The decision to extend the tenure of Shri. JP Nadda as
president of the Bharatiya Janata Party till June 2024 was recently taken at
the party’s national executive committee meeting. According to the party’s
constitution, the national president holds office for three years. During the
recently convened meeting in New Delhi, a resolution was passed stating that
Shri. Nadda, whose term as the president had expired, will continue to hold the
position till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Shri. Nadda’s political career began as an activist of
the Vidyarthi Parishad. Getting an opportunity to head one of the world’s
largest political parties like the Bharatiya Janata Party is distinctive in
many ways especially for Shri. Nadda, who hails from a middle-class family.
This move has once again underlined the party’s democratic approach. For other
political parties, democracy might be just a formality, but BJP has always respected
democracy and the democratic traditions, even within the organization.
Seeing the political scenario prevalent in the country,
one is forced to delve deep to find out how things have unfolded for some of
the important parties like the Congress, the Jana Sangh, the Samajwadi Party
and the Communist at the national level since independence. The Jana Sangh,
that had won barely 3 seats during the first general election in 1952, today is
in power as Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre for the second consecutive
term by winning more than 300 Lok Sabha seats. Also, the BJP is in power in 8
states on its own and is in power in 6 states with the help of its allies.
During the first general election in 1952, the Congress had won 364 seats, the
Communist
Party had bagged 16 while the Samajwadi Party had won 12
seats. The Congress had, since then, ruled the country for 25 consecutive years
till 1977. Between 1977 and 2014, except for a period of 7 to 8 years when the
Janata Party, the Janata Dal and the BJP (NDA) were in power, the Congress was
in power for the remaining 25 years.The Congress that had at one point enjoyed
power not only at the Centre but also in many states, today is in bad shape.
Barring a few states like Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, the
Congress does not have control in any other states in the country. A party,that
had ruled the country for a very long time, could barely manage to get 52 seats
during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
A few months ago, senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge was
elected as the president of the Congress. This is the third time since 1977
that a person other than the Nehru or Gandhi family was appointed as the party
president. From 1980 to 1991, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi were Congress
presidents. After the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, PV Narsimha Rao became the
party president for 5 years whereas Sitaram Kesari had held it for a very short
period. After Sonia Gandhi’s decision to enter politics, the post of Congress
president had to be vacated for her and hence Sitaram Kesari was locked up in a
very humiliating manner. From 1998 to 2022, the mother-son duo – Sonia and
Rahul held the office as party presidents.
After the defeat of the Congress in the 2019 elections,
some senior leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Kapil Sibal and Prithviraj Chavan
had insisted that a person from outside the Gandhi family must be elected as
the party president. While pressing for this demand, these leaders were
strongly against Rahul Gandhi’s leadership. These
leaders had also insisted that an election must be held
for selecting the party president. Due to their firm stance, the plan to
reinstate Rahul Gandhi to the position of party president could not be
successful. Since the focus of the party and that of their government at the
Centre revolved only around the Nehru and Gandhi families, it had destroyed the
democracy within the party. It may be recalled that after becoming the Prime
Minister, Indira Gandhi,with the sole intent of not letting competition emerge
against her within the party, had ended the democratic practice within the
Congress. This was evident when none of the good senior leaders of the Congress
at that time had showed the courage to utter a word against her decision to
impose Emergency that had strangled our democracy.
Devkant Barooah, a leader from Assam, who was made the
national president of the Congress from 1975 to 1978, became infamous for
declaring ‘Indira is India, India is Indira’ thus showcasing the abominable
level of flattery within the Congress. Later, as long as Indira Gandhi or Rajiv
Gandhi were alive, the issue of democracy within the party was not raised. In
fact, after 1975, the organisation-based structure of the Congress had
gradually disappeared. The Congress always used Indira Gandhi and Rajiv
Gandhi’s names to win elections and enjoy power. And the party is majorly
suffering its consequences today.
Over a period of time, certain political parties like
the Communist or those abiding by the socialist ideologies lost their presence
at the national level. The ideological base of these parties was strong, in
fact they were the ones to take to the streets with issues concerning the
common people. But today, the Communist Party is in power only in Kerala.Over
the years we have seen how an organization,that was built on the hard work of
the ordinary worker and democracy within the party,became Bharatiya Janata
Party, the biggest national party. The Jana Sangh and later the Bharatiya
Janata Party espoused the ideology of nationalism and remained active in the
country’s politics.
The loyalties of lakhs of ordinary activists coming from
ordinary backgrounds and adhering to the nationalist ideology is the true
capital of the party. That is why, a person like Narendra Modi, with no
political background, successfully held the position of the Prime Minister of
the country and Amit Shah held the charge of the home ministry.
The difference between the Congress, the Samajwadi and
the Communist parties on one hand and the BJP on the other becomes glaring with
this kind of functionality within the party. Although Kharge is the national
president of the Congress, even the smallest of the activist knows how
important he is in the decision-making process of the party. During the 1970s,
a mentality that the party cannot function without the Nehru and Gandhi
families got deeply rooted within the Congress. It was Indira Gandhi, who had
systematically inculcated this mentality in the minds of the activists. But
since people refused to accept Indira Gandhi’s grandchildren – both Rahul and
Priyanka, the Congress began to suffer.
The ideologies of the Jana Sangh that was formed in 1952
is currently exercising power in several states and even at the Centre in the
form of the Bharatiya Janata Party. The regional parties, that are restricting
themselves to families, are slowly fading away. Congress, during its Indira
era, forgot the three-point agenda – worker,ideology and organization. But
since, the BJP has always followed its three-point agenda, it continued to
expand throughout the country.
(Article Pre-Published in Times of India - 23 Jan. 2023)
Keshav Upadhye, Chief Spokesperson
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