The Siege Within

JUNE 15, 2012 Politics The siege within With the RSS agenda in mind, Nitin Gadkari concedes Narendra Modi’s demand to oust Sanjay Joshi from the BJP’s national executive. BY VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN The RSS had no option but to take party’s two-day national executive meet held there on May 24 and 25. Later assessments within the Sangh Parivar about the “resolutions and the new one step backward, ostensibly to paths” charted out at these conclaves have not been take two steps forward at a later laudatory. The June 2004 national executive was in the stage. Its vision for the BJP and context of the “shock defeat” the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) suffered in the Lok Sab- Gadkari’s role in it is not merely for ha elections in April-May that year. The recent conclave was held in the wake of the February-March the next three years or for the next Assembly elections where the saffron party received a drubbing in its one-time bastion of Uttar Pradesh general election. and failed to return to power, despite high hopes, in the small hill State of Uttarakhand. The December 2005 conclave was a celebration of the 25th anni- versary of the BJP, but it was marred the night before it was formally inaugurated by a “CD scandal” alleg- edly involving RSS pracharak-turned-BJP leader Sanjay Joshi. The scandal led to the ouster of Joshi from the conference site as well as the upper echelons of the party. The refrain in BJP circles at that time was that Joshi had been “fixed” in the scandal by his adversaries in the party. Among those counted as archrivals of Joshi was Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Seven years later, as the BJP leadership met once again in Mumbai, the meeting was preceded by VIVEK BENDRE Joshi’s removal from the party’s national executive. BJP PRESIDENT NITIN Gadkari (right) with senior This time, however, Modi’s position was not just as leader L.K. Advani at the national executive one of Joshi’s many rivals. It was a head-on fight, and meeting in Mumbai on May 24. Joshi had to pay the price for his rivalry with Modi. The Gujarat Chief Minister made it clear that he MUMBAI seems to signal a sense of deja vu for would not attend the national executive if Joshi was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Every time the not removed from the committee. According to party principal opposition party in the country has held its insiders, Modi has been “deeply distrustful” of Joshi conclave there since 2004, a similar set of political since they worked together in Gujarat in the 1990s. and organisational dilemmas have confronted it. On Both Joshi and Modi, reportedly, never let go of an each occasion the party as well as the Rashtriya opportunity to pull down each other. Modi believed Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), which dictates its over- that after Joshi’s recent rehabilitation in the party, all ideological, political and organisational param- he had been promoting dissidence in the Gujarat eters, has resolved to chart out a new direction to BJP by supporting those like former Chief Minister overcome the existing problems, strengthen itself Keshubhai Patel. and reach out to new constituencies. The cream of That the BJP’s national president Nitin Gadkari the BJP cadre had assembled at the conclaves held in took no action against Keshubhai, who recently cas- Mumbai in June 2004 and December 2005 as at the tigated Modi publicly, helped strengthen the Gujarat FRONTLINE 23 JUNE 15, 2012 Chief Minister’s suspicion about Joshi. So Modi decided to go all out in his fight against Joshi. Consequently, Gadkari, who had reinstated Joshi and accorded him importance in the party set-up, was forced to evict his favourite colleague. In a sense, it was like accept- ing the diktats of a more powerful leader. Apparently, the RSS leadership also advised Gadkari to give in to the Gujarat Chief Minister. Modi had re- fused to attend the last national executive of the party, protesting against the importance accorded to Joshi under Gadkari’s leadership. MESSINESS QUOTIENT In many ways, the messiness quotient in the latest conclave was higher than in 2005. For, it was not Modi alone who was throwing a tantrum in the context of the national executive meet. Former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had been divested of his position on account of a number of corruption charges, was also sulking because of the “failure of the national leadership” to reinstate him as Chief Minister. Yeddyurappa was finally brought around to attend the conclave through persuasions and entreaties. While Modi came for the conference in the evening of the first day of the meet, Yeddyurappa made his appearance on MITESH BHUVAD/PTI the second and final day. GUJARAT CHIEF MINISTER Narendra Modi being