How CJP is forcing BJP to rethink its tactics
BJP's CJP strategy involves a cautious wait-and-see approach, aiming to expose the new pressure group as politically motivated if it formally aligns with the Opposition
The emerging political dynamics around the CJP pressure group and its potential convergence with the opposition have presented the BJP with new strategic opportunities to counter street protests and reshape political narratives.
The emerging political dynamics around the CJP pressure group and its potential convergence with the opposition have presented the BJP with new strategic opportunities to counter street protests and reshape political narratives.
The emerging political dynamics around the CJP pressure group and its potential convergence with the opposition have presented the BJP with new strategic opportunities to counter street protests and reshape political narratives.
WHEN IT COMES to the Congress, the BJP has a ready counter—the saffron party uses the grand old party’s political past to blunt criticism. But with the CJP, the BJP has no such advantage. Its leaders are young, it has never fought an election and its political identity is still taking shape. A direct attack could even give the group more attention and higher stature. Could that change now?
The CJP is returning to Jantar Mantar to protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, riding high on the success of its agitation over the NEET controversy. The CJP describes itself as an independent pressure group. At the same time, its leaders have said that they were willing to work with political parties on specific issues.
That distinction is important. Leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi has so far not shared a stage with the CJP. A formal appearance together will give the BJP room to argue that the Congress is trying to take ownership of a movement that claims to be independent, and that it needs the CJP’s platform to build a street movement. In politics, that perception can be harmful.
The BJP may wait and see whether such a political convergence takes place. If it does, the party can also argue that the CJP is not as non-political as it claims. And that the purpose is not simply to raise concerns with the government but to keep a political protest alive on the streets.
“The CJP, as far as everybody knows, is an offshoot of the AAP and they are propagating fake news,” says BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal. While people have the right to protest in a democracy, he says the protests must remain peaceful and within the law.
The BJP has experience in dealing with street protests. It has often waited to see whether a movement can sustain before deciding how to respond. The protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act continued for months. The farmers’ agitation lasted much longer and eventually forced the government to withdraw the three farm laws. Other protests have lost momentum or given the government an opportunity to turn the political narrative against them. Take, for instance, the Jawaharlal Nehru University protests in 2016. After controversial slogans were reported on campus, the BJP and the government shifted the debate towards nationalism.
In the latest protests, the BJP has countered the Congress’s charge by pointing to former election commissioners who received honours or government posts under Congress governments. BJP Lok Sabha MP Sambit Patra named K.V.K. Sundaram, Nagendra Singh, M.S. Gill and T.N. Seshan, among others. He also raised the appointment of Navin Chawla as chief election commissioner, accusing the Congress of having its own problems with the independence of the Election Commission.
Regarding the Congress’s claims about the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, the BJP said that of the 13 crore voters said to be affected, 2.8 crore were deceased, 6.8 crore had shifted homes, one crore were duplicate entries and three crore people could not be traced.
With the CJP now taking up the opposition’s CEC cause, it can provide the BJP some ammo. Agarwal says that the closer the CJP comes to the INDIA bloc, the clearer its political intent will become. “That will expose them,” he says, “as having an anti-Modi agenda.”