As we close the chapter on Bihar and head towards crucial state elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu next year, it should become clear t...
As we close the chapter on Bihar and head towards crucial state elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu next year, it should become clear that in politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party has a business strategy that plans mergers and acquisitions with the ruthlessness of a booming corporation that intends to become a monopoly.
Partnerships are made to give the national party a toehold and a chance to eventually dominate, through psychological and financial means.
To elaborate, the BJP may have placed Nitish Kumar on the Iron Throne of Bihar, but he’s encircled. It’s a matter of speculation about when the national party will decide to “absorb” his legislators. In Bihar, the BJP actually outdid its well-honed technique of financing independents and splinter parties to wean away small sections of various voter blocs to max the first-past-the-post game with the minimum numbers of actual votes.
In the just-concluded assembly election, the BJP/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cadre occupied the structures of another party, in this instance, the Chirag Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party in order to bring down the votes of its partner, the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United). So not only does the BJP now run itself, but it’s also in the business of running other parties,...
