Faltering first steps

If the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the larger Hindutva combine led by the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) were to take stock of Nitin Gadkari's performance as party president, the period between the last week of April and the last week of May 2010 would by any yardstick be rated as the lowest point of his leadership. For, it was during this period that the relatively young politician from Maharashtra belied the hopes that the Sangh Parivar had reposed in him. Gadkari's words and deeds in this period exposed not only his political naivete and his lack of strategic or tactical manoeuvring skills in the realm of realpolitik but also the absence of the poise expected of a national leader. Clearly this is not the kind of beginning the Sangh Parivar would have wanted for one of its favourite boys.

A case in point is the way the BJP leadership handled the political impasse in Jharkhand, which lasted for nearly a month from April 27, the day the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government defeated the cut motions moved against it by the BJP and the Left parties led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist). As the results of the cut motions came out, it became clear that Shibu Soren, the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, who continues to be a member of the Lok Sabha, had voted in favour of the UPA although his own party, the Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha (JMM), was running a coalition government with the BJP in the State. The BJP leadership protested and immediately announced withdrawal of support to the Soren-led government.

Still, the party with principles under the new, disciplinarian leader was unable to implement this decision for as long as 26 days. By the time the BJP presented the formal letter withdrawing support to the Governor on May 24, the party had not only lost its credibility but also its political honour. During the four weeks between April 28 and May 24, the JMM and its leadership dangled several political and power-sharing deals before the BJP, and the latter responded to them positively. However, the JMM went back on all its promises, leaving the saffron party in a state of embarrassment.

There is little doubt that Gadkari's leadership on the Jharkhand imbroglio has caused great harm to the BJP and the Sangh Parivar as a whole. He was brought in as the top leader of the BJP to reassert the party's credentials as a clean party, committed to probity in political practice. But that promise has been shattered barely six months into Gadkari's tenure. This is indeed a terrible signal for the party and the Sangh Parivar, a veteran RSS activist from Lucknow told Frontline.

BJP insiders point to a number of fault lines in Gadkari's style of functioning as the principal reason for the loss of face in Jharkhand.

The new president is yet to have his own sources of information within the party and he is dependent on the feeds from already established power and pressure groups in the organisational hierarchy. These groups are known to work at cross-purposes, and that was the case in the Jharkhand imbroglio, too. One can say that Gadkari was caught in a kind of crossfire, and after a point of time, he was swaying from one side to the other and, in the process, became utterly confused. The fact that his own personal political antenna is not quite tuned to the unique political culture in Delhi only added to the confusion. The net result was that he had no clue which way to switch, when to duck or where to run, a senior BJP leader from Uttar Pradesh said.

Opinions expressed at various levels of the BJP hierarchy are broadly in agreement with this observation.

Pressure groups

The power and pressure groups that exist in the BJP are rather well known. Broadly, one of these groups is led by Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley with the blessings of L.K. Advani. The second important group is the one led by former BJP president Rajnath Singh, a one-time favourite of large sections of the Sangh Parivar. By all indications, the decision to withdraw support was initially taken at the instance of the Sushma-Jaitley group.

To be fair to Sushma Swaraj, it was she who pointed out to Gadkari that Soren had ditched the BJP in the cut motions vote. Left to himself Gadkari would have had dinner with Soren, accepted the Jharkhand Chief Minister's story blaming Alzheimer's for the error in voting and allowed him to have his way. That again only points to his lack of understanding of Delhi's political guiles, the Uttar Pradesh leader said.

But the decision to withdraw support was put on hold barely two days after it was taken as Rajnath Singh and his acolyte, Arjun Munda, the former Chief Minister of Jharkhand, spoke of the possibility of the JMM giving up the Chief Minister's position to the BJP. Gadkari went along with this line. Shibu Soren's son Hemant Soren also played along with this pressure group and made noises about the JMM's readiness to sacrifice in the interests of the coalition.

Shibu Soren on his part alternately played tough and soft. This in turn led to long-drawn negotiations, which seemed to have reached a point of finality when the JMM announced on May 8 that it would support a government led by the BJP. But Shibu Soren started bargaining again, forcing the BJP into holding negotiations for another week.

At the end of the talks, on May 18, the BJP was made to agree to a rotational chief ministership. Two days later, however, Shibu Soren reneged on this promise, leading to complete loss of face for the BJP. At this stage, Gadkari virtually left the field to the competing pressure groups and went on a foreign tour. This, too, has not gone down well with the Sangh Parivar.

Blot on record

This early blot on Gadkari's record has been enlarged by some of his remarks against leaders such as Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (S.P.) and Lalu Prasad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Questioning the commitment of the Yadav leaders to the anti-Congress opposition cause, Gadkari said at a public meeting that they used to roar like tigers, but now are licking their feet like dogs. This evoked widespread condemnation from political leaders. Activists of the RJD and the S.P. held demonstrations and burnt Gadkari's effigies. Gadkari called a press conference and withdrew his remarks, but the damage had already been done. It is certainly introspection time for the BJP and the Sangh Parivar, especially in view of its plans for revival. When Gadkari was asked to take over from Rajnath Singh in December 2009, the RSS had essentially perceived the move as part of a long-term strategy to reorient its political arm and bring it on track with the Sangh Parivar's cherished ideals. The seniority of many leaders was overlooked to appoint Gadkari. This process was taken forward by none other than Mohan Bhagawat, the RSS sarsangachalak. At the time, RSS insiders also pointed to a larger game plan in the appointment. Until then, Gadkari's credentials were mainly that of a committed, disciplined Sangh activist who excelled as Public Works Minister while the party was in government in Maharashtra. The RSS had apparently planned to juxtapose these two identities of Gadkari and groom him as a new avatar of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was known for his superior administrative skills and was also committed to the Hindutva agenda.

By all indications, the RSS top brass was happy with Gadkari's performance in the first three months of his tenure, particularly the way he carried himself at the national executive of the BJP in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, in February. At the convention, Gadkari seemed to get into the groove. He took a strong position against warring leaders and factionalism in the party. In a direct appeal to grass-roots workers, he stated that the problems in the party were not because of them but because of the aspirations of some leaders. He even asked these leaders to give up their vaulting ambitions and fall in line with the ideology, politics and organisation of the BJP.

But such tough talk has obviously not found reflection in Gadkari's day-to-day handling of party affairs. The Jharkhand imbroglio has clearly shown that the new party president is susceptible to pressures from senior leaders.

Obviously, the RSS and its associates in the Sangh Parivar will expect Gadkari to make amends for his recent foibles. But it will not be an easy task, given Delhi's realpolitik.