ELECTIONS '98
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Lessons for a Loser

Let us start with a simple fact. The BJP has been totally routed at the hustings.

No, it has nothing to do with the anti-incumbency factor. Otherwise, Diggy Raja would have lost Madhya Pradesh as well. It is specifically, clearly and unequivocally a vote against the BJP. Against its leaders, its performance, its changing profile, its dying public appeal. The quicker the BJP understands this simple fact, the simpler it will be for the party to know how to cope with the coming months.

It is far more difficult to govern than to sit on the Opposition benches and pretend to be the great white hope of the nation waiting to be voted to power. Running a government is tough. It is infinitely tougher running it in adverse circumstances in a difficult economic environment. Particularly when it is obvious from the start that you have no clue as to what makes economic and foreign policy work. In other words, what makes this world go round. So you hang around doing precious nothing apart from mouthing inanities and pretending to have this very clever, very dynamic plan at the back of your mind, ready for immediate implementation. It is just that you do not have the numbers required in Parliament to put it in place.

No one buys that hogwash any more. Every voter knows exactly what s/he wants and if a government does not give that (or, as in this case, does not even know how to give that) you can write off your goodwill immediately. Also your votes.

To govern you need people. Good, capable, trustworthy people. Not just your own party men but people that India is ready to believe in. Brajesh Mishra and Jaswant Singh are fine, but they are not the sole repositories of all talent, all capability. When you run a government, you need to corral all much more talent and expertise and bring to office intelligent, dedicated men and women with a vision of the future. People who are not just there to strut about as leaders of the nation but who can actually get things done. Quietly; cleverly; with no fuss. And, above all, you need a leadership that can face the reality of public opinion. However negative that may be at a point of time.

As, indeed, it is today.

Frankly, there are three problems with the BJP. One: People. Two: Performance. Three: Its personality as it has evolved since it came to power. Whatever its leaders may say today, in the wake of the election results, none of these problems have anything to do with Hindutva, the bomb, the price of onions or Vande Mataram. These are actually problems of politics. Nothing more. In its desperation to ensure that it is not cheated out of power again, the BJP has messed up its politics. Unless they face up to this simple fact, the party will remain trapped in its own uncertainties.

Let us look at the first problem. The BJP simply does not have enough capable people to run a government, any government. Be it at the Centre or in the states. Most of its top leaders are good people, good and effective as Opposition leaders but far too old, far too dyed in the wool to take on any new, dynamic responsibility and deliver with imagination and impact. The others, particularly those in the second rung, are too busy fighting among themselves like cats and dogs. They do not give a damn whether the BJP wins or loses, stays in power or gets chucked out. They are out to score silly brownie points off each other. .

Take the case of the Delhi election. The vicious fight between Sahib Singh Verma and Madan Lal Khurana ended up destroying the fortunes of the BJP itself. Even now, after the debacle, both these foolish leaders are busy crowing about how the other side lost the election for the party. Neither of them are ashamed of what they did to the BJP. They do not realise that the BJP has been decimated by their idiotic and churlish behaviour. What could poor Sushma Swaraj do at the last moment? Even she got caught in the crossfire, leaving a complete non-entity like Shiela Dikshit to emerge as an unlikely victor.

Not many people actually voted for the Congress. A corrupt, discredited party rarely swings back into favour that quickly. Particularly when there is this huge power struggle just waiting to grab centrestage. Sonia Gandhi is the face they used at the polls, to woo the electorate. Now the real game will start. Arjun Singh versus Sharad Pawar. Sharad Pawar versus Prataprao Bhosle. Digvijay Singh versus Arjun Singh. Arjun Singh versus Kamal Nath. Kamal Nath versus Madhavrao Scindia. Ashok Gehlot versus Nawal Kishore Sharma. Nawal Kishore Sharma versus Rajesh Pilot. Rajesh Pilot versus Sharad Pawar. And so on and so forth. The possibilities are endless, as everyone knows. Everyone also knows that once the Congress is back, you will have all these messy alliances back. Laloo will make his peace with 10 Janpath. Mulayam will hang around. So will Kanshi Ram. Even the Marxists are talking about a deal with the Congress.

In other words, everyone wants to get rid of the BJP. They are sick and tired of its incompetence, its petty internal squabbles, its bickering leaders. They know that these people, whatever their other strengths may be, do not deserve to be in office till they first learn how to govern. Worse, they are not prepared to recruit the talent that can make a difference. So they are stuck with their own frumpy, foolish, faceless leaders who are always backbiting each other and trying their best to show up one another's failures.

That is why, last week, India served them notice. To tell them: Improve or get out!

The second problem is image. Does anyone have any idea of what the BJP stands for now? Before it came to power, everyone knew what the BJP stood for. For Hindutva. For Swadeshi. For an alternative political culture. For a free economy, quality governance, a tough line against Pakistan, against corruption in public life. But once the BJP came to power, what did we get? A government that sat on the fence and refused to take a position on anything. Pokhran II was the only issue on which the BJP took a stand but, even there, because of its bungling of foreign policy, we lost more than we gained. Instead of emerging stronger, we looked foolish when we could not persuade the West to understand our security concerns. The sanctions that came in its wake hurt us. We also failed to take advantage of the South Asian debacle by quickening the pace of our reforms.

Why? Simple. The government has no idea of how to govern. How to push ahead with economic reforms and foreign policy. How to coax the world to our point of view. So, instead of doing what it should do, it has decided to follow the path of least resistance. It has watered down every policy. It pretends to be pragmatic, tries to appease everyone. In the process, it fails to win new supporters, loses its old ones. You cannot reposition the BJP as a safe, liberal, middle-of-the-road party without messing up its entire imagery.

The people of India are not looking for a saffron Congress. So why should the BJP suddenly change its entire imagery and try to be what it is not. All things to all people, which means nothing to anyone. That is why the BJP lost. Because no one knows what it stands for any more. It sounds like, looks like, behaves like, and even stinks like the Congress. So why should people vote for it as an alternative?

Apart from people and imagery, the BJP's third problem is its performance. On very few fronts has it made any serious impact. It looks, it sounds washed up. Atal Bihari Vajpayee is a fine leader. So is Lal Kishinchand Advani. But two leaders, however accomplished, do not make a government. A government is made up of many people at many levels who must show competence, commitment, chutzpah. Vajpayee's government, alas, is made up of too many dead bodies. People who have made no impact. People who are not capable of making any impact even if you keep them on their jobs for the next hundred years. If the BJP is to regain its credibility, its old magic, it must swiftly put in place a new A team that can change its image.

Those in charge today are startlingly forgettable. Not many of them have made any impact on the jobs they have held. What is worse, they allow no one to outshine them. The best talent, therefore, remains waiting in the wings. While a disappointed India has to make do with an effete, confused regime that is constantly trapped by its own incompetence. Its laziness, its indecisiveness, its lack of political will. No wonder the voters have sent it such a rude message. A message it can ignore only at its own peril.

Pritish Nandy

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