Leaders of the opposition INDI Alliance – what remains of it – constantly complain about the intimidation their party workers face in the field during election time from the BJP and RSS cadres. They ignore the fact that their parties do not have anything like the dedicated volunteers that the BJP has. All those who voted in the recently held municipal elections in Uttarakhand would have noticed how every locality had BJP activists reaching out to them and providing them information about their booths and numbers on the voters’ lists. Forget about similar services from the Congress workers, did that party’s candidates even visit the voters’ homes in their respective wards? So bad is the situation that even the ‘staff’ of former Chief Minister Harish Rawat did not bother to ascertain in time where he was supposed to cast his vote. It is not surprising that many Congress voters similarly remained out of the loop.
The fact is that most of the opposition parties, being ideologically bankrupt and run by dynasties, function on the basis of patronage. A good example of this is how the TMC operates in West Bengal, with constituencies portioned out to ‘contractors’ who have the freedom to do what they like as long as they deliver the votes to the party. It may be recalled that even the Samajwadi Party operated on this basis when in power in UP. It was generally acknowledged that important posts would be parceled out to members of a certain caste, and community.
With all this, how can people be attracted to function as volunteers for a party without adherence to a political belief? BJP volunteers know they are working to bring about the objectives of the Hindutva ideology, not merely to further the political fortunes of their patrons. It is ironic under the circumstances that the opposition is demanding a return to the ballot box. Do they have the workers to thwart any of the traditional practices that were used to ‘fix’ the elections.
While most of these parties are region-based and somewhat peripheral to the main contest, it is necessary for the Congress to revive what remains of its ideology. It has the advantage of having a concept of secularism that would attract the minorities, but what about its traditional followers from the time of Mahatma Gandhi? The ideology being projected by Rahul Gandhi is divisive in its nature, at a time when the objective is to unite. One wonders whether there is even any hope left of recovery.
