The Minister may be well-meaning about the party’s objectives but will the BJP do serious chintan?
The thing with cryptic quotes is that they set off more eddies in troubled waters, making it difficult to fish. But some sense an opportunity to attempt a dare. BJP Minister Nitin Gadkari may claim that his remarks on leaders “spinning dreams” and paying for non-deliverance or his advisory that they should only promise as much as is possible are being misinterpreted though he is not rebellious about the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But he has been making them so often since last year and particularly after the party’s debacles, be it over policy-making or elections, that his explanation of a general broadside on political leadership is neither innocent nor quite convincing the people. If anything, it has set off talk about a comparative and competitive assessment of strengths. Especially when he flashes his performance card on meeting targets. Yes, he is one of Team Modi’s best performing Ministers and has set a record of sorts in completing highways in a time-bound manner. He does qualify on capability. So the timing of these veiled attacks on Modi when his chips are down is not lost on anybody. It would be naive to think that these self-regulatory warnings have left the confines of chintan baithaks and are being played for the gallery only to demonstrate how democratic the party is. Not at this time when every Opposition party is recharged enough to launch critical tirades against the Modi regime and everybody, from Congress to Asaduddin Owaisi, is interpreting these as an intra-party lack of confidence in Modi as the only leader with potential.
Undeniably, Gadkari has thrown his hat in the BJP’s game of thrones, given that Modi too grew from being a state level leader who found pan-India acceptability. The seriousness of Gadkari’s re-positioning within the BJP gains credence following rumours about emissaries being sent to calm him down and the RSS working on a back-up plan to prop up a more genial and acceptable face should the BJP fall short of a majority after the May general elections. Gadkari, who has been close to Nagpur all along, is believed to have the support of the power-wielders of the Sangh, including Mohan Bhagwat, for the top job. All these years, he has encashed his Maharashtrian Brahmin origin with the power club to negotiate his entry in the State Cabinet, get plum party posts and even a key infrastructure Ministry. But regardless, he has done some straight talking. Way back in 2016, he had said how the BJP’s achche din had become a gale ki haddi. Recently he cautioned against hubris when BJP president Shah appealed for a “Congress mukt-Bharat,” saying no government, even an alternative one, could rule forever. He was even more trenchant after the BJP’s losses in the Assembly elections saying top leaders should have the courage to own up to defeat as much as they take credit for victories. The message of the challenger is loud and clear. Admittedly, Modi is on a sticky wicket at the moment. But the party with a difference, which has been on the ascendant in 2014, surely couldn’t have squandered away its fortunes so much, so easily in just five years that it cannot reconcile inner differences or attempt to repair itself unitedly? Or expose itself to being an opportunist pit of rival ambitions? Certainly not a reassuring image to go to the people with considering other seniors may not have attempted a coup but have left the party to strengthen Opposition ranks. As for Mr Gadkari, he may have done the party a good turn by arguing for a case of self-introspection. If ground reports are true, then the Congress is set to give him a tough fight in his constituency and as a grassroots leader, who has a feel of the popular pulse, he understands that bravado and rhetoric won’t pay this time round if the party doesn’t do something radical on the ground to convince the rural populace about something more than good intentions. Considering he has forced critics to consider him on the merits of a job well done, perhaps the BJP brass should now listen and amend itself.