42 PARLIAMENTARIAN l juLy 2019
but that did not help the party much.
However it helped Vajpayee to get a
liberal face and a greater acceptability
in national politics which helped him to
lead two successive coalition
governments from 1998-2004.
Elections of 2004 proved to be a
debacle despite India Shining Campaign
and the BJP had to sit in opposition for
ten long years.
In 2014 rising on wave of anti-
incumbency and Modi’s positioning as
an alternate to UPA misrule BJP came
back to power with full majority. But it
decided to stick to its coalition dharma
following the footsteps of Vajpayee.
However at the same time, it also
decided to change its outlook totally.
After landslide victory in 2014. Amit
Shah was made BJP head which proved
game changer. Shah and Modi realized
and recognized that politics without
power is a lifeless object. The new BJP
has tweaked the proposition of “NationFirst, party second and self-last” as
“Nation first power must.”
This new BJP knows how to tackle its
opponents. We have seen the bonhomie
between the Congress and NDA during
Vajpayee’s regime. Now it does not fussy
about that any more. To destroy its
enemies it can go beyond the so called
culture of mutual respect. It’s not shying
away from taking up a fight to finish. It
is not apologetic in claiming and
working in a direction to make India
Congress Mukt. It is not shying away in
taking legal actions against Gandhi
family. Issues related with political
courtesy are now a matter of the past.
The advent of the New BJP after
victory in General elections in 2019 is a
natural corollary of the churning which
took place in the BJP between 2014
-2019 that power and party are two
inseparable organs of the politics and
politics without power is a life without
soul.Departure from the policy of “one
person one post” is an evidence of the
same. BJP always adhered to the policy
of one man, one post since its beginning.
However recent elevation of JP Nadda
as working President of the party and
retention of Shah on the top slot is a
clear cut statement that BJP has
changed. Nation and elections are its
top two priorities. From single digit
number in the Lok Sabha in 1984, the
party has successfully scored 303 seats
in the House of 545 in 2019. But even
then it’s not complacent in approach. As
Amit Shah described recently that the
BJP is yet to reach its peak and till it
reaches the top, there is no full stop. It’s
always on move. The statement of LK
Advani describing the BJP is very apt
and explains new BJP in right
perspective, “It has risen to become one
of the strongest national-level parties in
the country based on its progressive
agenda of focusing on overall speedy
growth of the nation. The party has
always remained indefatigable in its
approach to national unity, integrity,
identity and strength through its
individual and national character. The
BJP, which is nurtured by and akin to
the Rashtria Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS),
is wedded to India’s intrinsic identity
and cultural fabric of unity and
distinctiveness that have been the
hallmark of this great country and its
people for millennia. The BJP, today, is
all set for a great leap forward which can
bring about a paradigm-shift in the life
of every Indian, so much so as to rewrite
the history of this great nation in a way
that its future generations would be
proud of. Even the party’s detractors
now believe that BJP has transformed
into an ‘unstoppable’ force.” Echoing
the views expressed by its patriarch, the
BJP is now converted it into an
organization which is born to rule
with a concept that Nation first, Power
Must.The rss is happy ThaT nrc is Being implemenTed
and minoriTy appeasemenT has gone. The rss’
long cherished idea of a casTeless Broad-
Based hindu socieTy is Taking shape, arTicle
370 and 35a will also go soonpolitics|the new BJp