08/09/2014

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The BJP Bihar Unit: The Challenges Ahead


 

 

Binoy Shanker Prasad

Democracy runs on certain principles. Influential leaders do often tinker with those principles. Even Gandhi did. But, by and large, if the principles of democracy are not adhered to, every business including the running of the political parties can go haywire. One of the principles is to respect and honor the opinion of the majority. Factions may squabble. However, once a majority decision has been reached, everyone should abide by it.


In parliamentary democracies, usually the elected legislators of the majority party elect their leader who is invited by the president or the governor to form a government. In practice, a leader who is often the leader of the opposition is projected in advance. If the leader is charismatic and popular, this is done in advance often to win over the electorates. The names of David Cameron in England, or Indira Gandhi and Narendra Modi in India were projected before the general election because their names could mobilize the majority. Sometimes it backfires, as it happened in the cases of Jagjivan Ram in the past and Rahul Gandhi recently. The voters get to compare the competing leaders and give their decision.


In Bihar, it appears, the BJP will be hard put to float the Chief Ministerial candidate in Sushil Modi at this stage because of the inner-party jostling for the post. There seem to be many aspirants for the post prepared to play all kinds of cards.


The BJP state and the central party leadership would know how to conduct its affairs. However, it would be well-advised to declare at this time that only the leader of the newly elected legislature party would have the claim to the Chief Ministership. A pre-announcement would be risky and a bit out of the principle.


In the meantime, the party should be tough in dealing with its wild horses. Responsible and wise leaders like Amit Shah and Prakash Nadda will have to take timely action and weed out the corrupt and the dead-woods from the party to give the party a new image. It should quickly conduct an internal party inquiry to find out certain truths and allegations. For example, the Bhagalpur L.S. seat was lost by a narrow margin by a Muslim candidate because of the machinations of a party leader. Such acts must not be tolerated. The BJP’s alliance with Paswan’s LJP should also be reconsidered.


The BJP will have to work hard in the rural areas of Bihar and among the Muslims. At the same time, it will have to dissociate itself with the questionable practices of the business classes in Bihar. The party must make special efforts to reach out to the minorities who are fed on a lot of misinformation. A bridge can certainly be made between a pro-Hindu nationalist party and the Muslim minorities, just as a political alliance can be made between the Left parties and the pro-Muslim communal parties.


The BJP will have a gigantic work cut out for itself if in 2015 it really aims at securing power in the state by itself. Surrounded as it is with formidable challengers, the party can hardly afford inner-party dissension and sabotage. It has to convince the voters of Bihar that it has plans and programs different from the RJD-JDU alliance. Just by shouting from the roof-top that Nitish joined hands with the court convicted felon wouldn’t work, the key voting blocs of the RJD-JDU coalition will have to be weaned away. With given dedication, it’s achievable. The great effort will surely be aided by the inevitable forthcoming Lalu-Nitish Divide Round II.



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