BJP needs introspection

We all saw what happened in the elections that concluded recently and its a serious introspection that BJP has to do from here on. As an ardent fan of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I've tried to collate a few of my thoughts on what the BJP has got to do.

Dil jeeto
Delhi has been fortified by Congress to such an extent that it is difficult to win a single seat in the Loksabha (shame on BJP: 7-0 this time for the Congress!!) Even leaders like Sushma Swaraj who traditionally used to contest elections from Delhi had to move to some other place just to get entry into the Loksabha. Reason is as simple as what we normally tend to attribute to: "Progress of the state". Needless to say, Sheila Dixit has done a tremendous job. As it has been traditionally believed whoever wins the Dil will win the country, I find the paraphrase to be very true. BJP seriously has to think in this front and win the Dil (heart) of the country and not run away to greener pastures just for the sake of winning, lest it'd be the same case as of West Bengal which took decades and not mere years to break the fortress of the Left.

Gad banao
As mentioned in my previous point, it is infact those bastions or fortresses which matter the most. Whenever BJP gets the opportunity to be in power, it should stop doing cheap politics of doing operations of "Dal badal" which I'd explain later and get into serious business. By serious business, I mean it should continuously work towards the progress of the state by developing infrastructure, roads, basic facilities like availing drinking water to drought-prone areas etc. If this is taken care of everytime a party returns to power, it'd be fairly simple to make a state as a party's political bastion which would take decades to destroy.

As there's a saying "Jab lehar chalti hai, to gadhe ko khada kiya to woh bhi jeetata hai", meaning "Whenever there's a wave, if a donkey contests for an election, even the donkey would win", BJP first has to create a "lehar" atleast, but I'd also add to say it should also stop fielding "gadhe" (donkeys).

I was having a discussion with one of my friend from Bihar and we were discussing about the "Lalu Raj". He was saying that during his ancestor's time, if a person from an Upper caste visits the house of a Lower caste, the hosts had to give away their seats on the "Chaarpaayi" and sit on the floor. He mentioned that during the 90s, it was Lalu who was totally against it and he worked towards eliminating the caste divide. That's the reason why even criminals won elections during his rule. But over a period of time, he boasted himself to an extent that he started to get a feel within, that all those votes he created would invariably vote for him which was proved wrong.

Yuva factor
BJP has been the party which traditionally is liked by the ABVP. Arun Jaitley and Pramod Mahajan were some of the leaders from the Yuva morcha. But, now, BJP have a dearth of young leaders.

Penetration
BJP traditionally does well in the Hindi speaking states and fails to deliver where in the states where people don't speak or understand Hindi. It needs to create local leaders.

Dal badal
BJP needs to stop intake of the party switchers, I mean "Operation Kamal" which might prove to be costly.

Leadership
As we move into new India, it'll be more driven by youth and guided by the experienced leaders. Hence, it doesn't make sense to hand over leadership to Rajnath Singh or Murli Manohar Joshi or Jaswant Singh. The second rung of leaders Sushma Swaraj, Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitely, Arun Shourie et al not only need to regroup but also should revamp the basic idealogy on which the party runs today. The second rung of leaders should unanimously identify who's going to take charge of the party in the future.