Gadkari as Prez: Democracy dead within BJP

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After months of turmoil in the party, the BJP is all set to get a new chief. CNN-IBN has learnt that the new president of the party will be the Maharashtra State President, Nitin Gadkari. Gadkari is a RSS protege and is a Maharashtrian Brahmin from Nagpur, someone who has never contested Lok Sabha or Assembly elections and was unable to lead the BJP to victory in Maharashtra in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

Gadkari started off as a simple RSS worker and used to be responsible for rolling and laying of carpets at RSS functions in the '70s. From such humble beginnings to becoming the national president of the BJP, he has come a long way.

The question that was asked on CNN-IBN's Face The Nation was: Nitin Gadkari to be BJP President: Can he revive the party?

To try and answer the question on the panel of experts were General Secretary Maharashtra State BJP, Vinod Tawde; columnist, Swapan Dasgupta; and Political Editor The Hindustan Times, Vinod Sharma.

At the beginning of the show, 53 per cent said yes Nitin Gadkari would be able to revive BJP, while 47 per cent disagreed.

Gadkari To Head The BJP

The Maharashtra BJP has been wracked by dissidence in the recent past, there is almost a blood-feud between Gadkari and Gopinath Munde, the state unit is in tatters and as BJP President of Maharashtra, Gadkari was unable to lead the party to a victory in the recently conducted polls in the state.

Keeping all this in view, political analysts have been forced to wonder what flash of brilliance led the BJP to decide to give Gadkari the coveted post of the president of the national party over popular faces like Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj.

Vinod Tawde kickstarted the debate by denying all the above charges.

He said, “There may have been a few issues a year or so ago, but in the last six months, the state unit has fought the elections as a collective whole. Gadkari and Munde both led the elections together. As far as we know, no decision on Gadkari as national president has been taken yet, all this is just a projection of the media. But let me tell you that though Gadkari has not fought any Assembly elections, he comes from a constituency which consists of 13 lakh voters and he has been elected here for the last four terms. This is enough to prove the mass base of any leader.”

Political observers have been quite critically analysing the RSS' role in the BJP and in this case it seems that the RSS has been quite open about pushing their protege forward to take over as the next leader of the party at the national level. This time around there is no pretence of any backroom negotiation with the BJP at all.

To this Swapan Dasgupta said, “I think the role of the Sangh in the selection of Rajnath Singh's successor is as explicit as it can be. What's interesting is that there has been no formal consultation at all within the BJP as to who should be the next party president. But there have been enough three-line whips issued from the Sangh.”

However, he said that the record of Gadkari was not as dismal as it sounded. “One of the things going for Gadkari is the fact that he is quite amiable, he has got a very good sense of humour and moreover he has got a pragmatic streak. The question is whether the natural political impulses of Gadkari are going to be allowed to be put into operation or is he going to be remote-controlled by people whose sense of politics is quite feeble to say the least and detached from the actual world. That is really the biggest danger. It is no real controversy about Gadkari the person as he doesn't really carry a baggage, which the present incumbent did.”

Gadkari maybe better than Rajnath but the question really is whether he will be able to discharge the duties of the national leader of the party which are many in the present time. Dasgupta reiterated that it all depended on the manoeuvrability that Gadkari was given. “It also depends on how much the BJP is allowed to function as a normal political party. It's more than Gadkari. It's an actual process which needs to be revived,” he stated.

The Road Ahead For The BJP

Nitin Gadkari is the symptom of what is really happening in the BJP today. When Mohan Bhagawat says no Sushma Swaraj, no Arun Jaitley, no Ananth Kumar, no Venkaiah Naidu, but Nitin Gadkari, Bhagawat is making the case that this is Big Brother showing his hand and that's the line the BJP is going to toe now. The BJP is not going to become modernist and move forward but it is going to be back to the Sangh.

