Govt’s shadow looms over BJP polls

The BJP is adept at coining punchy slogans and staging a spectacle. Any occasion, public or party-centric, is transformed into a mega event. The aim is to reassure voters that nearly 11 consecutive years in power have not dulled the party’s ability to think big. The process of ‘electing’ the new party president as well as state, district and mandal chiefs has been termed a ‘parv’ (festival). The BJP, which claims to be the world’s largest political party, wants to add exponentially to its count of 10 crore members.

The exercise began in October 2024 — the year-end was fixed as the timeline to install the successor to the incumbent party president, JP Nadda, Health Minister in the Modi government. Nearly three months have passed since that deadline expired, but there is no sign of the new party head. Nevertheless, there is speculation over whether Nadda’s successor would be a woman (a first, if it happens); a Dalit (the BJP’s experiment with a Dalit chief, Bangaru Laxman, proved to be a disaster when he was caught on camera accepting cash from a ‘defence dealer’ in a sting operation); a leader from the southern or eastern regions; or a strong RSS hand (to work in concert with organisational networks on the ground).

Nadda became the party president in 2020 in place of Amit Shah, who was arguably the most successful chief the BJP has had after LK Advani. The three-year term prescribed in the party’s constitution was extended in Nadda’s case. Indeed, when he was designated as a working chief soon after Shah relinquished presidency, there were murmurs that the move was not in sync with the constitution. Critics were told that the BJP’s constitution existed because of the party and not the other way around. In the ‘New BJP’, which has emerged as the country’s pre-eminent political force with no real challenger in the foreseeable future, the party organisation is an underling and the ruling establishment, ensconced in the South and North Blocks, the supreme authority whose writ must not be questioned. Above all, the constitution, quoted as gospel by party old-timers when it was expedient, is no longer sacrosanct.

The extension granted to Nadda ended in June last year when the Lok Sabha elections got over. But a recent amendment in the constitution, for whatever it’s worth, empowered the apex body, the parliamentary board, to take a call on the president’s tenure in ‘emergency’ situations. The latest round of Assembly elections which culminated in the BJP’s victory in Delhi after the triumphs in Haryana and Maharashtra was cited for first going slow on the party polls and then for celebrating Nadda’s ‘organisational success’.

Although the membership drive was launched to enhance the atmospherics before the organisational polls, which sometimes get tangled in infighting at the grassroots level, the scenario was not as perfect as expected of the Modi-Shah regime. In Goa, a BJP-ruled state, complaints poured in against ‘elected’ mandal presidents who were proteges of ministers or MLAs. In Madhya Pradesh, consensus on the choice of district chiefs remained elusive because of disagreements among state leaders. Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who ruled MP long and strong and is now a Union minister, was reluctant to let his grip loosen.

Uttar Pradesh, the topmost state on Modi-Shah’s radar, called for deft handling because of CM Yogi Adityanath — who is still regarded as a power unto himself despite the BJP’s reversals in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — and the tricky caste equations. Adityanath held on to his post despite the setback and felt emboldened to intervene in the organisation elections. He apparently named his choice for the state president, even as Delhi wanted a backward caste person or a Brahmin to try and balance the CM’s pro-Rajput policies and appointments.

Power flows from a centralised command in Delhi — this is obvious from the fact that the BJP parliamentary party has not met once even nine months after the Lok Sabha polls. Even under the PM’s gaze, a few MPs had once summoned courage to ask disconcerting questions on agriculture and the economy. The NDA MPs met in June last year, a subtle gesture to please the BJP’s valuable allies in the minority government.

The BJP parliamentary board, whose stamp on crucial decisions is a must, rarely meets. CMs are picked by the top leadership, and the decision is communicated to the legislators, as was evident after the elections in Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh and Delhi. Even the central election committee that selects candidates for the polls has not met often. In Delhi, the first list of 29 names was announced without a meeting of this committee; for the Jharkhand and Maharashtra polls, the body met just once, although there were multiple lists of candidates.

How does the RSS — which continues to retain the title of an ‘ideological parent’ to the BJP — deal with the concentration of power in the Modi-Shah duopoly? To the RSS, like the BJP, Modi’s charisma and oratory remain sure-fire guarantees in elections. Hence, it’s unlikely that the Sangh will disturb the prevailing order unless there is an extreme provocation. And Modi, a die-hard pracharak who moderates his hardline stance only under duress, is unlikely to alienate the RSS. The PM is scheduled to visit the RSS headquarters in Nagpur on March 30. He is expected to meet Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and thrash out the issues holding up the completion of the organisational poll process.

In the past, the RSS ‘loaned’ quite a few pracharaks to the BJP; they served as the eyes and ears of the Sangh. It even tasked one of its senior officials to liaise with the BJP’s organisational secretary, who has always been a former pracharak. The RSS has not replaced its former coordinator, Krishna Gopal; so, the post has effectively been disbanded. A sign of the times?