long. Oliver Twist was taken in by Fagin instead of a Good Samaritan. The moderate ideology was killed off in a hurry. The one lesson to be learned from the defeat was bunked by the whole class. They veered towards extremist ideologies again. The result oriented clean government he leads in Gujarat accentuated the rise of Narendra Modi within the BJP. Vajpayee retired and LK Advani picked the gauntlet of the party. Over time, LK Advani tried to paint over his extremist image PR exercises such as the praising Jinnah in Pakistan, which in his nick of the woods was blasphemy to the T.The next 5 yrs of the government were a tight ropewalk for the Singh govt. It was laden with great economic developments and terror attacks all over the country. The BJP painted the prime minister as weak and impotent due to the lapse in security measures. Narendra Modi became the boy wonder for the party. Advani was projected as the strong leader who could rule the nation with an iron fist. Fortunately the campaign failed instead of marginally succeeding. India was saved from getting a fractured government. The bonus was the defeat of feudal corrupt leaders like Laloo Yadav and Paswan, as well as that of the Communist parties in West Bengal and Kerala.
Almost two decades after the Rath yatra, BJP is again at a crossroad. What is the guiding principle of the BJP? Would they be driven by religious sentiments? Would they act as grown-ups and think about what the country really needs? All these questions depend on one question that they choose as the future leader. Pramod Mahajan's demise has taken away an acceptable option. Uma Bharti's whimsical feud with the BJP rid them of a ticking time bomb of uncertain unruliness. Narendra Modi has the same problem as Advani. He may be able to convert Gujarat into Shanghai. But he would never be able to wash his hands off the anarchy and the pusillanimous massacre of minorities in Gujarat. Arun Jaitley though the brightest spot on the spectrum is far from being a mass leader. The choice thus lays between the enigmatic Sushma Swaraj, the geriatric Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi and the seasoned Jaswant Singh. The answer to the question is really going to define BJP's future and that of the country to seriously be able to create a 2 party democracy based on policies and not on religious aspirations. I look forward to how they are able to either make that switch or be at the crossroads again after Modi has lost the elections for them in the near future.