To this Vinod Sharma said, “I don't think it is really Gadkari who is getting anointed the president of the party, it is effectively Mr Mohan Bhagwat who is now the president of the national party. And that is where the main worry lies. I was talking to a prime ally of the BJP in the NDA and he called it a coup. And I am wondering why are Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj keeping quiet about all this. They owe it to the people to speak up."

“This is the principle Opposition in Parliament. This is the party after the Congress and if the prime leaders of this party keep quiet in the face of this unilateralism by the RSS, then I think democracy is dead within the BJP," Sharma added.

Is The Sangh Destroying The BJP?

Another question that was playing on the minds of political commentators was the fact that how was someone like Gadkari - despite all his amiable qualities - supposed to understand places in North India like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh - which are all places where the party needs to consolidate.

Tawde responded to this saying, “BJP believes in collective leadership and he has a young team.”

However, the point was that Gadkari was not a consensus candidate. He had been thrust upon the party by the RSS.

To this Tawde said, “I am sure the consultation has been completed before Gadkari was chosen as the next president of the party. I think all the top leaders of the party - Arun Jaitley, Ananth Kumar, Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj - have been consulted and I believe that this is a collective leadership."

Sharma interrupted here saying, “Mr Tawde, if my memory serves me right, Gadkari has won four seats out of six in Nagpur, 18 out of 19 which the BJP had out of the 60 in Vidarbha, so in my view he is at best a sub-regional leader in Maharashtra. He is not even a leader of Maharashtra and you say he has from a won graduate's constituency. I am this is amazing. This has happened in the BJP in the past. We have had Jana Krishnamurthi, Bangaru Laxman, Kushabhau Thakre, but that was the time when the party had two renowned national faces - Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani. Now relatively, Gadkari doesn't even shine in comparison with Jana Krishnamurthi.”

Dasgupta added his two bits here saying, “I think Vinod (Sharma) is completely right when he talks in terms of a coup and I have often said this is like a military takeover. I think the point is that Vinod Tawde is talking about a collegiate functioning. Now is the process of collegiate functioning really enhanced when to begin with you publically insult four of your major leaders and say that these people don't have the capacity, the eligibility, the competence to assume the role of the party president? I think the amount of demoralisation and destruction this statement said to the four top leaders by Mohan Bhagwat has caused is incalculable.”

“I think what we are talking about is the fact that the Sangh has really gone out of its way to cripple an existing leadership and then starting on a new slate. That is no way to encourage collegiate functioning,” Dasgupta added.

Tawde responded to Dasgupta saying that it was not right to assume that the Sangh was on its way to destroying the BJP.

"These four leaders were not insulted, they were consulted. I think it is new generation, the youth, which is taking over and we should take it in that aspect,” he said.

Sharma interjected saying, “Mr Tawde, Sushma Swaraj has contested against Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Arun Jaitley is widely recognised to be the brain of BJP, Venkaiah Naidu is a workaholic and Ananth Kumar has his own position in Karnataka. Where does Gadkari stand in relative terms to these four? You have announced a president even before the completion of the organisational elections within the BJP. I think if the Election Commission so decides, it can pull you up for having rigged the elections within the party.”

Gadkari: The Default Emperor?

BJP presidents really have not set the nation on fire all of the time. There have been low profile presidents like Jana Krishnamurthi, Bangaru Laxman and Venkaiah Naidu. In this case, with the RSS taking on an organisational role within the party - the cadre being provided by the RSS, the mobilisation machine being provided by the RSS - it seems that it would be right to assume that a party president chosen by the RSS would be able to provide the kind of moorings that the BJP needs now.

Dasgupta responded to this saying, “It is in no sense obligatory that the BJP president has to be a mass leader, a potential prime-ministerial candidate, but I think what is very important is the orientation of the party. I think when we talk of the role of the RSS in the organisation, I think what is very important to keep in mind is that organisation alone does not win elections. What will win the elections is your ability to actually connect with the electorate, the voters. The RSS has a phenomenal organisation in Kerala, but the number of votes that the BJP polls there is actually almost the number of people who come and attend the public meetings. So there is no incremental benefit. I think really what you are talking about at this point is the great malaise of the BJP has been its inability to connect with the voter, particularly new voters. It has lost the middle classes, it has lost the youth vote and it is time to get it back.”

