What Next for the BJP? (Part 5)
by Rajesh Jain and Amit Malviya
Leadership (continued)
Lest this be misunderstood, we are not asking for an authoritarian leader. We are asking for a Strong leader. And there is a difference. Strong leadership does not mean authoritarian leadership. We are asking for someone who can go out there and make the tough decisions that are needed. Someone who listens and acts — and doesn’t just try and please all around by either not making the hard decisions, or making weak decisions, or worse, not taking any decisions at all. Someone who doesn’t just sit around analysing the problem to death. Someone who inspires. We don’t have specific names in mind — what we are saying is that leadership matters. India has had weak leadership for a long time. That needs to change. This is not saying the same thing as putting an “authoritarian leader” in place.
Leaders can also be made. The BJP may not get the perfect leader, but if there is potential in someone, they need to give him the charge and let him grow into it. The party elders need to mentor him and get him ready for battle.
This decision on the New Leader can be only made by two people: LK Advani because he has the stature and legacy, and Mohan Bhagwat (who heads the RSS) because has a shared responsibility for the party’s future. Between them, they have to select the New Leader - and do so quickly. Everything else follows from this One Decision.
To make this decision, the two of them need to short-list people, and talk to them at length about their vision for the BJP, for the country, what they would do if given the responsibility. They also need to reference-checks on the people. And finally, they need to make a Decision. And get everyone else to fall in line.
Unfortunately for those in the party in their 60s and 70s, India has just skipped a generation. It is the harsh reality of life. It happens in tech, and the Indian voters just did that to our politics. The older generation has to mentor the new team through the next five years so they can take on the Congress team in 2014.
The BJP is where the Democratic Party was in the US in 2004. There too, the country re-elected their previous Head (Bush) despite misgivings of a broad section of people. And out of those depths emerged a new leader to take the country forward. 4-5 years is a long time in politics. BJP can win - and win big - in 2014. But for that, it has to recognise the depth of the problem, and be determined to make every hard decision to take us forward. The BJP needs to find its Obama - an inspirational leader who can interface with the RSS, rally the cadre, and inspire the masses. Without the right leadership at this critical juncture, little else can be done.
Monday: Organisation
Comments
22 Responses to “What Next for the BJP? (Part 5)”
sad & ineffective article. i expected more out of these respected gentlemen.
I agree with the authors on selection of the next leader. Though, apart from Advani and RSS, somekind of voting should also be done.
Good Article. I think that leader is Arun Jaitley. Others will have to rally around him.
Dear True Indians,
Lets Think postive now all the leaders should stop infighting of blaming each other for defeat.
Infact they should consider seeing things like they have got 121 mps elected on what they promised like green power ,rural IT & bringing back stashed away swiss bank black money of india.
They should pressure UPA govt neck to neck inside parliment & outside to bring back all the swiss bank money by bring consensus in parliment & creating more awareness outside.
And even other issues also they should fight it out regarding the development of 121 Parlimentary consituencies.
They should play a very good opposition role in parliment & outside in fighting for the true issues of common masses & should gain a name of very good opposition party which will lead BJP as dominant 300 MP party in next parliment election.
They should spend more time on & work out stratergy to corner UPA & congress.They should work out in such way to bring the last desire of Mahatma Gandhi true to take corrupt congress since 1948 to burial ground.
All the best to all bjp leaders & friends.
Bharat Mata ki jai
I dont think they have someone other than Modi at present. Arun Jaitley and Sushma do not connect with the masses although Sushma has the advantage of being a woman. They may appeal to educated middle class who may not vote that much.
Modi, although controversial, is popular. There’s no one to beat him in the present chief ministers in the country. What is needed is presenting him as an administrator and a great chief minister than someone who talks and attacks others. Media will not let even one word to slip out of his mouth. He should be given responsibilty of Maharashtra elections again and the results can be used for future course of action.
If the current SIT probe finds nothing against him during the riots, I dont think anyone can stop him. The only problem will be how he is projected. Can he capture the imagination of the country, especially the youth ? Its possible if he starts from now itself.
The statistics from Gujarat are mind boggling. If these facts are put up and advertised properly, he can surely woo the middle classes and the masses. Gujrat’s recored in agriculture is simply astonishing. This can be used to woo farmers. After all, which state’s agri grows at 13% when national average is 2-3 % ??
