Opinion: Political Waves in India

62 years appears to be an Indian benchmark for a sturdy political party to emerge from conception to realization. The country went through turbulence like…

62 years appears to be an Indian benchmark for a sturdy political party to emerge from conception to realization. The country went through turbulence like the mother when baby grows in her womb experiencing all the mystical transcendences inside her. More like the Congress party when it was conceptualized in 1885, implemented over the years and had peaked in 1947; it took BJP about 62 years from 1951 till 2014 to make a come through as a strong political force with no external dependencies to form the government.

Many leaders like Dadabhai Naoriji, Tilak, and other visionaries formed Congress party for a specific political purpose. The wave that congress enjoyed post-independence reached its peak and only came down after decades of sustenance. This doesn’t mean that the wave ended here; cannot rule out possibility of it repositioning and starting back with or without the Gandhi-Nehru family. If not, it will be replaced by another party like AAP. Whatever could be the future, we just witnessed the complete life-cycle of the congress party’s wave from 1885 till 2014. The other wave that is rising now is of BJP that has just started to ascend. The longevity and strength of the wave depends on who steers the wave during this time and how. 

It was clearly Gandhi and Nehru who steered Congress party when the wave ascended. After 50 plus years, Nehru’s actions resulted in today’s outcome that Congress party finally fell down.

The biggest mistake Nehru made probably was that he neither nurtured next generation young leaders from general public nor he retired after reasonable time in power. He was emotionally attached to inclusive growth strategy but failed to provide opportunity to the evidently smart young leaders. The ambition of leaders like Jaya Prakash Narayan was damped in vain and has only usurped forming an opposition coalition. Had the forefathers during the independence movement thought about longevity of Indian politics, they would have created a strong opposition party out of deliberation. Today’s opposition in India evolved over time through circumstances that lead to chaotic patterns. It wouldn’t have been the case had a well thought plan was implemented. People like Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had to break up with bitterness from Nehru government to form an opposition party; RSS followed it up and started building a long lasting opposition party, Jan Sangh. While Communists always existed during pre and post-independence, their adherence to Marxism with poor agility to change in modern world faded in democratic set up. RSS on the other hand, showed complete dexterity in strategizing long term vision. In the course of actions for betterment, it might have had traditional orthodoxy put to rest. Instead of involving directly in politics, the cadre based organization nurtured a political wing that served the political purpose for the country.

Every action and step that Modi takes today shall steer the BJP. Though RSS took position in the navigation seat, the real wheel still remains with Modi that will determine the longevity of the wave. His main tasks are to deliver results in one or two successful terms and foster next generation leaders. If instead, he depends on expecting today’s toddlers to still say “Ab Ki Baar bhi Modi Sarkaar” ten years later, there we go again the fall of another wave.

Modi has great opportunity at hand to let the political pundits judge him 50 years down the line contrasting with Nehru than associating him with.

Writte By Swarup Satya