Battle for BJP's soul: Can Sangh balance ideology and power?

Once upon a time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was a noisy party with top leaders jostling for influence and power. Unlike the Congress party, the biggest leader’s job was not reserved for a particular dynasty, and every ambitious leader had a shot.

The BJP prided itself on being a cadre-based party with ideology as glue, but not a slavish adherence to a particular leader.

This was a party where the three founders — BJP’s first Prime Minister, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee; the Rath Yatri and subsequently Home Minister and later Deputy Prime Minister, L K Advani; and Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, a firm favourite of the ideological lode, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, who never found the success his ambitions fancied — coexisted.

I take a chance and dare to bore you with this ancient history of the BJP, dear reader, because a younger generation may not be aware of a BJP which predates the three prime ministerial term Narendra Modi supremacy.

All this is now in sharp focus as the BJP and the larger Sangh Parivar (family) will take a call on the new BJP president when incumbent J P Nadda’s term runs out in January. I spoke to 15 BJP leaders and Sangh functionaries before writing this SWAT Analysis, and some stocktaking of the Modi years has already begun, with a nuanced sense of whether it was an unquantifiable success for the Sangh.

All imported from Congress

There is wary acknowledgement that Modi as a leader does not like to share. Says a top RSS leader, “Initially Modi was not even among the so-called second-generation leaders of the BJP but the untimely death of Pramod Mahajan, hailed by Atalji as his ‘Hanuman’, then afterwards as CM he was thrust into that space. We lost so many leaders — Manohar Parrikar, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Gopinath Munde, and Anant Kumar.

All these leaders had been groomed by Advaniji. Somehow Modiji was unable to groom any second-rung leaders who were from our own stable, with a lot of turncoats being welcomed as the party tasted power and success. Take Jyotiraditya Scindia, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Jitin Prasada — even our new spokies, all imported from the Congress.

The ideological purity does get affected. Unlike even Modi and Shah, they are not RSS products who have been bred and educated from a formative stage in an RSS shakha.”

A top BJP minister who is a lateral import counters that by saying that Modi has ensured that with success, the best talent is attracted to his BJP, and the subsequent rewards are just par for the course.

The RSS and Modi are on the same page ideologically, unlike the Vajpayee term when he tried to freeze them out. Nagpur favourites like Nitin Gadkari and Shivraj Singh Chauhan are frozen out and kept at arm’s length without enjoying any real power.

Gadkari occasionally goes public with his frustration, such as his recent remarks that he was approached by a senior opposition leader to be PM, but even top Sangh functionaries now scoff at him and say that he can’t get beyond being vocal but will always chicken out before taking a real stand.

As the RSS turns 100 after numerous bans, it can pat itself on the back for morphing into the Indian establishment, with its workers occupying top jobs across the spectrum. While you can see a new ease with fancy offices and upgraded lifestyles, a dilemma has gripped the top echelons of the Sangh.

The dilemma is how to ensure ideological purity among the ranks and especially in the new BJP with so many imports, and how to keep the ranks united in the onslaught of challenges like the caste census. There are quiet murmurs in Nagpur that Modi did not achieve a full majority because he didn’t keep to “Hindutva purity.”

Comeuppance of Nadda

There is also quiet satisfaction at the comeuppance of Nadda, who said that the BJP didn’t need the RSS to manage its affairs. The RSS post-Haryana feels wanted, much like a partner who is being assiduously consulted and wooed. Even Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh CM, came and publicly took blessings from us recently, said a top RSS leader with huge pride.

All this churn will coalesce around the appointment of the new BJP president. The Sangh is very clear they can’t afford another rubber stamp like Nadda. They want ideological clarity and purity alongside someone who can enthuse the cadre. A tall order, especially as their choice, Chauhan, 65, is reluctant — he doesn’t want to rock the boat, having shared an uneasy equation with Modi for decades.

Modi would be happy with Dharmendra Pradhan, 55, currently Education Minister in his cabinet, or Bhupendra Yadav, 55, Minister for Environment and trusted Shah aide for election management.

Will it be one of these men or a dark horse? Don’t put anything past Modi; he enjoys springing surprises. But the appointment of the new BJP president will reset the equation in the Sangh — that is a given.