There is a new Congress in town and it’s the Bharatiya Janata Party

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with BJP National President Amit Shah | PTI

Congress, which ruled India for 55 years, is becoming a role model for BJP as it eyes a similar stint at the helm.

Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had once set out to achieve a “Congress-mukt Bharat”, but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is increasingly becoming a replica of what they wanted to rid the country of.

The BJP has, for sure, replaced the Congress as the single most dominant party in India, but has, in the process, assimilated many attributes the opposition party has been known for— the high command-ist culture, premium on loyalty and sycophancy, promotion of leaders with no mass base, nepotism, and pervasive cliques around power centres, you name it.

In an incisive article last week, my colleague Ruhi Tewari wrote how one has started getting a sense of déjà vu as the last year of the Narendra Modi government has started resembling that of Dr Manmohan Singh’s.

It would be premature to jump to any conclusions though, as even Modi’s detractors concede that he is Teflon-coated; there is no evidence yet to suggest any erosion in his public image despite implosions in one institution after another.

This factor should have impelled the BJP to reinforce its brand image — or whatever is left of it — as the party with a difference. On the contrary, it appears to have accelerated the process of the BJP’s ‘Congressisation’.

The party that ruled India for 55 years is becoming a role model for BJP leaders who believe it’s their turn to rule the country for 50 years.

‘Modiji ko Jai Shri Ram’

Speeches at the two-day convention of the BJP’s youth wing, the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), in Hyderabad over the weekend were a testimony to the influence the Congress has had even on young BJP leaders.

The gist of young Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb’s speech was how Modi had become the “messiah of the poor of the world”. “Amit bhai ko ‘Jai Shri Ram’… Modiji ko ‘Jai Shri Ram…” was how MP Anurag Thakur started his speech Saturday.

Deb, of course, has reasons to be grateful to Modi and Shah. They appointed him the chief minister despite his rival, a senior BJP leader who supervised the party’s poll management in the state, threatening at an internal meeting attended by Shah that he would take poison if Deb was given the top job in the state, say party insiders.

The three-day BJYM meeting that was expected to discuss the party’s agenda for the youth turned out to be a Modi-centric exercise, with most speakers, including many senior Cabinet ministers and chief ministers, taking turns to shower encomium on the Prime Minister.

Between sessions, the ‘NaMo Yuva’ song was played and the ‘star cast’ of Chalo Jeete Hain, a film inspired by Modi’s childhood, was invited to the dais Sunday.

The only discordant note, though veiled, seemed to have come from union minister Nitin Gadkari, when he said that the BJP always functioned on the basis of its ideologies and principles, and not in any vyakti or person’s name.

Yes-men have a field day

Like in the Congress, yes-men have come to occupy important positions in the party.

Look at the list of BJP office-bearers and even ministers picked by Shah to carry out his plans in states. Most of them haven’t won a single election.

Let’s look at the list of the party’s national general secretaries, the most important position after the BJP president. Bhupendra Yadav is the BJP’s general secretary in charge of the politically crucial states of Bihar and Gujarat, but he has never contested an election — that is, if one discounts the Rajya Sabha elections.

Anil Jain, general secretary in charge of Chhattisgarh and Haryana, has never contested an election. Nor have P. Muralidhar Rao, general secretary in charge of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and Arun Singh, general secretary in charge of Odisha.

This list of never-contested-never-elected top leaders of the BJP gets much longer if one includes ministers who are picked by Shah for poll management.

Human resource development minister Prakash Javadekar, for instance, was recently appointed election in-charge for Rajasthan. His credentials for the job — two terms in the Maharashtra Legislative Council and two in the Rajya Sabha. Just imagine two-term chief minister Vasundhara Raje, the only BJP leader with mass appeal in Rajasthan, taking lessons in poll management from Javadekar!

The irony is, many BJP leaders have strong objections to indirectly elected Rajya Sabha members vetoing legislations passed by the Lok Sabha because, they contend, the latter represents the will of the people.

Premium on loyalty and friendship

Look at the list of chief ministers — those who have come to occupy the post under the Modi-Shah regime.

Indira Gandhi had set out to demolish satraps in the Congress to consolidate her position at the Centre. The Congress chief ministers she hand-picked owed their chairs to their loyalty to her, and not to their popularity as a leader.

From 2014 onwards, Modi and Shah have hand-picked CMs — though with the apparent objective to develop new leadership —but most of them have proved to be a liability for the party.

Lack of internal democracy

There was a time when there were serious consultations within the party over issues.

Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections in 2014, Amit Shah had visited Arun Jaitley in hospital around midnight to discuss whether the party should go it alone as the Shiv Sena was flexing its muscle demanding more seats.

It was Jaitley who weighed in favour of the alliance and that became the party line. BJP insiders say that consultations still happen, “but they happen to secure pro forma endorsement of decisions already taken”.

Most of the internal party meetings go one way now, on the lines of the weekly BJP parliamentary party meetings when Parliament is in session.

In the first few months, Modi, Shah or some senior minister in their presence addressed the MPs and the latter were allowed to ask questions or seek clarifications.

They have been reduced to being mute audiences now, just as the Congress MPs have long been at the parliamentary party meetings.

Like in the Congress, the appointment of even a district BJP chief is cleared by the party’s national president. Like in the Congress, it’s the BJP chief who would decide when to reshuffle the Maharashtra cabinet and who to induct or drop. Not that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis would feel slighted.

The many Congresses of India

Things are no different in other parties. Bahujan Samaj Party leaders don’t even share their views with one another on an issue until Mayawati speaks or issues instructions.

Biju Janata Dal MPs remain non-committal on any bill in Parliament until they hear from Naveen Patnaik. And the same goes for most other parties.

Therefore, the Congressisation of the BJP may not set any alarm bells ringing in the saffron party at this stage.

As long as the Congress had towering leaders with the mass appeal to get the party elected, the centralisation of power and undermining of democratic norms, values and processes in the party did not cause any immediate concern.

The BJP has one in Modi today. But what happens to such a party in the absence of such a leader or when his or her charisma wanes? That’s a lesson the BJP can draw from the Congress.