With an eye on State polls and laying ground for the next general elections, the party recasts itself with 60 per cent new faces

This took some time coming, the recasting of the BJP after JP Nadda became its new president, ostensibly halted by the Government’s preoccupation with the pandemic. But nine months down the line, the party has made some key changes. Almost 60 per cent of the office bearers are new, which means that the Modi-Shah duo is now reshaping the party’s legacy by putting in place a generation next. The second rung would be ready by the time the next general elections are due, when some of the existing stalwarts would superannuate. The new and younger faces serve two purposes. First, they would feel they have a stakeholdership in the larger scheme of things and work zealously, something that would help the party attract the younger demographic and energy in time for the next Lok Sabha verdict. Second, it would make the BJP look like a party which believes in intra-party democracy — although the new office-bearers would be so beholden to the current leadership that they are not expected to break a well-set mould — and expose the Opposition Congress as a fossil in comparison. Many crucial office-bearer posts have gone to members from Bengal and Odisha, an indication that BJP is serious about firmly stamping its footprint in eastern India. But the most significant move has been the dilution of known Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) faces in the party’s command structure, with Ram Madhav being dropped as national general secretary along with others, BL Santhosh being the lone RSS presence now. But this doesn’t mean that there is a sidelining of the RSS, only an appearance of it. Some of the dropped faces, including Madhav, who has been singularly responsible for the party’s Kashmir and North-east strategies and gains, are expected to be rewarded with Central Ministries. And with the Prime Minister himself having risen from the cadre, the probable thinking is that the RSS is now very well ensconced in core governance and doesn’t have the pressure to be visibly felt. At the same time, it helps Modi project the party as a broader, accommodative entity with representation of non-RSS cadres and should the new inclusions be successful, also help him fob off the pressure from Nagpur. There is no denying that the party cannot do without the RSS architecture that’s needed to build a disciplined and committed pyramid ground up but at the same time, some free-wheeling ideologues have caused it enough embarrassment with their radical thinking. Modi, a highly individualist persona, certainly won’t brook more challengers at the moment. The new national general secretaries have been selected to ensure an all-India representation, including as they do Dushyant Kumar Gautam, a Dalit leader, D Purandeswari from Andhra Pradesh, CT Ravi, an MLA from Karnataka, Tarun Chugh from Punjab and Dilip Saikia from Assam. Odisha now has four national office bearers, indicating how aggressive the BJP is about this coastal State. While Baijayant Panda continues as vice-president and Sambit Patra as spokesperson, two first-time MPs have been given a national role: Bisweswar Tudu from the tribal district of Mayurbhanj will be one of the national secretaries while Aparajita Sarangi from Bhubaneswar will be the new spokesperson. Former BJP president Amit Shah couldn’t accomplish his “Mission 120” in Odisha last year and the national-level inclusions are expected to tap into the ambitions of the local unit to swing the verdict in the party’s favour. The party continues to be deeply invested in the North-east, choosing M Chuba Ao from Nagaland as national vice-president and Mmhonlumo Kikon, MLA from Nagaland, as a national spokesperson.

However, the appointment of turncoat leader Mukul Roy from Bengal as a national vice-president has shocked many. A former Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and one-time confidant of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Roy’s elevation shows how desperate the BJP is about Bengal. This at a time when Roy himself was becoming deeply uncomfortable about the little wiggle room he had. It also shows how the local unit hasn’t been able to turn the tide of opinion in the BJP’s favour as expected and, therefore, the central leadership doesn’t mind using imported talent to achieve its purpose. Even Anupam Hazra, who has been appointed national secretary, is a former TMC leader. Roy can clearly help the BJP in countering the booth-level strategies of the TMC and choose candidates wisely. Yet Bengal is messy as the local BJP unit and its leaders are resentful and becoming openly rebellious. The fact that the party dropped its long-time loyalist Rahul Sinha as national secretary to make way for Hazra shows how desperate it is to use TMC rebels to dethrone Mamata. Except, that this could boomerang on itself too. For Bengal operates in binaries. Just as the disgruntled Left cadres joined TMC, nobody can rule out rebel BJP leaders crossing over. The trouble for BJP is that it cannot sit easy on its Lok Sabha performance for it lost three bypoll seats in the State subsequently, including State president Dilip Ghosh’s own constituency. Roy has a twin challenge of keeping the State unit together and defeating the TMC in 2021. This could be the BJP’s biggest gamble in Bengal. The national overhaul is clearly going “vocal for local” from the BJP’s side with a naked ambition to get power in the States it hasn’t had a chance to make inroads into historically. But this federalist approach is need-based rather than organic. And therein lies the mismatch.