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Armed with intelligence and insights from the grassroot, the party is rolling out its plan in the state. Narendra Modi's rallies are believed to be the pivot on which BJP's revival rests
The best comment on the state of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh came from an 80-year old karyakarta (worker) who insisted he be given a chance to speak. Amid khaats (charpoys) spread out under a big banyan tree, a semi-formal karyakarta sammelan (workers' convention) of the BJP was held in Shamli a few weeks ago. The heart of the sugarcane belt in UP, Shamli is well known for its politics of agrarian militancy and the centre of a brand of Hindu Socialism - if it can be called that - founded by Chaudhary Charan Singh who strode like a colossus in this region during and after the Independence movement. Smoke from hukkahs rose lazily in the dappled sunshine as BJP workers, old and new, discussed plans to revive the party.
One of the oldest workers had come from a distant village. He wanted to stand up and speak. Observing his struggle to even get to his feet, the convenor of the group, a smart young BJP worker armed with an iPad on which he was busy taking notes, said with a hint of impatience: "Dadu aap rehne do (grandpa, you let it be)."
"Bahut door sey chal kar aaya hoon. Hamare saamne aap bacche hain. Kuchh kehna chahta hoon. Mujhe bolne deejiye (I have walked a long distance to reach here. You are still a child in front of me. I have something to say. Let me speak)," he said with stubborn dignity.
Slightly irritated, the young man nodded. The man started speaking, voice quavering at first but becoming clear and strong with confidence as he went on. "There was a time when we used to go from house to house to get people out to vote - not for a candidate but for a cause. It was for the Ram mandir (temple). We sweated blood and tears, took the message of building the Ram mandir to every house collecting the Ram shilas (bricks to build the temple). Our wives collected Ram rotis," he said adding. "Hum sangathan ke saadhan and saadhak the (we were the resource of the organisation and its instruments). Lekin ab hum sanghatan ke liye baadha aur baadhak ban gaye hain (but now we are the roadblocks in the organisation. We are holding it back). Then we were the leaders and the people were the led. Now the people are leading and we are inert and unresponsive, not listening to the voice, not able to judge the padchaap (footsteps). We have to awaken ourselves from our slumber. The people recognise the leader they want. We cannot ignore their voice."
The younger worker stared at his white Nikes, slightly shamefaced. Later he told Business Standard: "That's when I realised how badly BJP had slipped in UP. That old man never criticised any worker or the organisation; he never complained. He blamed himself for sliding into inertia. It is that sloth, that helplessness we need to drive out from the worker to get him in the field again."
The last time BJP was in power in Uttar Pradesh was briefly in 1991 and then from 1997 to 2002. Being kicked around and beaten into submission with no recourse to political power, the party has developed a vested interest in being in opposition. The core political element will not be denied, so some have drifted to other parties and groups. But mostly, the middle-level party cadre has made its peace, resignedly, with the leadership, observing the compromises it is making but not saying a word.
Some said at the meeting that BJP won one western UP seat by striking a deal with the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). "We knew, but we could only watch," said a worker succinctly.
Armed with insights and intelligence of this kind, BJP is on a voyage of self-discovery in UP. Party general secretary Amit Shah has a revival plan. And it is being rolled out now.
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Has anyone noticed the number of public meetings BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has addressed in Uttar Pradesh? Big rallies are the pivot on which the revival of the party rests.
Privately Amit Shah says he has "sava aadmi" (one and one quarter persons) on whom BJP's future in UP is hinged. One has been at the core of the BJP, the other joined the party formally only a few days ago, though informally he has been working with BJP for nearly a year. The quarter of the 'sava' is Kalraj Mishra, former chief of the state unit and still quite knowledgeable about the statewide party apparatus.
But the main sherpa is Kalyan Singh, former chief minister in the glory days of BJP and the Ram mandir movement who was, in a sense, driven out of the party by current BJP president Rajnath Singh. The Rajnath-Kalyan rivalry mimics the rivalry of the two castes: while Kalyan has, in the past, brought to BJP the viscerally anti-Congress Other Backward Classes (OBC), Rajnath has always tried to emerge as BJP's Rajput face in UP. But of the two, it is certainly Kalyan Singh who still has, on his fingertips, the caste, community and interest group configuration of the party in UP.
With these two leaders, the party has been reaching out to the typical middle level worker who is in his 30s and 40s, is sympathetic to BJP, but is inert. Quietly this level of worker has been assured that the senior leadership will be moved to greener pastures, and that their time is round the corner. In this the party is guided by Kalyan Singh whom workers still recall as the man whose punctuality, leadership qualities and familiarity with the organisation was unquestionable.
But what of the power brokers in BJP who will neither lead nor follow nor get out of the way? The answer to neutralising such elements lies in the party's current strategy - of getting Modi to talk to party workers over the head of the intermediaries. Hence, the large public rallies where those in UP who are BJP-minded can get a chance to hear and assess Modi one on one. "Instead of leaders putting pressure on the public, we are trying to create a situation where the public will put pressure on the leaders to get out and work for the party," says a leader closely involved in BJP's UP campaign.
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In UP, as anywhere else, caste is important. But addressing the future and issues of governance are important as well. And being blunt about being a Hindu gives an added edge.
But that said, no matter how much Modi's managers believe that the party is part of the problem in UP and not part of the solution, they are taking care to make sure no feathers are ruffled unnecessarily. It was the party's UP unit's idea that Modi should contest the Lok Sabha election from the state, preferably from Varanasi, which is currently held by Murli Manohar Joshi. The question was: who would ask Joshi to change his constituency? Modi's blunt answer was: "Not I. If it is the UP unit's invitation that I should contest from UP, it is the UP unit's job to request Joshiji to move from the seat. I am not going to be the one to do this."
Similarly the Ghaziabad seat, currently held by Rajnath Singh, should be given to someone else. Hukum Singh, a senior leader who has already lost twice, wants to fight the Kairana seat. Nobody has the guts to suggest to these venerable gentlemen that they should now consider hanging up their boots. "Ultimately it is the Sangh that will have to step in. This task is beyond us," says a BJP leader from UP.
The Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh is completely and comprehensively invol-ved in this election. Middle-aged swayamsevaks who still command some political capital are now coming out to hold meetings, do 'prachar' (preach) and influence decisions. So are leaders of the Dharma Sansad, the gathering of Hindu religious leaders. "It is a bit of a shock sometimes to sit next to a Shankaracharya, to see him pick up the phone and say, 'Arre Narendra [Modi], hamein aisa karna chahiye… (Narendra, here's what I think we should do)'," says a young BJP sympathiser.
The down side, of course, is that in a Modi-centric campaign, the main topic of political discussion is, well, Modi. But frankly, the view in BJP-minded in Uttar Pradesh is: that's what the currency of power currently is. So those who don't like it can just lump it.
