Opinion Regroup to conquer

Just six months back,individual ambitions were very much on display in the normally disciplined party. Senior leaders who felt they had been sidelined engaged in acts of defiance and mud-slinging. The jostling for positions of prominence in a post-Advani scenario ended abruptly with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat ruthlessly moving in to take over the badly demoralised party. His candidate for BJP president was the relatively unknown Gadkari,who fitted the Sangh’s preferred mould of a disciplined soldier with dedication and common sense and a willingness to follow orders. Bhagwat wanted an end to personalised politics in the party and leaders giving unnecessary sound bytes to television. A sentiment echoed by Gadkari at Indore,where he said that not everyone is required to speak to the media,the job should be left to those authorised.

The RSS touch was also evident in the “back to the roots” theme of the convention. BJP leaders who have got used to the soft life of the cities and five star hotels were ordered to move into tents. They had to shiver through the night in freezing temperatures and make do with shoddy toilets and erratic water supply. The auditorium walls were coated with mud and straw and cows,goats and chickens wandered around to add to the rural ambience. To get into the spirit of things,some leaders rode cycles while others chomped away on fresh carrots,corncobs and radishes. Such Spartan living is an integral part of the RSS training camps and no doubt very valuable for character-building,but cynics might question its utility for a modern party in the 21st century.

Gadkari stressed the point that “the party is greater than the individual,but the philosophy is greater than the party.” He made it clear he did not plan to stray from the BJP’s core Hindutva agenda,which the RSS believes the BJP deviated from in the past. Which is why Gadkari felt compelled to raise the Ram mandir issue in his speech. But instead of former president Rajnath Singh’s brusque,no arguments approach,Gadkari extended a hand to Muslims. He appealed to the minority community to give up the piece of land in Ayodhya,in return for which the party would help the community build a mosque close by.

The party president,whose election was ratified at the meet,is conscious that for the BJP to remain a major political player it has to expand its base and reach out to sections of the electorate which it has often ignored in the past. Gadkari emphasised the importance of scheduled castes for the party. Unfortunately,his gesture of staying with a Dalit family displayed an appalling lack of imagination. By following Rahul Gandhi’s lead,Gadkari,instead of earning goodwill,was simply accused of being a copycat. In fact,one of Gadkari’s problems in reaching out to young people will be to avoid looking as if he is imitating Rahul. This can be a tough act given the hype and glamour surrounding the Gandhi scion. Even when the RSS-BJP took the lead in taking a stand against the Shiv Sena over sons of the soil in Mumbai getting favoured treatment,it was Rahul who grabbed the headlines. To succeed in his mission,Gadkari needs more than just goodwill,common sense and determination. He needs a farsighted vision and the strength to occasionally bypass the RSS when it comes to projecting a forward looking,inclusive,and liberal party image.

coomi.kapoor@expressindia.com