By Devsurabhee Yaduvanshi

THE answer to Bharatiya Janata Party’s multiple and successive wins is not a singular one, but one that comes with several explanations. Firstly, over time, the BJP has managed to create a secure monolithic voter base that firmly believes in their conservative, far right and Hindi, Hindu, Hindutva ideology.
This is by no means an easy feat, and is an outcome of a nearly century long, consistent effort at the grassroots level by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the party’s alma mater and the main body that operates as a thought reformation cult, brainwashing people’s minds with alternative reality i.e. fake narratives.
This thought reformation cult under the RSS draws inspiration from Nazi Germany, Hitler’s modus operandi and some elements from Mussolini. What the RSS’ reformation cult and its political arm (BJP) have achieved together is social engineering based on targeting the basest of human impulses which permeate from the reptilian part of our brain, namely anger, tribalism, jingoism, misogyny, xenophobia and intolerance towards diversity.
Needless to say they have created an intergenerational army of brainwashed individuals over several decades, whose minds and actions are under their control at all times, merely a dog whistle away from wreaking havoc of every kind!
Another noteworthy subset feature of this monolithic voter base is that the BJP doesn’t take their core voters for granted; there is constant engagement with this voter base by the party and fuelling of hatred through increasingly sinister, polarizing narratives, divisive legislation and a variety of other insidious activities undertaken by the regime in power. Of course the creation and maintenance of a personality cult in the form of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in tandem with all of the afore mentioned keeps core voters hooked like drug addicts.

CORE VOTERS 18-20%
HOWEVER, this base of monolithic voters, which stands roughly between 18-20% of the total Indian voters, is not the sole reason behind BJP’s electoral successes. The second reason why this party succeeds is through their strategy of intense and extreme polarization coupled with fragmenting of the secular and undecided voters by demonizing the opposition through its power of creating and maintaining false narratives in the public domain.
This again has been a specialty of the BJP, achieved by their hypnotic control over mainstream media outlets, a hyperactive IT cell, thousands of troll farms, along with on ground activation events of attacking minorities and their places of worship using allied arms of the Sangh Parivar.
This is also largely facilitated by the undermining of independent Constitutional institutions like the Election Commission of India which make up mute spectators. This was succinctly demonstrated by the fact that in the recent assembly elections in 5 states Indian National Congress polled more actual votes in total (4.92 crore) compared to BJP (4.81 crore), but due to fragmentation of votes, the BJP still came out on top, winning in multiple states.
Divide and rule is the chosen modus operandi of BJP and is by far the foremost reason behind its many electoral successes, despite polling lesser number of votes in total.

SINISTER REFORMATION
THE third and essential reason behind their electoral success emanates from the first reason. The sinister thought reformation cult of the RSS has led to the creation of a rock solid “sangathan” or party rank of dedicated, brainwashed workers, who follow orders, without much room for dissent.
That does not mean that the BJP isn’t a victim of factionalism within its ranks. By far it is afflicted by the same ills as any other party, but when the times comes, a dog whistle from the top pulls the ranks together to work for achieving electoral success.
Another feature of this “sangathan” is that they are always election ready even after coming to power, micromanaging booth level management down to single pages of the electoral rolls; they never stop engaging, nor planning for a moment, and keep creating and pushing narratives to keep people charged. It should come as no surprise then that a party that expends so much energy and resources on being perpetually election ready, it then has no energy or foresight left for actual administration or proper legislation. But that’s another conversation for another time.
When one analyses the many reasons behind BJP’s successes, keeping aside its conservative, regressive ideology for a second, we understand that it’s not just a party but a well-oiled electioneering machine, ever ready for electoral battle. It is by design a machine that takes inputs from professionals from an array of specialized fields, combines them with adept social engineering, plus boots on the ground which churn out successive wins.
From pandering to the worst human emotions, to fickle tokenism, castiest tropes, extreme divisiveness and downright unconstitutional actions of diluting federalism, the BJP runs on the fundamentally flawed philosophy of doing whatever it takes, and somehow this works. It works because people at large are flummoxed, scared, and even confused by the perpetually manufactured systemic chaos, coupled with crippling inflation that people to battle daily to manage their life. Who has the time to speak up, when too busy making ends meet for yourself and your family?

BURNING QUESTION
THIS brings us to the burning natural question: What can the opposition do to tackle this monster of an electioneering machine?
In the words of Rahul Gandhi we have to remind ourselves that this is not a fight between two national parties, but a more fundamental tussle between two very different ideologies. Whilst the BJP stands for conservatism, far right fundamentalism, and dilution of federalism, the Indian National Congress (INC) and similar parties stand for progressive, socialist, welfare and a broadly federalist ideology.
This distinction needs to be very clear as we prepare and move towards the fast approaching 2024 general elections. It’s not just about parties anymore, but a larger and much more serious conversation about saving the country from an irreversible corrosion of democratic and constitutional values and ethics that are in danger of being completely obliterated by the BJP.
Indian society, its communal harmony, our entire polity and economic wellbeing are at stake. This needs to be restored to centre stage in every narrative by the opposition parties going forward, and every seat sharing calculation or negotiation between alliance partners needs to be centred around optimization for forming a winning coalition — rather than which party is more important. We can make the narrative positive and provide hope to the people for believing in something aspirational, versus only engaging in defensive strategies or trolling.

LEARNING FROM BJP
SECONDLY, learning from the example of BJP, opposition parties need to heavily invest in creating well-organized dedicated party ranks that work around the clock in voter outreach initiatives rather than relying on haphazard, undisciplined fiefdoms or personality cults within parties. This is non-negotiable.
Include professionals and others who can help organize and aid this process of reaching out to undecided, frustrated voters, by placing the right people in the right positions based on competency; touch base with loyal voters, and ultimately sit and negotiate with different stakeholders across the board. Hear them out. Today’s voter is not going to automatically vote for the opposition just because they’re disgruntled with the BJP, hence we need to stop taking people for granted.
Thirdly, provide the public with a fresh slate of young, dynamic, first or second generation competent leaders. Give them the chance to fight elections. The Telangana victory for INC has made it abundantly clear that a first generation, dynamic, young and charismatic leader like Revanth Reddy is someone today’s voter connects with and wants for a leader.
This was also the case in Karnataka where BJP dynasts were voted out and replaced by first generation, competent politicians of INC like Siddaramaiah and DK Sivakumar. Feudal fiefdoms, personality cults and the general entitlement that comes with political dynasties are fast going out of fashion with the public. Hence, we either adapt to people’s changing preferences, or become obsolete ultimately.

CONCLUSION
IN conclusion, it is noteworthy how the BJP has optimised itself to be a ruthless electioneering machine. We can surely learn several lessons in organising ourselves better from them without becoming a thought reform cult ourselves, while preserving our democracy, ideology and principles. The “do whatever it takes” policy of the BJP whilst being highly effective, has severe negative ramifications for the future of our federal democracy. If we can take just that work ethic of exhausting every resource to win, positively, without hurting democratic values and processes, for sure we will see a regime change in the very near future. It is time to buckle up, pull up socks and get ready for the grand finale.