Disruption is in the air. It is in business as much as it is in politics. “Disruption” is an entrepreneur’s delight since the time Clayton Christensen in his 1997 book ‘The Innovator’s Dilemma’ floated the idea of “disruptive innovation.” He used the phrase as a way to think about successful companies not just meeting customers’ current needs, but anticipating their unstated or future needs. His showed how small companies with minimal resources were able to enter a market and displace the established system. The ingenuity of the smaller players to challenge the professionals in their own backyard is both thrilling and challenging at the same time. Several established businesses fell by the wayside due to the onslaught.
The political pageants have thrown up interesting possibilities when a national party was challenged like never before in its own backyard, that left it bruised at least for the present. Indeed they pioneered and honed innovative disruption politics, be it in UP or at the Centre, though this time round in Maharashtra, the smaller parties turned the tables. How did it happen? Politicians and political parties are not infallible. There are no Chanakya’s and no dimwits in politics. One who can look far, look deep, move with caution and attack with precision, invariably is the Chanakya of the day. It certainly calls for a case study in the Harvard Business publication when veteran politicians fail the test of innovative politics. Politics is a game of the possibilities is the natural adage. Innovative disruption has proved that politics is also a game of the impossibilities.
Why should one believe that the three parties coming together on ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi” plank be a recipe for disaster? In fact the disruption theory would accord highest marks to such novelties. The metrics for success need to be the implementation of the common minimum program that brings ‘Maha Vikas’ to its people. Like in business, they must not just meet customers’ current needs, but anticipate their unstated or future needs as well. An unending debate on National Channels seem to be how dissimilar ideologies have come together and how they would disintegrate soon. Ideologies are a set of implementable ideas and need not be mutually exclusive nor be countermanding each other. In a connected World, we should be discussing digital ideologies which are just binary.
Has the BJP shot itself in the foot? Have they miscalculated the power plays of the Maharashtrian political satraps? Would the President’s rule been lifted, if the BJP had believed, factional politics would not have supported them? Would they have attempted an audacious mid-night coup? A theory seems to be doing the rounds that their new friend would issue a whip to his party members to behave or be disqualified. A gross error in judgement, for it is just a party matter. Since the party appointed a new elected member as the leader, he would derive a legal right to operate as an agent of the party and would do the bidding of the party. The member replaced, has no statutory or compulsory function to perform and if his party does not want him to represent it in a certain role, he has no other legal base to claim a right of continuation. The legal position should have alerted the strategists from going further. The later attempts However, show the leaders impatience, immaturity and an inability to read the ground realities.
That being so, how did his masters fall for an apparent trap? The unseemly hurry and alacrity shown in calling off the President’s rule and administering an oath of secrecy, virtually in the dark, when the world was still bracing up for the morning, compromising several constitutional positions in the process, without weighing the pros and cons of a questionable alliance, setting aside the pre poll acrimony and animosity, speaks volumes of the anxiety to form a government by any means. So much for the intellect of the ‘Maha’ Strategists. The patriarch of the NCP was variously targeted, many times unfairly for his so-called acts of omission and commission. Sometimes was praised for the political acumen and castigated in equal measure at other times by friends and foes alike, without once trying to read the mind that ruled the hearts of the Maharashtrians for a good five decades.
Is this the end of the road for BJP and the Sena? Yes, for the immediate future. They should have heeded good counsel coming their way. The five villages asked by Krishna for Pandavas were Paniprastha, Sonaprastha, Vrikshprastha, Indraprastha, and Tilaprastha. Duryodhan refused such a demand for peace. Mahabharat, then happened killing thousands. The Sena asked for the crown to be shared for half the time and were refused. The highest Court of the land ensured that no Mahabharat would happen this time. It is the sagacity of the times that instead, we have a democratic government in place. A true disruption, of the modern times indeed, worthy of a review within the precincts of the best management institutions of the World. Sena, NCP and Congress should find their feet again and must use the opportunity to ride back to the top. An effective trouble shoot would do the trick.
The disruption theory is in danger of becoming a victim of its own success. Despite broad dissemination, the theory’s core concepts have been widely misunderstood and its basic tenets frequently misapplied in business as much as in politics. The turmoil that has brought the three parties together should make them realise the importance of political proximity and wisdom. The coming together has given them a chance to gauge and understand each other. The Pawar family has certainly gained new friends and relatives as much as the state has gained a combined experience of people with varied interests and beliefs. Ajit Dada However, must be revered for showing up the chinks in the party to repair. The patriarch must get the credit for not just keeping the family together but also for giving the State a new experiment that can only succeed as all success does. The fear of losing must make them all go the extra mile to deliver. Flip side could see the rise of a daughter probably at the expense of an impulsive cousin. However, this Indian family bond must prove as tenacious as the alliance they seek to nurture.