Bhartiya Janata Party founded in 1980 added yet another feather to its cap when its MP Sampatiya Uike became the 58th MP to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. This is a momentous occassion. Seems Sampatiya Uike was destined for this Historic Feat, And History has been Created. It’s official, the Congress Party has been Pushed to the number 2 spot in Rajya Sabha for the first time ever in the 70-year history of Independent India.
Uike was elected to the Rajya Sabha following a bypoll in Madhya Pradesh which got vacated by the untimely demise of Union Minister, Anil Dave. This is unprecedented in the history of party politics in India as it officially marks the end of the era of the single party domination over Indian polity. This speaks about the extent of party building exercise that has been put into by the party executive.
Rajya Sabha Majority helps BJP in getting rid of the ills that plagued the government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee when the government and the ruling coalition could not muster enough numbers to get across its reforms on both the floor of the houses.
Rajya Sabha Majority means that there would not be any deadlocks in the parliament nor there would be any requirements of a joint session as was necessitated at time of passing of Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act in 2002. Rajya Sabha Majority also eliminates the frequent resorting to the passing of legislations via the ‘ordinance’ route and ensure clean and positive governance. Apart from that this will ensure that the ruling dispensation doesn’t have to face the embarrassment of taking back key amendments in important legislations like the Land Acquisition Bill 2014.
BJP is ruling in 18 out of the 29 states either by itself or through its coalition partners, something that was attributed exclusively to Congress before the 1967 elections after which we saw the emergence of regional satraps and an unstable era of coalition politics. There used to be rampant horse trading on the floor of the house. BJP or the erstwhile Jan Sangh would never have imagined then that they would someday be where Congress was in the 1950-60s.
However, history has never been kind to the BJP. It was for long considered a pariah in the Indian politics with only the Akali Dal, the Shiv Sena and the erstwhile Samta Party under George Fernandes being its stable allies. Everybody distanced itself from the BJP which often led to the party being forced to sit in opposition despite emerging the single largest party. It happened during the state elections of Uttar Pradesh in 1993 and then again in general elections of 1996.
BJP for long was regarded as the party of the Hindi Heartland or the cow belt of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh but with time and the relentless efforts of its dedicated cadre, the BJP extended its reach into Karnataka where it made its first government in the year 2008 . It is again knocking at the doors of power in Karnataka wherein the assembly polls are scheduled for next year.
Apart from that it stitched a rainbow coalition to form governments in Arunachal, Sikkim, Manipur and Assam in a display of some astute political craft which up till now was never ever considered a domain of strength of the BJP. It has also started to gear up for the proposed elections in Mizoram and Tripura that are scheduled to take place next year.
This also adds to the responsibilities of the BJP that they have now become the alternative that the citizens of this country were longing for. Now they can’t be relaxing and be complacent and commit the same errors that the Congress party committed back then. They must fulfill their promises which they have made in their manifesto be it the agenda of development or the agenda of Nationalism or that of Hindutva. The BJP cannot commit the mistakes of 2004 when it backtracked from its pre-poll promises and used to cite explanations of coalition dharma and insufficient numbers in the Rajya Sabha for not driving the agenda of Hindutva.
They have the numbers in Lok Sabha, in the State Vidhan Sabha and they have become the largest party in the Rajya Sabha and inching closer to the magical mark of 123 there also.
No explanation would suffice if they now renege on their promises. Development for millions still means Ram Rajya in the country and Ram Rajya without a Ram Mandir in Ayodhya is as hollow as the ‘India Shinning’ campaign.
