There is strong speculation in political circles that the Bharatiya Janata Party may soon get a new president. The extended tenure of the present incumbent JP Nadda was to be over by June end but he has been continuing in his position since there has been no decision on his successor. Over the past few months, several names have been doing the rounds but it is evident that the BJP and its controlling authority, the RSS, have been unable to arrive at a consensus. The relations between the two organizations have been strained and even during the Parliamentary polls, RSS volunteers had kept away from the electoral battle. In the middle of the polls and soon after the first phase was over, Nadda had in an interview to a national daily declared that the BJP was now self-sufficient and thus had severed its umbilical cord with the Sangh.
The statement at that point of time was considered unnecessarily, and there must have been pressing compulsions for Nadda to say what he did in the controversial interview. Nadda has been with the RSS since his student days and also served as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the party. This was in the early 1990s. The confusion over the new president is there since the BJP has never been known for delaying its declarations.
Obviously, there have been problems over some of the names and therefore no clarity has so far come about. To begin with, Manohar Lal Khattar. former Haryana CM was considered as a front runner. Shortly afterwards, names of Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Sunil Bansal, Vinod Tawade and Devendra Fadnavis were mentioned in the Sangh circles. Of late, Sanjay Joshi, who has a troubled relationship with the Prime Minister was tipped to take over. This appeared improbable, particularly because it would be difficult to imagine the Prime Minister and the BJP Chief completely taking a different line.
The final decision is in the hands of the RSS, and its boss, Mohan Bhagwat has time and again been making no secret of his unhappiness over the functioning of the party. On several occasions, he has stated that the BJP was no longer what it used to be. Many activists who had helped in building the organisation were on the sidelines, and instead, leaders from other parties, who were deemed corrupt and anti-BJP, were thriving. This was a completely unacceptable situation and needed to be rectified as early as possible. The Sangh has a distinct ideology and has always promoted people with clean image and those who have worked selflessly in the public sphere. All of a sudden, the very people against whom, the workers had worked over the years, were allowed to sit on their heads.
This amounted to not only dilution of the Sangh agenda but also lowering the exacting standards set for those occupying positions of authority. There is a section within the Sangh which is of the view that the key positions within the BJP should only be announced after they are cleared by the RSS. If the RSS had chosen Modi as the number one leader in the party in 2014 and played a major role in making him the Prime Minister, it is the RSS which alone should also decide as to who should be the number two leader within the party. These things may seem unnecessary to many political pundits but the RSS in the 100th year of its existence wants to assert its authority as well as its principles. It wishes to reiterate its agenda and in all probability during his Vijay Dashmi address, Mohan Bhagwat would spell out the blueprint for the future. The decision regarding the next BJP president may follow subsequently but it would have be someone who has full faith in the Sangh’s polices and has the approval of the leadership. The change at the top in the party would perhaps coincide with a total overhaul of organizations affiliated with the Sangh.
The doctrines of the past Sarsanghchalaks of the RSS would take precedence over what is happening in the Sangh Parivar right now, and Bhagwat has made up his mind to ensure that the Sangh’s principles and thinking remains supreme. The top most priority of the RSS has always been to put the country first and it would not deviate from its established policy.
The unification of the Hindu Samaj is also one of the goals but not at the cost of its larger objective of ensuring the unity and integrity of the country. It is understood that numerous meetings of top RSS functionaries with many top BJP leaders have been taking place during the past few months and thus an attempt is being made to find an amicable solution to resolve the differences, real or imaginary. Nagpur has played a silent role in the journey of the BJP for many years but it is determined to ensure that those who hold key positions within the party do so only after the Sangh’s approval. In any case, it would be good for the BJP to have a new president and a new team to take it forward. The revamp would be aimed at re-energising the party and making up for deficiencies in various regions where it has weakened. The period between Vijay Dashmi and Deepawali should be watched carefully. This is when the changes may take place.