In Race to 7 RCR, Maximum Leaders Depend on Minimum Fuglemen to Succeed
The trend of corporate mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances
are experiencing a sunset moment. Instead, the season for political
mergers and acquisitions has opened. Such opportunistic deals are
occuping primetime news hours more than corporate alliances of the past.
With market leaders like BJP and Congress exhibiting zetetic zeal in
acquiring new caste and community markets, the price of picayune
political outfits have hit the roof. The market capitalisation of
sinking political organisations has exceeded their net worth, thanks to
massive demand from national parties. Prominent brand masters like
Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi are desperately seeking alliances to
either retain their market share or expand it by gobbling up small
players. Neither national party holds more than 40 per cent of the
electorate market. In spite of pan-India visibility, neither has a
significant presence in states that send over 250 MPs to Lok Sabha. Even
some regional parties are scouting for trophies as window displays to
attract fence-sitters. As the countdown to battle 2014 begins, it has
dawned on all that battles of the ballot cannot be won on banal
ideological and individual-driven charters. The new mantra to win the
Lok Sabha polls seems to be ‘Forget Development, Welcome the Caste and
Community Coalition’.
After acting pricey, both Rahul and Modi
have realised that any dream of capturing 7 RCR will remain a mirage
unless regional satraps and caste/community leaders join them in selling
their brands. Surprisingly, BJP initiated the first move. It was under
the illusion that Modi will move the market like Dhoni, Bachchan, Salman
or Priyanka do for brands they promote. After addressing 70-odd rallies
from Kerala to Tripura, Modi and his sponsors seem to have realised
that he alone is not enough to convert visible popularity into votes.
BJP needed local leaders and vote mobilisers to go that extra mile to
the booth. After having failed to win over any of the big leaders such
as Mamata Banerjee, Naveen Patnaik, Mayawati, Jayalalithaa and
Chandrababu Naidu, BJP decided wooing failed caste leaders is the only
option to erase impression that the party isn’t able to garner new
allies. The total worth of BJP’s new acquisitions and mergers is
unlikely to create a winning tally. For the past four months, it has
hawked Modi as the panacea for all ills that plague Indian politics and
economics. Through expensive tech campaigns, Modi was projected as the
leader who would pull India out of a mess. The feedback from huge
rallies and small groups of targeted audiences had given Modi and
sponsors the impression that BJP and its PM candidate don’t need
alliances. Rajnath Singh told me in an interview that NDA needs no
allies to form a government because Modi’s leadership was enough. The
next day, however, he and his messengers were striking deals with all
and sundry. Nitin Gadkari wooed Dalit leader Ramdas Athawale to join the
NDA bandwagon. For the sake of a fading Dalit satrap, the party denied
Rajya Sabha re-nominations to dedicated leaders. The best joke of all
was the induction of Ram Vilas Paswan in Bihar, which the BJP claims to
be its new bastion. The two leaders collectively do not count for more
than 4 per cent of the total vote. In Tamil Nadu, BJP has been panting
to get Vanniar caste-dominated PMK to join NDA, ignoring pending
criminal cases. It brought back former Karnataka chief minister B S
Yeddyurappa to regain Lingayat votes. The clear fiat to BJP’s state
leaders is to spot fringe parties to be shanghaied to NDA.
Both
national parties have used corporate and NGO interlocutors to bring SP,
TMC, AIADMK, BJD and TDP closer, but none of the regional outfits have
bothered to return calls. Instead, Mulayam Singh Yadav took the lead in
corralling most of the non-national parties on one platform to forge a
pre-poll alliance. None of them are in competition in any state. It is
only the Left, which stands to gain if such an alliance is midwifed
because it would then get seats in states where it lacks a chance. Since
forward and dominant castes in the big states show no interest in
either national party, BJP is randomly picking up leaders known not for
their achievements but for their caste or symbolic value. The party
readmitted backward class leader Kalyan Singh not for his track record
but considering his caste pull. It is an irony that the party which
began its campaign as one that stood for decisive leadership and good
governance is now chasing tainted and failed leaders.
Meanwhile,
Congress and its supreme leaders don’t mind giving tickets to those
whose reputations are sullied by judicial action and investigation. They
represent only caste and community and are not responsible for
transparent governance. BJP to prove its USP, has embraced superannuated
controversial civil, police and army officers. If those who do not
honour democracy and transparency become prominent instruments of a
party’s growing acceptability, it reflects badly on its popular
commitment. In the past few months, over half-a-dozen retired babus have
joined the party. All the state mongers are beneficiaries of UPA’s
liberal munificence and even got plum postings. Unlike AAP, which is
recruiting and co-opting those who have rebelled against the system, BJP
and Congress prefer the brotherhood of compromisers and opportunists.
While the former nets fair weather birds, the latter has so far failed
to acquire new parties or even discredited caste and community leaders.
The trend is clear. The maximum leaders now depend on minimum fuglemen
to succeed.
prabhuchawla@newindianexpress.com; Follow me on Twitter @PrabhuChawla
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