United Colours Of BJP

Rolls on, the BJP juggernaut aided, abetted and enriched by a sea of faces who were till recently in the opposite camp

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

In the evolutionary history of life-forms, there has always been a curious phenomenon: species that dominate the ecology. Numerically, and in their capacity to impart changes on the ecosystem itself. Ideology may seem a vastly different field from biology-and it is indeed reductionist to draw a line from one to the other but something unfolding on the Indian landscape over the last decade begs the comparison. If ideas exist in a space of contestation, locked in mutual combat, the spectacular growth of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the reign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows us a clear winner in that crowded arena. If seen as a singular organism-a metaphor that the party's tightly-knit structure invites-it looms over all other political life-forms. But that misses a key nuance. The jaw-dropping growth of the BJP has a critical feature built into it: the inclusion of others into The Singularity. Whether by conversion, cooption, appropriation or predation, citadels have been breached, self-contained political zones cracked open, and a whole roster-call of political figures from diverse backgrounds initiated into the fold. These political migrants seemingly exercised the sole option open to them if they wished to survive and thrive: join the congregation. You could call it Rex Lex-might is right-or political Darwinism. But its effect is that Saffron is now internally a Rainbow. This phase-the United Colours of the BJP, so to speak-provides a window to look at the fascinating evolution of the world's biggest political party.