welcomed by party By all indications, the RSS had ad- workers on his arrival at the national executive meeting. vised Gadkari to give in to Modi and entreat with Yeddyurappa, essentially On his part, Modi virtually linked his front. “Did anyone from Delhi know to push forward its new plans for the endorsement of an extension of Gad- Nitin Gadkari three years back? Now organisational and political revival of kari’s tenure and his attendance at the they know him. Every post someone the BJP, which is the political arm of conclave to Joshi’s ouster from the par- holds is respectable. Zero has no value. the Sangh Parivar. At the organisa- ty’s higher echelons. But if you put one before it, it is 10. In tional level, the RSS had given direc- So the RSS had no option but to the same way, if you put another zero, tions to amend the BJP constitution so take one step backward, ostensibly to it’s 100,” he said. Clearly, the RSS is that Gadkari could have an extension take two steps forward at a later stage. ready even to put up with a hitherto to his current three-year term. The At a larger level, the move also under- unprecedented loss of face before a RSS wanted all the top leaders of the lined the fact that the RSS top brass BJP leader to advance its medium- party to be present while carrying out was convinced that, despite the many and long-term game plan. this amendment. Apparently, senior foibles and failures of Gadkari that are BJP leaders such as L.K. Advani, for- discussed widely in political circles, in- RSS GAME PLAN mer Deputy Prime Minister, and Arun cluding within the BJP, the Maharash- Gadkari himself gave a broad indica- Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, Leaders of tra leader is best suited to carry out its tion of what this Sangh Parivar-driven the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and agenda within the party. In fact, RSS medium- and long-term agenda would Lok Sabha respectively, also made it leader M.G. Vaidya made no secret of be in the BJP and how it would pos- clear that such an important decision this while reacting to the develop- sibly unfold in the days to come. Mak- could not be taken in Modi’s absence. ments in the BJP on the Modi-Joshi ing his presidential address, he 24 FRONTLINE JUNE 15, 2012 referred to the ongoing preparation of ous levels of the party. “Individualism, in the constitution for the extension of a Vision 2025 document, which would lack of consultation and coordination, Gadkari’s term asserts is that the RSS help carve out a new India, obviously and absence of camaraderie are taking is by and large satisfied with the Mah- as conceived by the Hindutva philoso- root, diluting the effectiveness of the arashtra leader’s performance though phy of the Sangh Parivar. Gadkari said party’s activities,” it said. It also stated there have been several complaints that Vision 2025 “will project the BJP’s that the “commitment to ideology has against him regarding nepotism, pro- future-focussed perspectives, ideas to be measured also against the yard- motion of illegitimate corporate inter- and commitments on a wide range of stick of behaviour and style of func- ests and mismanagement of party issues centred on the theme – ‘Making tioning” of individual leaders. affairs. And hence the fountainhead of India a Strong, Prosperous and Har- The document laid down tasks re- the Sangh Parivar wants Gadkari to monious Nation, A Shaper of the lating to four fronts: ideological, orga- continue in his position and advance World’s Destiny in the 21st Century’. nisational, legislative and the task further. The document will contain big and governance-related. Under the subject However, the manner in which this ambitious ideas, and at the same time line of organisation, the document list- constitutional requirement – in terms also a practical road map on imple- ed tasks under 20 specific headings. of party organisation – has been mentation. It will enable all our These emphasised the need for collec- achieved raises questions as to wheth- [workers] and supporters to propaga- tive leadership, cooperation and com- er Gadkari and, more importantly, the te the party’s perspectives and goals on munication among top leaders, RSS top brass will be able to sustain many issues that the thinking people commitment and accountability to the the agenda and tasks related to it. in our country are already seriously party as opposed to individuals, the What the developments in the Mum- debating. It will also be helpful in pro- need to stem indiscipline, and the ut- bai conclave have underscored is that jecting the image of the BJP as a party most necessity of developing young Modi has asserted his pre-eminence with an inspiring vision, which it is leaders through sustained mass and among BJP leaders.

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