Modi is a good administrator, no doubt. Unfortunately, this time he goofed up and has pressurised the party to give tickets to dubious people, relegating many loyal party members. This angered the rank and file and resulted in less number of seats in Gujarat. Many candidates chosen by Modi were defeated. I hope now Modi will realise his mistakes.
v subramaniam, i agree wid u.. even the vote share for bjp in gujarat has been going down ever since modi took over.. its one scenario in assembly and other scenario in lok sabha… for eg. even tho last 2 assembly elections, bjp got 2/3rd majority.. but if u look at lok sabha seats in gujarat.. it was 21 in 1999 (pre modi), and just 14 in 2004, and one seat gain in 2009.. i think modi is surviving in gujarat only cos there is no effective leadership in the gujarat congress.. also, there is a general feeling that has gained in bjp that going forward, we need a sensible, moderate person leading bjp.. someone like vajpayee.. he was missed badly during this elections.. jaswant singh, sudheendra kulkarni and arun jaitley said the same thing in various forums.. hence modi with his budiya-gudiya type speeches does not fit the bill..
For any leadership position elections should be held. LK Advani or Mohan Bhagwat can put names forward but elections still should be deciding the leaders. This makes party more democratic and different from congress.
For BJP president, Modi is the best person, as he invigorates cadres the most. He should hand over Gujarat to other eligible young leaders and take party’s responsibility in center. But he has to come clear of SIT, else it may be a problem.
For election of PM candidate, this can be done 3 months before election, my personal choice will be Modi. But Modi has two problems, first he has to come clean on Gujarat riots, and second he will require a huge image makeover as he will completely polarize Muslim votes that may help Congress. I cannot say he will polarize hindu votes or not.
So pragmatically best option will be Shivraj Singh Chauhan, reasons are following:
a. He has been a successful CM, very strong criteria to be PM. Though BJP has to win 2013 MP assembly elections which will solidify his choice of PM.
b. He has good base in MP, which will also fetch vote in cow belt.
c. As a moderate face he will not polarize votes and shy away allies.
d. He is young just 50 years old, this will counter congress youth plank and he will stay in politics for next 25 years, which will again be good for BJP.
But BJP leaders need to get these dynamic leaders in center and pass the state leadership to other leaders.
BJP should not have any one > 70 years old an any important party functionary.
Regards,
S.Chatterjee
@chatterjee
I differ on your opinion about muslim polarization.
those who are polarized will remain polarized as long:
1.bjp will carry lotus in its symbol.
2.bjp will have something “Bharatiya ” or something remotely related to our nationalism in its name.
3.modi is not hanged.
4.every BJP person connected with ayodhya episode is not jailed.
The apparent “increased” polarization that is visible with modis name is because only under him BJP stands to win today and that makes the opponents fight more desperate . i think there should be a single head of both BJP and RSS and that should be MODI . The increase in BJP votes will far offset any effect of increased anti-bjp activity by so “polarized muslims”.
But Modi also needs to do something he is not doing. (repeating ataljis mistake) for which it may appear that his support in gujarat is weakening. he needs to groom another young leader as his replacement in gujarat before he comes to national scene.
Dear Friends,
The BJP needs to get out of taking shortcuts to achieve success. Varun is a classic case of the BJP going astray.I wrote in the LK.Advani forum that he should not be given a ticket.Narendra Modi’s case is different and he tried his best but he needs to tone down his rhetoric and his Guddiya comments were in bad taste.
But let us face the crux of the issue that is the RSS getting poltical and intervening in the the decision making process of the BJP. It is a well known fact that the BJP wanted to drop Varun but was not allowed to do so by the RSS. Varun does not have the conviction to stand by his speech and hides behind a doctored c.d argument.This is because the speech was drafted by the Hindtva hardliners in whose hands Varun is a puppet.
The RSS needs to focus on its declining membership and decreasing quality of its members.The RSS also needs to reinvent itself in accordance to the times of 2009 and find newer issues which are acceptable to everyone.
The BJP needs to think ahead and find out issues relevant to the people in these times. It needs to act against and control the VHP, BAJRANG DAL an the Ram Sene in the states ruled by the BJP failing which it look like a party from the past.
It needs to provide opportunities to the dalits , women and backward castes to shed the tag of an uppercaste party.
The biggest enemy of the BJP is the BJP itself due to which you don’t have an effective decision making process in place. Each and every decision is opposed and modified.It needs a strong leader who can discipline the leaders and the workers. Modi can do it but no party will have an alliance with the BJP if Modi occupies centrestage.
