36 PARLIAMENTARIAN l JULY 2019I
was in the midst of a TV discussion
on the eve of 23 May 2019 when
elections results were being declared.
Th e anchor took a break for a live
feed from BJP HQ wherein Amit
Shah was addressing BJP enthusiasts.
Humbled by the massive victory bestowed on
the Party he was thanking the nation.
However, he was not humble in his approach
while making special mention of West
Bengal and Chandrababu Naidu. He
proclaimed that the change of guard in West
Bengal is inevitable and the BJP is all set to
form the government in the state aft er the
assembly election which is due next year.
Following Shah, the tone of PM Narendra
Modi’s address too was humble but its spirit
was vigorous.new BJp-sangh
Both the addresses have one thing in
common:– to target general elections of 2024.
It was a diff erent BJP that I have known so far. Th e message of both the leaders
clearly indicated that the birth of a new BJP has taken place. Th is BJP is not
only a party with a diff erence but it is talking diff erently too. It was staking
claims in very clear terms as a natural incumbent of seat of power in New Delhi.
And this endeavour to stake claim was not under any wrap as done in the past.
It was straight and direct. It was no more keen to talk about the ideas toed by
the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and the BJP in the past.
Abandoning old ideas and picking new ones is not a new phenomenon for
the party. But this new BJP is not picking a new idea. It went back to basics.
Once again it rekindled the idea of Cultural Nationalism, the idea of Akhand
Bharat and the idea of larger Hindu Pariwar and the idea of India as the supreme
power and as a custodian of knowledge and culture which were put in a cold
storage during Vajpayee regime for the sake of running the coalition with ease.
In fact, going back to its root is a paradigm shift. However the birth of New
BJP is not all of a sudden incident and had not happened in a day. Saying
goodbye to Gandhian socialism, integral humanism and minority appeasement
was not at all easy. But during recently held elections, these issues were not even
in the reckoning, which not only helped the BJP immensely but prevented the
opposition to rake up the issue of appeasement to clinch minority votes. It also
paved the way for an election to be free from clutches of Ift ar and fatwas which
have lost their sheen during the election campaign.
Th e current BJP has successfully blended the idea of New India, idea of
cultural nationalism, idea of Akhand Bharat, Idea of Hindu Nationalism and
idea of a greater Hindu Samaj into one to create a consolidated vote bank. It
also mixed aspirations of young India and old India into one. It also redefi ned
India’s world view and the world’s outlook towards India.01
02
03
04
the journey from being
untouchable to a most
preferred party is remarkable
in political history
the new BJp is so concerned
about its future victories
that it decided to increase
its members by 20 per cent
BJp rekindled the idea of
cultural nationalism, the idea
of akhand Bharat and the idea
of larger hindu pariwar
most interesting is the case
of conversion of indian youth
especially first time voters
into BJp’s votaries in 2019
snapshots
saNJaY BecHaN
Sanjay Bechan is a freelance journalist
who started his career with Jansatta
Hindi Daily of Indian Express Group.
Later on, he moved to TV and worked
with Nalini Singh and BAG Filmspolitics|the new BJp