Even in an era of Congress’s near-hegemony, state-specific non-Congress parties kept their standing and not just stayed afloat—unlike the BJP’s precursor, the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, which groped for an identity and political shape on a post-Independence socio-political canvas awash with colours.
The socialists and their offspring challenged the Congress in daunting circumstances in northern and western India. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu, the fount of social justice revolution under E V Ramasamy Periyar’s stewardship, worked towards crystallising its politics into a genre that had nothing to do with the conventional school represented by the Congress. The parties it engendered were antithetical to the Congress brand of politics, a feature that pitted the Dravida Kazhagam governments in Chennai sharply against the Centre. Jostling for space in this complex picture were Punjab’s Shiromani Akali Dal, with a pronounced tilt towards Sikhism and militancy, and Jammu and Kashmir’s National Conference.
As ‘Chanakya neeti’ kicked in and the Congress resorted to the age-old carrot-and-stick tactics, with generous lashings when necessary, some of these parties were willing to be co-opted by the Centre. With co-option came compromises under the guise of consensus building, followed by capitulation to a way of politics that ensured that at least the roots of these formations did not disintegrate.
Every now and then, spurred by popular resentment against the Congress at the Centre and the states it governed, these parties would shift shape into pressure blocs and throw the gauntlet on the Union government or constituents in a larger anti-Congress coalition. The Jana Sangh tried to find a space for itself in such formations. Its principal asset was its ideological sheet anchor, the RSS, which not only crafted a stronger opposition language than what the socialists and the inward-looking state parties could come up with, but was endowed with a huge organisational backup.
The unwieldy but spirited experiments managed to overthrow Congress governments thrice: the Janata Party-led endeavour that was formed after Emergency, the National Front that was birthed by an act of rebellion against former PM Rajiv Gandhi by his own colleagues who were aided and abetted by the anti-Congress parties as disparate as the Left and the BJP, and the United Front that came about more to thwart the BJP’s growth, was undergirded by the Left and a few regional entities and, out of lack of choice, solicited support from a reluctant Congress. These projects ended well before their time.
The United Front’s grand plan to check the BJP failed, and instead gave a fillip to the Hindutva-soaked party that many observers erroneously imagined would be permanently cast out for leading the Babri mosque demolition. The BJP drew enough endorsers to prove that it was a major player for time to come.
The BJP needed allies to gain a critical mass and get the counterweight to challenge the Congress’s pre-eminence. Its treatment of allies opened up a new chapter in the saga of regional parties. The BJP was cut-throat and benign in turns, but its strategists quickly recognised that ideology and principles were not encumbrances for the allies as long as their leaders were appropriately “rewarded” with goodies and political security. Even parties purportedly wedded to their ideological moorings or regional interests ostensibly had no problem because in its self-interest, the BJP afforded leeway to such formations. For instance, when it first aligned with the DMK, it shed its hang-up about the use of Hindi as a compulsory language in schools. Before signing up with J&K’s PDP, it put the abrogation of Article 370 on the backburner.
The BJP was vindicated in adopting an amoral stance on the process of coalition construction. Every shot at ‘Operation Lotus’, which involved poaching on and spiriting away a requisite number of elected MLAs and MPs predating the present day’s extreme machinations, was eventually accepted as a new normal.
But even given this past, the attempted brutal annihilation of Mamata Banerjee’s TMC after her rout in the Assembly polls marks another low in the pursuit of realpolitik dressed up as Chanakya neeti. The field opened up by regional parties is large enough for the piranhas to find and shred their prey.
Regional parties have regrouped into the following categories. Of the socialist remnants, H D Deve Gowda’s JD(S) barely exists. The patriarch who expected a Rajya Sabha nomination from ally BJP was passed over—a warning that the JD(S) should scale down its expectations for the next Karnataka election.
The once-vibrant JD(U) hangs on to the BJP for dear life in Bihar after its supremo Nitish Kumar was moved to the Rajya Sabha and the BJP anointed a CM of its choice. Patna speculation has it that it’s a matter of time before the JD(U) and the other satellites orbiting in its range merge with the BJP, although the Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha stated he would not do it. His son Deepak is set to lose his ministry after the BJP refused to nominate him for the legislative council.
Uttar Pradesh’s Samajwadi Party alone is significant in the erstwhile socialist spectrum, but its ability to survive will be on a serious test at next year’s Assembly polls.
Of the solo shows, the TMC is the best example of what happens to a party raised and sustained on the charisma of a single leader, with barely an ideological underpinning. With her collapse, the party disintegrated and made it an easy game for the BJP’s manipulations, which the leaders have done with considerable ease so far.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi, centred on the personality and politics of its founder K Chandrasekhar Rao, suffered a fracture when his daughter K Kavitha went her own way because her brother was declared the heir apparent. The Mayawati-owned BSP is seldom heard of, while the AAP, once seen as a great hope, is on tenterhooks after it was done out of Delhi. Again, the AAP owes everything to its leader Arvind Kejriwal, whose politics tends to get fuzzy at times.
Survival is the key for the regional parties. Under a regime that’s constantly scouring for fault lines in their opponents’ rank and file, they seem to have two options: make peace with the BJP on the BJP’s terms and exist, or join forces with the Congress.
Indeed, the blows suffered by the TMC triggered speculation that Mamata Banerjee might merge her party with the Congress, her original home. It’s a near-impossible objective to pursue, because the Congress first has to get its own house in order before getting back the prodigal sons and daughters.
Radhika Ramaseshan | Columnist and political commentator
(Views are personal)