When the Bharatiya Janata Party announced Nitin Nabin, a 45-year-old legislator from Bihar as the next president, in some quarters it was said the existing party “establishment” wanted a “weak president”, so that it does not face any challenge from the new incumbent, in case he happened to be senior in experience and stature.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was aware of such interpretation. That is why he said in clear and categorical terms that Nabin will be his boss in the party matters. The message was loud and clear that no matter what his age or experience may be, the president of the BJP will be supreme authority in party matters. For that matter, Nabin is not that junior either. He is a five-time legislator from Bihar, having become an elected MLA at the age of 25. He is a second generation “dyed-in-wool” BJP worker.
Both within the BJP and outside, there were initial murmurs that the “government” wanted to exercise complete control over the BJP. In case there was a senior and already popular leader anointed to the position of the president, he might well pose some problems. No matter how disciplined any political party may be and no matter how strong its incumbent leadership may be, over a period there is a certain level of alienation and disillusionment among certain quarters. The BJP cannot and is certainly not an exception to that rule.
Lest the new BJP president became a rallying point for such leaders, those in control and command of the party had to be extra careful on that count. It is not because they might have had some personal interest in that; it is for the overall survival of the party as a strong and powerful organisation that any scope of dissent, which can multiply and create problems, is nipped in the bud. A relatively young and an impressionable leader is always better than choosing someone who has already fixed and cemented his views and opinions about everything.
That aspect aside, Nabin fits into the BJP’s overall pattern of looking towards the future generations. Look at the ministerial choices at the Centre and in states, and also at the chief ministerial choices. Most of them are in their early 50s. Nabin represents the same pattern. Be it the Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Haryana, Delhi and earlier Uttar Pradesh, they are all in their late 40s or early 50s.
This helps the party to have an abundance of leaders who can don any senior role today. Unlike the Congress, where there is a problem as to whom to identify and appoint as the successor of Mallikarjun Kharge, besides Rahul Gandhi, in the BJP there is a problem of plenty. Imagine, if the BJP decides to choose the successor for Narendra Modi today, the party will have a difficult choice to make. There is a plethora of leaders in the government who can well be considered for the job.
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That is the strength of the BJP and that is the reason, it has no rivals in the existing political system and set up in the country. While it is already a “non-family”, cadre-based organisation, it has ensured that no matter how powerful any leader becomes in the party, that power comes with an expiry and retirement date.
Imagine the power and authority someone like LK Advani once enjoyed and exercised. In fact, he is the architect of the modern BJP. The party owes a lot to his vision and leadership. But that did not mean he “owned” the party. Otherwise, during the formative days of the BJP, he did not have any rivals to compete with and he could have established complete control over the party and made it like a personal “proprietorship”.
Although, given the systems of checks and balances prevailing in the BJP, plus the oversight by the RSS, it would have been difficult. He might well have tried but he did not, owing to the culture the party has built that makes such ambitions unimaginable and unachievable.
And that culture continues to prevail in the party even today. When Prime Minister Modi said Nabin is his boss in the party, he actually meant every word of it. Besides, great men and great leaders make their colleagues and subordinates comfortable and help them to be on a par. Given the age and experience of Nabin as compared to that of the Prime Minister, he would naturally feel at disadvantage and weak position irrespective of the position he holds now.
Prime Minister Modi addressed and bridged that gap by not only making Nabin feel as his equal, but as a “boss” in party matters. This is also a message to the entire rank and file of the party that if Prime Minister Modi treats him as his boss, there is no reason for everyone else not to treat him like that. The Prime Minister’s message was for everyone across the party’s rank and file.
A comparison here with the Congress, the principal Opposition party in the country, will be natural. Regional, rather, family-run parties, have their own way of working and retaining control over the system. The Congress has also turned like those parties where one family controls and decides everybody’s destiny. That should ideally change in the interest of the party and nation alike.
The Congress has too great and glorious history and past to be shrunk within that limited space. It is not necessary for the Congress to take a cue from the BJP and do exactly what it is doing; it can and it must evolve its own culture to rejuvenate itself. The Congress owes it to itself, to its history and legacy and to the nation as well. If and when the nation wants an alternative, Congress should be in a position to offer that. Right now, unfortunately it is not, and does not seem to be in such a position in the near future either.
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