The reshuffle in the BJP and the message

Neena Vyas
The Hindu, 31 January

The move is a clear signal that no leader, howsoever powerful, is above the party.

PERHAPS THE most important message that Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh has sent out through the re-shuffle of his team is that no leader, howsoever big, is above the party. A big party machine like the BJP closely monitored as it is by its mentor — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh — cannot be taken for granted.

It is this message that seems to come through in the dropping of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi from the party's highest decision-making body, the Parliamentary Board, and from its Central Election Committee that has the final word in the selection of candidates for elections to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha, and the StateAssemblies.

The other big leader he has touched, but not needled, is Arun Jaitley, from whom the responsibility of leading the team of party spokespersons has been taken away. It is also not a coincidence that Mr. Jaitley has been the most articulate supporter of Mr. Modi in the BJP — riots and all. Even the Leader of the Opposition and former party chief L.K. Advani comes second to Mr. Jaitley in his support for Mr. Modi.

As far as Mr. Jaitley is concerned, no one in the party doubts his capability and intellect.

However, many senior leaders suspect that the spate of media reports over the last couple of years against some senior leaders, including Mr. Advani and the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, were inspired by Mr. Jaitley. That explains the decision to keep him away from the media.

For some time now it has been acknowledged by those outside and inside the BJP that Mr. Modi is undoubtedly the one saffron leader who has a firm support base. He virtually commands the whole of Gujarat and his detractors in the State have been unable to have their way despite several serious attempts to get him removed. His vice-like grip over the State's administrative and political machinery is so complete that he has now totally shed his earlier dependence on the support of RSS organisations such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.

Party leaders admit that after the heyday of Kalyan Singh's leadership in Uttar Pradesh — the party bagged more than 50 Lok Sabha seats in two consecutive elections — there has been no leader other than Mr. Modi who has shown he can deliver a victory single-handedly.

Mr. Modi's name had been in the air even as early as the middle of 2005 when it became clear that Mr. Advani's time as party president was coming to an end. Would he be catapulted on to the national stage and given charge of the party? That did not happen for two reasons — one, the BJP needed him in Gujarat; and, two, the RSS perhaps did not want another "star" (like Mr. Advani) who might some day think it to be dispensable.

There is also the view in the upper echelons of the BJP that even to win the next election in Gujarat the anti-Modi faction in the State led by the former Chief Minister, Keshubhai Patel, needed to be given some hope that Mr. Modi will not be allowed to ride roughshod over everyone all the time.

Mr. Modi may have managed to stay on as Chief Minister despite a clear indication by Mr. Vajpayee after the National Democratic Alliance defeat in the May 2004 Lok Sabha election that his days as Chief Minister were numbered. But that does not mean he is to be allowed to have his way at the State level and at the Centre.

It is more than clear that Mr. Rajnath Singh could not have moved against Mr. Modi without the RSS agreeing to it and without the approval of Mr. Vajpayee whom Mr. Singh is known to have consulted before announcing his team.

The carrot and stick approach adopted by Mr. Singh is also evident in Ananth Kumar's elevation as member-secretary of the party's Central Election Committee. Mr. Kumar was earlier not allowed to have his way in Karnataka where he did not want Sadanand Gowda to get another term as State unit president. Nor was he too happy at the prospect of B.S. Yediyurappa taking over as Chief Minister from H.D. Kumaraswamy later this year under the arrangement between the BJP and its coalition partner — the Janata Dal (Secular).

The other major change was the dropping of Sanjay Joshi as general secretary (organisation) and replacing him with Ram Lal, another senior RSS pracharak. Apparently, after the scandal involving him that had rocked the BJP's national council session in Mumbai in December 2005, his going was considered necessary to wash clean the stain that had been splattered on the "character" of RSS pracharaks. He resigned at that time only to come back after an internal inquiry found him to be innocent. The idea was to allow him to go with dignity.

And finally, it must be said that even the dropping of Mr. Joshi takes one back to the main subject: Mr. Modi. To this day many senior leaders suspect that he was part of the sting conspiracy. After all, the animosity between Mr. Modi and Mr. Joshi goes back a long time.