TOPIC 4:  WHAT ARE THE STRUCTURAL STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF BJP


AAP - THE ROAD AHEAD

1. Why ANALYZE THE STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF BJP: It is the first law of war that we should know the strengths and weaknesses of the opponent as well as we know our own. We should take guard against his strengths and take advantage of his weaknesses. To-day the only opponent left standing in the field is BJP. All others have been annihilated. Between BJP and AAP it’s a fight of David vs Goliath. Goliath was giant and David was hardly a teenager. David had won by taking advantage of Goliath’s weakness. David used his intelligence against the brute strength and size of Goliath. AAP cannot match BJP’s size, money and cadres, which are essential for winning elections. AAP has to use intelligence to make these strengths of BJP useless. AAP cannot have a secret strategy, as nothing can be kept confidential in today’s world. So the strategy of AAP should be such that even if it was known to BJP, it would not be able to do much.

2. WHAT WEAKNESSES ARE BEST TO BE EXPLOITED: Every organization knows its weaknesses and tries to cover them from attack by opponents. The weaknesses which cannot be covered without compromising on the strengths are the best to be exploited. These are weaknesses that are inherent in the very strengths. An example may make the proposition clear. Colgate toothpaste was a white paste and had a leadership position. The white paste was meant to mimic that brushing with it will make your teeth white like it. Lever brothers tried to break Colgate monopoly with similar looking toothpastes, like Pepsodent. They repeatedly failed and lost money. Then they launched Close-Up and made marketing history. Close-Up was a blue gel and won a huge market share. Colgate could not change to a blue gel in retaliation, as it would lose its major strength of a white paste. Till to-day Colgate has not been able to dislodge Close-Up in the gel segment. To analyse BJP weaknesses let us understand BJP organization.

3. BJP ORGANIZATION AND ITS STRENGTHS: BJP, along with RSS, has a very cadre based organization which works in a semi-militia discipline. This ensures that all decisions of the central body are carried out with military precision. This organization has taken decades to create. In such an organization party decisions cannot be questioned by rank and file. Any democratic functioning is limited to the top committee. The organization also has some basic ethos which bind the organization and ensure compliance. Such an organization can only function smoothly when there is a strict code of conduct. There is a well-defined hierarchy. Communication is mostly top down with complete clarity of action plan and its implementation. This organization system ensures no dissidence by the cadre or confusion in the implementation of action on the ground by them. It is like well-oiled military machine.

4. FIRST WEAKNESS – TOP DOWN ORGANIZATION: In a top-down organization, information flow is also from top to down. Thus, if there are any major shifts at the operational level on the ground the top will take time to find them and react to them. Also, due to the homogeneity in the communication system, the whole organization has to go through the change, which means delay in reaction. The best way to frustrate such an organizational structure is using guerrilla tactics. Shivaji, with a much smaller army, was able to hold the mighty Moghul army at bay for years, sapping their strength and resources. AAP can do the same.

5. SECOND WEAKNESS – ABSENCE OF DISSENT: In a military style organization, dissent is rare and not encouraged from the cadre. The cadre is indoctrinated to follow the Guru (Sangh Sanchalak) without question. Any questions are only for removing doubts and not to challenge the decision. This works very nicely and efficiently till the top makes wrong decisions. Decisions can go wrong when information is incorrect or insufficient. Many battles have been lost by mighty armies due to this flaw. AAP can make swift changes in its plans to frustrate BJP’s well-oiled machinery.

6. THIRD WEAKNESS – LOCAL DIFFERENCES: The terrain is not same at all conflict zones. A well-disciplined army is practiced to operate in different terrains. But this requires multiple command levels as we all know every army must have. Unhappily because of the religious indoctrination of BJP and RSS, this flexibility is meagre. We have seen how BJP has made strategic blunders in Babri Masjid and 2002 Ahmedabad riot cases. Also, with BJP using media in a very big way, the message is bound to be common on an All India basis. AAP can exploit this weakness by itself following different strategies based on local differences. This way AAP will make the huge media promotion expenses go waste in many areas.

7. FOURTH WEAKNESS – RELIGIOUS BASIS: BJP and RSS are steeped in Hindutva. Any deviation from this would be suicidal. They are fully against minority appeasement. The RSS cadres have been nurtured with strong anti-minority ethos. In such a situation BJP can at best give a step-motherly treatment to minorities. For the first time since independence UP has no representation of Muslims in the Parliament. How can you generate confidence in over 30 million Muslims of UP if they have no voice? This is bound to create tensions under the surface initially and on the surface very soon. BJP cannot change this as its leaders come from RSS cadres, which does not take Muslims. AAP can fully exploit this weakness as it has no minority appeasement policy (like Congress), nor minority exclusion policy (like RSS).

8. CONCLUSION: There are many weaknesses in BJP – RSS combination which should be fully exploited by AAP, as its basic ethos has the very strengths which are BJKP’s weaknesses.

9. THE NEXT STEP: I hope we have realized how AAP, with much lesser resources, can succeed by exploiting the weaknesses of BJP. The next TOPIC is very crucial and shall form the basis of creating the future AAP strategy. Please read, share and give your comments
TOPIC 5 :  WHAT SHOULD BE AAP 'S FOCUS NOW

Do not miss seeing it and please keep giving your suggestions, comments and reactions. These will help us form a strategy, which will be put before you for your comments as 
TOPIC 6 

Sincerest Regards,
Pravin Gupta

AAP - THE ROAD AHEAD