He said that the question was that was the mind-set which accompanied some of these decisions conducive to reclaiming political inheritance? “The question, therefore, of Gadkari being good, bad or indifferent is only peripheral to the real question. It is the larger role and the political direction which the BJP takes that really matters - is it going to take a retrograde step, concentrate its energies on yatras or is it really going to take up important issues? Those are the questions which need to be answered,” he stated.

Dasgupta said that top leaders were being willfully marginalised and a retrograde signal was being sent out that these people are not welcome in the party, that it is only a Sangh party and not a larger party.

Sharma added here, “This is really a purge led by the RSS in the BJP. And I don't think any of the top leaders of the BJP should accept it. They should stand up and be counted, they should contest elections. The president of the BJP has to be elected by the National Council of the BJP and Gadkari's candidature should not go uncontested. Even if the person who stands against Gadkari loses, he will become an alternate rallying point for others because sooner or later the BJP will require that as this is process of a coup.”

Dasgupta begged to differ saying that it was the process of the election here that was really the question and not so much any particular individual. “A lot of people really have no problems with Gadkari. He is a very amiable and personable character. He is not the problem.”

Why Not Modi?

Political observers feel that someone like Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who is also a mass leader, could have been chosen as national leader over Gadkari. However, Tawde said, “If we had chosen him to be president, then the media would have said that he is not able to handle Gujarat and has not played a good role in his state and so he has been shifted to the Centre. I think both RSS and BJP leaders have consulted and then come to the conclusion of appointing Gadkari as the next president.”

Sharma laughed this point away saying, “Mr Tawde, even in politics there is hierarchy. If a Nitin Gadkari calls up Narendra Modi, Arun Jaitley or Venkaiah Naidu, he would refer to them as ‘sir’. Gadkari is not credited with any kind of charisma, he has not had a very laudable electoral record and he is not a towering intellectual. He is a beach head for the RSS within the BJP, which the BJP allies within the NDA are not very comfortable with.”

Rajnath Singh had so many detractors within the BJP so how is Gadkari going to get along with the Big Four, he wanted to know.

Tawde responded to this saying, “What I know of their relationship with Gadkari is that they have a comfortable, amiable relationship. Why don’t you take it in that way that a new, youthful generation is taking over the BJP?”

Dasgupta and Sharma felt that new generation was not just about age, it was also about thinking modernly, in a progressive manner. Tawde, however, stated that Gadkari was the man who knew all about the politics of development. “With the inspiration of the RSS, the BJP will lead the society in the 21st Century,” Tawde said.

Sharma reacted to this saying, “I have my serious doubts. As a citizen of India, I want an Opposition party which will provide me with an alternative and I don't think I am very much enthused by Gadkari's candidature. I am telling you this as a voter, not as a political analyst at all."

Dasgupta said here that he had a question for Tawde. “Vinod Tawde is a person who has been active in the ABVP, he has been active in Mumbai city politics and he comes from the Sangh. He is a person I respect quite a lot. The question is, can the same rules which apply to the Sangh apply to the BJP? Isn't the Sangh leadership guilty of treating the BJP as merely a branch organisation and really not conceding the autonomy of politics?”

Tawde answered this saying, “I don't think there is any dictatorship from the side of the RSS. There was thorough consultation before this decision was taken and that is my knowledge.”

Sharma said that he had never on a show ever agreed with Swapan Dasgupta more. “I think the BJP must take a stand on this and the top leaders must trigger a debate within the party.”

Tawde responded saying, “That is wishful thinking.” And Sharma shot back, concluding the debate by saying, “Which means there is an RSS diktat, because look at your arrogance.”

FINAL SMS/WEB POLL: Nitin Gadkari to be BJP President: Can he revive the party?

Yes: 51 per cent

No: 49 per cent

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