Prime Minister Narendra Modi is known for his mastery over the art of implementation. He walks whatever he talks. He has always been advocating for the supremacy of the party organisation. In 2019, immediately after the election results were out, at the first meeting of BJP parliamentary party, the prime minister very candidly told members of parliament that cabinet berths would be decided on the basis of some norms and there should not be any indulgence in needless kite-flying. Mincing no words, he gave a clear message that the party organisation was always supreme. It is relevant to recall this after the installation of three new BJP state governments led by entirely new captains. Many are discussing as to how the BJP could do this so effortlessly. The answer lies in the philosophy of the party organsiation’s supremacy as practised by the BJP.
Politics is known for continuous one-upmanship, cut-throat competition, confrontations and conspiracies. Amid scores of examples, where even two siblings of the party chief’s family fail to stay together, here is a party where seamless generational change is made possible and even first-timers make it to the top position. The secret of BJP’s ability to make this happen lies in its own science of organisation rooted in the ethos of idealism and ideology, both primarily originated in the RSS.
Not too long ago, a pracharak who was in the BJP was appointed to a senior position back in the RSS. This happened in such a seamless manner that people outside the BJP were left wondering. When a similar decision was taken over two decades earlier, a pracharak had quipped, “As pracharaks, we are like a postcard; the organisation writes an address and then we are supposed to get delivered there.” This has always proved to be ‘unattached involvement’ personified.
It was the same postcard theory that was made to work twice in the recent months. First, when many senior MPs were asked to contest assembly elections, the extraordinary decision was accepted without any murmur. Second, it was evident in the choice of relatively lesser known persons as alternative leaders. True to the spirit of a party soldier, Raman Singh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Vasundhara Raje not just accepted, but also endorsed the choices of Vishnu Deo Sai, Mohan Yadav and Bhajan Lal Sharma—something unimaginable in most political parties.
Although not exactly comparable, India’s Grand Old Party had once experimented with overhauling of party organisation, parallel to what is called castling in the game of chess. In mid-1960s the then Congress president K Kamraj introduced what came to be called the Kamraj plan. A successful former CM from Tamil Nadu, Kamraj voluntarily left office and called for similar resignations from high-level national and state officials for rebuilding the Congress party at the grassroots level after the disastrous war with China. But sadly, Kamraj was not allowed to have his way; so probably the last leader who held organisation above self in the Congress was manoeuvred out of the party leadership by Indira Gandhi, who was perhaps not at ease with anyone possessing moral authority.
The BJP could achieve what Congress cannot even think of, thanks to at least three major factors. First, it is motivational. Unlike in most political parties, BJP leaders and cadres have an enduring influence of ideology and idealism. Most have a tendency of accepting the supremacy of the organisation. As reiterated by Chouhan and Devendra Fadnavis recently, in the BJP, the leaders know very well that they have little existence without the support of the organisation. Thanks to this well-established supremacy of the organsiation, the Jan Sangh or BJP never faced any vertical split. There were hardly any breakaway groups, and almost all who deserted came back after a while.
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Second, it is the unique organisational system cultivated by the RSS and BJP. Neither at the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, nor today when Narendra Modi is at the helm, the BJP has ever seen any tug-of-war between the party and the government. There is a structured system of building the capacity of party workers. An essential ingredient of the training syllabus has always been deepening the understanding of the science of organization, in which it is underscored that every cadre has an assignment and for every assignment there is a designated karyakarta. No assignment is considered any less important than another. Unlike in other parties, hierarchical considerations always take a back seat in the BJP. There are many former party presidents at various levels. But they are never seen indulging in the glory of their past position. Many office bearers have seen how even Modi himself stands in the queue for tea or lunch.
Third, it is about the unique skill of shaping the thinking of a party worker. Unlike in other parties, the BJP general secretary (organisation) has no formal special authority. However, what sets this general secretary apart is the notion that persons holding the position come with an essential moral authority. Coming from pracharak backgrounds, organisational secretaries are always ready to get transferred from one place to another, or between organisations. Through them and with a thoughtfully-curated capacity building mechanism, the BJP has always ensured that cadres continue to be mindful of party ideology and, more importantly, idealism. There could possibly be no other political party that has such a particularly distinct ideology.
The BJP is the only national party that has always motivated party workers on the basis of its distinct ideology and idealism. In a multi-party democracy, the importance of ideology cannot be undermined. US President Dwight D Eisenhower had once rightly observed that if a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.
(Views are personal)
Vinay Sahasrabuddhe
President, ICCR and senior BJP leader
(vinays57@gmail.com)