There will be inevitable chaos for some time after which solutions will be found. Till such time we have to painfully watch the heavy infighting.
i think modi is all hype and nothing more… in fact under his leadership, bjp has constantly lost seats in lok sabha.. under keshu bhai, bjp had 20+ seats and now 14.. bjp manages to win assembly election in gujarat because of a non existent congress leadership.. all this talk of development in gujarat is a half truth because, gujarat was a developing state even during keshubhai’s rule and previous governments.. the credit goes to the enterprising people of gujarat.. for the first time a cm is trying to take all the credit for the work done by gujaratis..
@king
“bjp manages to win assembly election in gujarat because of a non existent congress leadership”
modi needs to become BJP leader because of non-existent post-advaniji BJP leadership.
most irritating people in BJP are without doubt:
1. rajnath 2. yashwant sinha 3. jaswant singh
these are the people with absolutely 0 credibility, 0 mass base and doubtful integrity . let all FOB comment on them.
@ dev.. also add to the list- arun jaitley and sushma swaraj.. the former does not have a mass base, the latter has a very limited appeal (if at all she has any)..
the real performers (both development wise and electorally), are shivraj chauhan and raman singh.. they should be the persons to take over..
Mr Narendra Modi until 2001 had neither contested any direct election to LS or Assembly nor contested indirect elections to RS or Council anywhere in the country.
He was just a RSS pracharak loaned to the BJP to strengthen organization. But when the elected Chief Minister was struggling with infighting and poor health apart from non existent governance, BJP or rather Mr Advani brought in Mr Modi into the picture from practically nowhere as Chief Minister of Gujarat.
Today we are all ready to accept him as a Leader with Mass Base as he has won subsequent elections in Gujarat. So we atleast agree that he is Regional Mass base leader, though questions can be raised if he was a National Mass Base Leader.
I hold the same opinion about SS Chouhan. Mr Chouhan was yet another good organization man who had won LS elections from Vidisha and became State Unit President in MP. When Uma Bharathi was with BJP she was the Mass Base leader in MP, later the position when to Babulal Gaur and finally to SS Chouhan as Mr Gaur was seen to be old and not strong on Governance. Chouhan had age on his side.
Summary -
#1 - Myth of Mass Base leaders
#2 - Ownership and Management of Political Parties
1. Mass base leaders are not born they just evolve. Today Dr Manmohan Singh can sweep an Election from South Delhi, the same seat that he lost in 1999 LS elections to V.K.Malhotra. The point is Modi, Chouhan, Manmohan are all examples of people who when given the opportunity have emerged popular. Of course Modi and Chouhan control the state unit organization as well, while in the case of Manmohan, Sonia Gandhi is controlling the organization. So if Mr Arun Jaitley whom many claim is not a mass base leader today, he can very well emerge as one tomorrow if presented with the opportunity.
2. PLEASE UNDERSTAND that political parties are no different from BIG PRIVATE Corporate Houses. There are 2 types of ownership patterns in PRIVATE Corporate Houses.The first is FAMILY OWNED and the second is INVESTORS OWNED. In the first case, day to day management can remain with family if they want or they can leave it to a chosen professional. In the second case it is always a chosen professional running the show under the guidance from Investors to whom he is answerable.
In the case of family owned, NEXT LEADER is either from the Family tree or someone from outside the family who enjoys the trust and confidence of the family appointed by the current scion of the family. Like Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla succeeded his father Aditya Birla. But if he wants he can appoint someone from outside as CEO and let his son be the owner who will be the ultimate authority in all matters.
In the case of investors controlled corporate house, the OUTGOING LEADER and the INVESTORS (key stakeholders) are in the best position to decide the next leader. Like current L&T CEO Mr A.M.Naik and LIC which is the principal stake holder will be the best people to decide next CEO of L&T.
Now look at Congress as Aditya Birla group and BJP as L&T.
Look at Mrs Sonia Gandhi as Mrs Rajashree Birla (wife of late Aditya Birla) and Mr Rahul Gandhi as Kumar Mangalam and Dr Manmohan Sigh as a CEO appointed by them.
Look at Mr Advani as AM Naik and look at RSS as LIC.
Hence the writer is ABSOLUTELY RIGHT when he says L.K.Advani and RSS are in the best position to decide the next leader.
Lets not forget, Mr Advani a co-founder of BJP,has been leading the organization for the past 30 years just like Mr A.M.Naik. He knows its inherent strengths and weaknesses and the individuals capable of leading the organization in future.
