Karnataka lessons for Congress and BJP

Advani’s memoirs, My Country, My Life, vividly describes how, during his decade-long stint (1947-1957) as an RSS pracharak and Jana Sangh functionary in Rajasthan, he used to travel by bus, camel and, occasionally, on foot.

Deshpande belonged to this generation of pioneering party-builders. He groomed scores of party activists, like B.S. Yeddyurappa, who has now become the chief minister of Karnataka, and a much younger Ananth Kumar, a student leader who became one of the pillars of the BJP in the state. He earned nothing for himself, except the goodwill and gratitude of his colleagues, which is reflected in the fact that the BJP’s main office in Bangalore bears his name.

It is necessary to recall the foundational ideals and samskaras of the BJP in Karnataka because they contain lessons both for others and for the party itself in its hour of triumph and celebration. As far as others are concerned, they should know that the BJP’s success — its tally has reached from four MLAs in 1989 to 110 in 2008 — is not a flash in the pan but the culmination of long years of determined and persistent effort. It steadily expanded its social and geographical base and consciously shed its image of being the southern branch of an essentially north Indian party. It allied with the Janata Dal, which had emerged as the main challenger to the Congress hegemony in the 1980s, but did not lose sight of the need to increase its own independent strength through mass agitations and ceaseless organisational work. And when the Janata Dal’s decline began, owing mainly to infighting among its leaders, the BJP deftly positioned itself as the only genuine alternative to the Congress.

What made a significant contribution to the BJP’s success in the recent assembly election is that it did not hesitate to project Yeddyurappa, its mass leader, as its chief ministerial candidate. In doing so, the BJP’s central leadership demonstrated that it trusts its state-level mass leaders and views them as an important source of strength. In contrast, the Congress culture is marked by its dynastic leadership’s intense distrust of the party’s popular and capable leaders in states. Indeed, the Congress party’s base in Karnataka began to shrink when Indira Gandhi started to clip the wings of stalwarts such as S. Nijalingappa, Devraj Urs and Ramakrishna Hegde and Rajiv Gandhi publicly humiliated Veerendra Patil, another party veteran. Sonia Gandhi has continued this injurious tradition.

However, the BJP too has to learn some important lessons, which face the danger of being forgotten in the euphoria of victory. Power is an intoxicant for any party. Under its influence it is easy to lose sight of the ideals that sowed the seeds of the BJP in Karnataka, the hopes it has generated among the people of the state, and the promises it has made to the voters. The first casualty is often the ministers’ and MLAs’ contact with the masses and party workers. It is a malady that is now greatly exacerbated by the malignant influence of ill-gotten money and flashy lifestyles, which simply cannot be condoned in a party nurtured by the likes of Bhaurao Deshpande.

Too often, power is also a divisive force. Persons who work together to attain power for the party tend to fall apart once that goal is achieved. The BJP has paid a heavy price in many states due to the erosion of mutual trust among leaders at various levels and the resultant lack of unity in thought and action.

An important reason for the BJP’s success in Karnataka was its leaders’ display of unity. For its government to succeed, its leaders must learn to work together with the same spirit of unity for the larger goal of taking the state forward on a path of all-round and accelerated progress.

sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com