BJP’S CHALLENGE

 

THE fresh membership drive of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) launched with Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi becoming the first member demonstrates the organisation’s effort tobounceback from the setback in the recent Lok Sabha election. As he launched the drive, Mr. Narendra Modi asserted that the BJP was willing to go any distance to prove itself to be a party dedicated to the national cause over and above the narrow political goals. By itself, this assertion has its own value in the current scenario where most political parties are geared up only for action to grab power. The membership drive, therefore, points to the BJP’s resolve to renew its vigour that appeared to have dimmed a little in the past some time.

 

There is every reason, therefore,to expect a surge of new enthusiasm through the rank and file of the party that has entered an unprecedented consecutive third term in office at the Centre in six decades. The organisational challenges before the BJP are many and unique. Even as it tries to emerge from the recent electoral setbacks, it does not appear to be in a mood to overdo the celebration of having returned to power in a coalition necessitated by lesser numbers of its own members in the Lok Sabha -- a situation that is different from the two earlierexperienceswhen theparty’sownnumbersweregood more than the bare minimum for a majority.

 

Trying to pick up right lessons from that experience, the BJP appears all geared up to enlist greater numbers of members nationwide through the fresh membership drive and instill a new confidence in the heads and hearts of its cadres and supporters. It is obvious that the party’s national leadership hopes toinjectanewleaseoflifeinto theorganisation through the fresh membership drive. The detailed analysis of the state of organisational affairs in the BJP before it faced the Lok Sabha elections shows that the party’sinternal systems had goneweak and had stopped responding toimmediate andurgent stimulus.Thisbecame clear even in Varanasi where Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi himself was seeking election for the third time. His reduced margin of victory showed to the party and the nation that there were gaps in the so-called organisational fortifications for which theBJP has been famous.The details showed that there was no connect between the candidate and the bottom-line cadres in Varanasi -- which otherwise formed legends in electoral politics in the country .

 

The experienceinVaranasi and elsewhere appears tohave shaken the BJP leadership to the roots. Trying to pick up right lessons from those close-shave experiences, the BJP is now going ahead with a fresh membership drive with a hope toenlistcroresofmembers fromcommonpublic.There is no doubt that this drive will give the BJP an additional popular leverage that can be an envy of any other political party. Going by what the Prime Minister said at the launch of membership drive, it can be said safely that the party is determined to get over the bad phase at the earliest. Even as the BJPrectifiesits wronged organisationalmatrices, its leadership may be expected to emerge with new political ploys to shock and surprise the Opposition camp. It is possible, therefore, that in some time from now, newer initiatives from the BJP may hit the political scene of the country. Those initiatives may send shock-waves through the Opposition camp in particular and the country in general. Challenged by the reserves, the BJP may now come with absolutely innovative strategies to capture the nation’s imagination -- as can be sensed from Mr. Narendra Modi’s speech at the membership launch event.