@ Venugopal.. good points..
also let me stick out my head and say that the dynasty issue is not a major concern for indian public.. look at it like this.. if you have to choose between tata car and maruti car, you will look at the performance and reliability of the cars.. rather than whether the ceo and management of respective companies is elected democratically or dynastically… people want performance either ways.. whether congress is run by a dynasty or a monkey, thats congress internal matter.. so long as the monkey delivers people will vote for the monkey..
i am not saying that congress delivers.. let me be clear.. but bjp should only and only talk about the aspect of deliverance i.e performance and development.. dynasty issue sounds good in online forums and studio debates.. but people are least bothered.. and rightly so…
@king
You are right dynasty is no more a issue particularly after the BJP has used Varun for votes.
Regards,
@swami
I’m not defending anybody but I don’t agree to your point that Varun is an example for dynastic politics.
Varun Gandhi does not come under the dynastic politics category as that rule is applicable only if father/mother promote children within their party and they get tickets to contest elections or other positions just because they are somebody’s son or daughter. Varun Gandhi and his mother joined BJP together and they were given tickets on grounds of winnability/past record. Is there someone who can win Aonla seat in UP in BJP or Pilibhit for that matter? He did not campaign outside UP, so your argument that BJP used him is not correct. There maybe a few people in the campaign trail who may shout slogans linking him to Sanjay Gandhi which cannot be stopped because he is after all Sanjay’s son. It does not mean BJP has accepted or endorsed Sanjay Gandhi or the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Good examples of dynastic politics in BJP are Jaswant Singh’s son and several sons in UP like RP Tripathi’s son Sharad Tripathi, OP Singh’s son Anurag Singh etc.. and interestingly all lost. That way BJP is weaker than Congress where the sons/daughters seem to be winning atleast.
@ Venugopal..
in case of varun, his last name was a major factor which got him into the electoral politics… that cannot be discounted..
@ Venugopal if varun was not varun gandhi he would have not become a poster boy.
What I am tellimg is at the first available opportunity the BJP has used Varun to the hilt. So dynastic poltics is low in the BJP because it doesn’t have a Rahul or Priyanka if it had them it would have done the same thing.
Regards
@swami and @king
Should we then have a blanket ban on youngsters whose father or mother is currently a MP or MLA or Minister ? I think it is silly to simply keep attacking this dynasty. It really makes no sense to the common man. It is a fact that when people already know your family, it gives you that distinct advantage or in fact a disadvantage in some cases. For others, it is real hard work if you want to beat that disadvantage.
For all you know, tomorrow what if Rahul chooses the same model as his mother to appoint a professional say Jairam Ramesh or Jyotiraditya Scindia as the PM candidate of Congress? Even at that point if we keep on attacking dynasty people will be fed up!
Lets put are faith in the electorate and believe they will not give a second chance if the dynastic politician fails. Please remember that Rahul Gandhi, Jyotiaditya Scindia, Sachin Pilot, Deepender Hooda, Navin Jindal and Jitin Prasada are all second term MPs. So simply attacking them makes no sense. Same holds for Dushyant Singh and Yashodhara Raje in BJP. I kindly request all you friends of BJP to stop wasting precious time on questioning these people and instead try to see how is it that they are able to register repeated victories even in the midst of a wave in favor of the opposite party. Like Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sachin Pilot managed to win in the midst of waves in favor of BJP in MP and Rajasthan. Dushyant Singh in BJP has managed to do the same thing now when there was a wave in favor of Congress in Rajasthan.
@King
I think you got my point that people are only keen on delivery. Now what delivery means is itself different in different constituencies. Cities may ask for better urban infrastructure while villages may ask for loan waivers or increasing support price. Now understanding what the people of your constituency want and serving them is the recipe for success. BJP still has a golden opportunity as it is in power in Karnataka, Gujarat, MP, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Himachal. Why not make these states role model in every sphere under social and economic domains. Why not usher in a revolution of sorts?
If you look at Uttarakhand almost every alternate day there is news about Khanduri vs Khoshiyari…Now if somebody offers his son or daughter from Congress who not only has surname but is able to deliver better, wont the people go for them? Is it wrong? Is it dynasty?
Excessive focus on the dynasty part is going to boomerang for sure.
@ Venugopal.. 100% agree with you.. dynasty issue perhaps is right, but a little too idealistic and impractical.. at least the masses dont relate to it..
@ venugopal,
You are precisely repeating what I said dynasty is no more a issue . Therefore we should stop attacking the Congress on the dynasty issue as it doesn’t work.
Regards,