The electoral victory of the UPA over the NDA in 2004 can be considered a
“critical” election insofar as it appears to have decisively reversed the dominance of
the BJP. It has also brought about an electoral realignment, reversing the fortunes of a
party (Congress) that had virtually been written off. What can we learn from this
surprise? The election did not necessarily reveal new cleavages, although women,
dalits and OBCs made their electoral presence felt more acutely this time (see Yadav
2004); rather, it showed that Hindutva hegemony over Indian society was exaggerated
by various pundits and observers, or perhaps more accurately, it has revealed the
impossibility of either political formation gaining hegemony in Indian politics
is some consensus among scholars that the highly volatile and contingent algebra of
Indian elections makes predictions rather difficult, as the political coalitions led by the
Congress Party and BJP veer towards similar sets of policies which keep neo-
liberalism at the core (Desai 2004; Mehta 2004). This paper takes a slightly different
perspective on this political juncture, examining the relationship between party
formation, political economy and hegemony in a single case, namely, Gujarat. By
closely examining a single case where the BJP and its Hindutva allies appear to have
succeeded in fulfilling a ‘hegemonic project’, we can see what factors explain its
success, and whether these very factors may limit its political ambitions. The lessons
will clearly be modest, requiring further comparative work to understand the political
process associated with the surprise of the 2004 elections.
Party formation is the process by which parties consolidate organizationally,
while building networks in civil society. Investigating the process of party formation
can reveal important aspects of the relationship between party, civil society and state
– which considered together, have greater explanatory value than when looked at
separately. In addition, parties, as I have argued elsewhere (Desai 2002), congeal the
1
With turnout at 58%, lower than in the previous election, it is difficult to suggest that the Congress-
led UPA had gained clear command of the political scene either.
Convention