Anurag Bhadoria Interview: 'The BJP Won't Be Able to Break SP'

A democracy does not become stronger simply because the party in power becomes stronger. Democracy is strengthened when the Opposition is also strong. But what we are witnessing today is a deliberate attempt to weaken the Opposition. And when you weaken the Opposition, what are you really trying to achieve? You are trying to create a political monopoly.

The BJP repeatedly accuses other parties of promoting dynastic politics and lacking internal democracy. But where is internal democracy within the BJP itself? Is there anyone beyond two or three leaders whose opinion really matters? Does anyone else have a say? Today, chief ministers are virtually chosen through directives from the top leadership. The BJP lectures everyone else about democracy, but it should first ask whether democracy exists within its own organisation.

This is because the BJP wants to subvert the people’s mandate. The people already delivered the verdict. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, they reduced the BJP to 240 seats. The voters did not give the BJP a majority. Instead of respecting that mandate, they are now trying to manufacture numbers by stealing MPs from Opposition parties. Take the Trinamool Congress [TMC]. Its MPs were elected on Mamata Banerjee’s symbol and on the party’s ideology. The people voted for them because they represented the TMC. If, after winning the election, those MPs abandon that ideology and join the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, they are not merely changing parties—they are betraying the mandate that the people gave them.

Leaders can defect. But leaders and the people are not the same. A politician may change sides, but that does not mean the public has changed its mind. The BJP understands this. It knows that the people are not fully behind it. The 2024 election made that abundantly clear. That is why, instead of relying solely on electoral support, it is trying to strengthen itself by engineering defections.

I don’t agree. Regional parties are often far more democratic because their leaders remain accessible to party workers. A worker can meet the leadership regularly. They can discuss organisational issues, personal difficulties and political strategy. There is a direct relationship between the cadre and the leadership. On any given day, Akhilesh Yadav meets at least 2,000 people and he knows the names of most of the workers he meets. Can the BJP honestly claim that today? Does an ordinary party worker have that kind of access to its central leadership? The BJP talks endlessly about dynastic politics. But look at its own conduct. Whenever it suits its political interests, it has absolutely no hesitation in embracing parties that are themselves led by political families. Look at the Lok Janshakti Party! Is Shiv Sena not associated with a political family? Is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) free from dynastic politics? What about the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party? Most of the BJP’s own leaders are from established political families. The Scindia family is there. There are many others. You can go down the list. Whenever these parties support the BJP, dynastic politics suddenly stops being an issue. So this debate is highly selective. They raise it only to divert attention from the real issues facing the country. Instead of discussing unemployment, inflation, the economy or the hardships people are facing, they prefer to keep introducing issues that have little to do with people’s everyday lives.

I don’t think the problem is that regional parties are weak. The real issue is the misuse of power through agencies such as the Directorate of Enforcement [ED] and the Central Bureau of Investigation [CBI].

But I want to tell you that there is a silver lining in this. At present, people who are still standing with the Opposition are the people who can actually fight. They are ones with conviction and courage. They are the ones who are not scared of BJP’s ED and CBI. And that should scare the ruling regime. Because of these orchestrated splits, the BJP has become dhobi ghaat for all kinds of people with stains. The BJP has become a party of Opposition leaders. One-fourth of those who get tickets are the ones who were without any ideological conviction and left their parties.

There is a practical reason for that. The Congress has close to 100 MPs. Splitting a parliamentary party of that size is much more difficult. But when a regional party has only 20 or 25 MPs, persuading five or six members to switch sides can destabilise the entire party. Numbers matter.

There is another factor. Regional parties are rooted in individual states. In many of those states, the BJP controls the government, and therefore, the administrative machinery. That gives it an enormous leverage. Pressure can be created through investigations, raids and other forms of official action. Leaders are placed under tremendous strain. I can say with confidence that very few people leave their parties purely out of conviction. Most are pushed into situations where they feel they have little choice. Some face investigations. Others fear legal action. Some are subjected to repeated raids. Look at what has happened in several parties. People who were facing serious investigations suddenly found relief after joining the BJP. These are not coincidences.

There is another lesson regional parties should learn. A person who has spent years working within a party and believes in its ideology generally does not defect. But if you give tickets to celebrities who have no ideological grounding—film stars, sports personalities or other well-known public figures—they may not have the same commitment. Many of those who later left the TMC came from the entertainment industry. Some were actors or actresses. Their association with the party was never ideological in the first place. Such people are more likely to shift allegiance because power attracts them.

The BJP keeps trying to get a sense of the situation by creating these rumours. They won’t be able to break the SP because our effort has always been to build leaders through political struggle. People rise through years of organisational work. They come from movements, from the grassroots and from sustained political engagement. That’s why I believe it has been much harder to break the SP. We have come to believe that at this stage if you are not committed enough, you are better gone because jo dar gaya, woh mar gaya.