Rajeshwari Deshpande

The recent round of assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana have set in new trends in Indian politics under the leadership of the BJP. These trends consolidate the role of the BJP as a new ruling party; indicate towards unfolding of a new party system in Indian democracy and more immediately also pose key challenges to the regional parties in India. Shiv Sena’s fiasco in the assembly elections in Maharashtra is a case in point. The party suffered in spite of its long term association with the BJP and in spite of its key role in the consolidation of the politics of Hindutva in the state. It suffered because the BJP in its new avatar is all set to neutralise the federal, organizational and ideological challenges that the regional parties like the Shiv Sena represented till date.

The regional parties have dominated the electoral politics in India for over two decades now. During this period they acquired multiple roles as the processes of federalization and regionalization unfolded and as politics acquired both a more plural and a more contentious character. Within the Indian federal system with the Congress party at its apex, the regional parties symbolised both the opposition to the Congress and to the centre. In terms of structuring of the party system, they posed a serious challenge to the idea of the Congress dominance and led the arrival of a truly multiple, more competitive party system. At ideological level, the regional parties played a key role as the politics of backward castes mobilized the marginal groups and challenged the established norms of democratic representation.

The identity politics of this phase was not only about the caste. It was an interesting mix of the politics of Hindutva that preached a majoritarian communal identity, the backward caste politics that had an implicit counter hegemonic agenda, gender issues that were largely non-political in nature and even of the completely mute claims of welfare that mostly remained unarticulated in the wake of cross party consensus over economic issues. Throughout this phase, the intricate claims of identity politics were often articulated though the regional prism and thus regional identities added yet another important layer to the claims of identity and representation. At all these levels, region remained an important location of democratic contestations and also for the shaping of democratic majorities. The democratic majorities of the past two decades were plural and contested majorities as parties struggled to bring together diverse and oppositional interest groups. The shaping of these majorities often made politics more messy but also contained mute possibilities of further democratization of the polity. The possibilities remained mute and distant since the actual politics of most of the regional parties did not in any way depart from the established norms of politics but in fact happily chose to be a part of it. And yet, the sprawling of regional parties symbolised and kept alive an oppositional space in Indian democracy.

The rise of the BJP as the new establishment in Indian politics has potentials to neutralize the oppositional democratic space symbolized so far by the regional parties. The potentials seem to be unfolding at various levels. After its successful conquers in Maharashtra and Haryana, indications are that the BJP is also likely to win the states like Jharkhand, Bihar and Delhi. It has already unsettled the regional forces in states like Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and to a large extent in Uttar Pradesh. On the other hand, in the BJP governed states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Gujarat not only the regional parties but the Congress itself also has been completely marginalized. Biju Janaata Dal is an outlier in this pattern so far but then it never had any important oppositional role to play at the national level. Shiv Sena and Akali Dal, become two curious cases in the BJP version of politics. Both these parties have now served as long term loyalists of the party and willing allies of the politics of Hindutva. However, both these parties have also preserved and cherished their regional locations in politics with all its strengths and weaknesses since their politics flourished in competition with that of the BJP along with its anti- Congress stance. Their version of politics is under threat with the BJP successfully closing the gap between the national and the regional and between the establishment and the opposition.

As in case of Maharashtra and Haryana, the single handed electoral successes of the BJP tend to neutralize the federal challenges. This will have important implications for the politics of regional parties in those states like Odisha where the BJP may not be actually able to govern. This will also have implications for the structuring of the party system as a new kind of single party dominance is established. However it will not be a resurrection of the old Congress system. The old Congress system was based on an accommodative logic that provided a potential scope for oppositional politics within it. This also applies to the elite ideological consensus of the early phase of Congress dominance that gained its legitimacy from its pro- poor and secular tilt. The accommodative logic also essentially construed democratic majorities as plural and as balancing the opposing interest groups. This logic gets subverted and is successfully neutralized in the BJP version of politics that is based on an emerging hegemonic consensus of the aspiring and confident new middle class in India. This version facilitates a new construct of a democratic majority that shares the developmental aspirations beyond regionally limited cultural, social and caste identities and thus undermines the plural nature of the polity and marginalizes identity politics. In the secular- communal ideological divide of the Congress period, the politics of parties like the Shiv Sena, benefitted in its association with the cause of Hindutva which also served as a challenge to the established ideological framework of secularism. The new politics of the BJP may take over and neutralize this anti- establishment stance with its gradual implant of social conservatism as the new mainstream ideology. At all these levels, the emerging structure of party and political competition in Indian democracy seems to be marginalizing the role of the regional parties.