The BJP System & liberation from dynastic politics

HAVING completed a distinctive journey in India's history over the last century, the RSS completes 100 years this Dasehra. And October 21 marks the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, the BJP’s previous incarnation. Students of democracy in India cannot ignore this 75-year journey of the Jan Sangh-BJP; it offers essential insights into the evolution of a new and unique party system that could well be termed as the BJP System.

Those opposing the BJP are asking questions about the delay in the election of the BJP's new president. Home Minister Amit Shah responded to this question during a debate in the Lok Sabha recently. He said that for the largest political party of the world, it was natural to take a little longer time in electing its president.

Since most other parties in India are dynasty-based, the process is far easier -- no one beyond the family can even dream of leading the party.

The BJP has been emphatic about the liberation of democratic politics from the clutches of dynasties because it believes that dynastic parties ruin the health of democracy. This has also been proved in India's neighbourhood as most dynastic parties in these countries have lost credibility.

But dynastic politics is not the only ailment most democracies are suffering from today. Recent popular upsurges witnessed in the Netherlands, France, Nepal, Indonesia and Bangladesh reflect the acute bankruptcy of political parties in these countries.

In most of these countries, parties have abandoned their ideological identity. Terms like Left and Right in the context of economic models have long lost their relevance. But even beyond these binaries, parties must retain their distinctive ideological identities and agendas as democratic institutions.

In the absence of such an identity, most parties in many democracies are looking alike, speaking alike, governing alike and also indulging in similar styles of politics.

In a situation like this, voters feel deprived of the element of choice, which is central to the idea of democracy; it pushes them to frustration. No wonder, Kathmandu, The Hague and Jakarta witnessed an unprecedented outburst of frustration. To a certain extent, the pent-up anger against politicians is also against poor democratic governance there. Recent happenings in Europe and India's greater neighbourhood carry a clear lesson for the global community: democracies must deliver.

And for democracies to deliver, the first and foremost requirement is to fix the political parties, making them more structured, accountable, transparent and capable. Preventing the decline of political parties as a democratic institution is the only way to reinvigorate democracy.

Even in the US, party decline seems unstoppable. American political scientist Everett Carll Ladd Jr had famously commented in the late last century that (of the two major US parties), "neither can achieve sustained coherence in the development and implementation of public policy. Neither possesses a public philosophy or pragmatic approach that rallies the populace to its standard (and )…the partisan and electoral drift continues."

A recent study on political parties in Central America, Panama and the Dominican Republic also reflects this overall trend towards decline. Many political scientists also believe that parties need to reform to cease being simply electoral machines as well as to overcome vices, such as corruption, patronage and nepotism.

Political parties have failed to maintain legitimacy in public perception as also their organisational vitality, prompting researchers to see them as part of the problem and not the solution. Maybe, that is why The Economist was prompted, three decades ago, to describe parties as 'empty vessels'.

Happily, in India, political party reforms have been deliberated upon at several occasions. Many, like the noted senior journalist, the late Inder Jit, had mooted a law governing the functioning of political parties on the lines of the West German Basic Law. This, according to him, was a recognition of two basic points: 'First, political parties themselves must function democratically before they could be expected to run the system democratically. Second, blind trust in the free play of forces could prove disastrous.'

Evidence suggests that proper institutionalisation of intra-party democracy goes a long way in evolving a stable party system. Thus, the fragmentation of polity has its own consequences.

As early as 1960, the 15th Law Commission in India had reviewed the Representation of People Act, 1951. The report suggested some legal framework concerning the functioning of political parties in India.

The commission recommended the introduction of 'internal democracy, financial transparency and accountability in the working of political parties by law.' It also pointed out that 'a political party which does not respect democratic principles in its internal working cannot be expected to respect those principles in the governance of the country.'

About a quarter century ago, the National Commission to Review the Functioning of Constitution, led by Justice MN Venkatachaliah, proposed a comprehensive law regulating the registration and functioning of political parties and suggested that a comprehensive law, possibly named the Political Parties (Registration and Regulation) Act, be enacted.

The Congress, the Grand Old Party of India, has evolved as an all-encompassing hold-all party, resolutely avoiding taking a clear ideological position. Political scientists like Rajni Kothari had eulogistically referred to this phenomenon as the Congress System.

However, now political scientists must study the BJP System as it may perhaps help some non-BJP parties in some way. The BJP System’s key features include the following: the ability to offer policy alternatives that are relevant and unique; systemic development of cadres as human resources; a smoothly-run functional infrastructure and the ability to mobilise financial resources legitimately.

With an almost pan-India electoral presence, the BJP System is a living organisational network. What makes it unique are party-managed institutions for cadre training and policy research, a provision for women's quota in organisational positions, regular organisational elections and a big no to dynastic succession.

Political parties across the world could adopt the same to avoid the threat of extinction.

Vinay Sahasrabuddhe is ex-MP of Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra, BJP.