It is obvious that the Bharatiya Janata Party has been reconfigured, officially. Not only has been the old guard denuded of any actual power that be, it has been, rather unceremoniously at that, removed from even the symbolic domains of the party’s wider net. Being axed from the central parliamentary board after relinquishing control to the dual commanders in Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, the ‘veterans’ – LK Advani, AB Vajpayee and MM Joshi – have been left to ‘guide’ the younger, more energetic brigade led by the duo.
The rejig, that now situates the three stalwarts of BJP outside the actual amphitheatre of power, is, therefore, a brilliant glimpse into what is going on in the political corridors of the national capital. A tectonic shift apart, the rearrangement is not only about shedding the flab of cosmetic reverence towards political spent forces, it is equally the ushering in of a peculiar kind of slimmed down, sleek and lethally effective parvenu politics, embodied in Modi, Shah and their ilk. While the BJP parliamentary board now comprises a set of leaders in their prime, with years of political activity ahead, the irreverence towards old timers has not gone down very well with many who still believe in taking it slow and instill lasting change.
Much like his abolition of the Planning Commission before instituting a well-defined alternative, the top gun of the ruling party has fired the pistol to announce that tokenism in any form is now an outmoded and unhelpful strategy. While some sections of the public sphere have been vocal in their outrage, branding the treatment meted out to the trio as shabby and vengeful, others have expressed reservations about the paranoia infecting the prime minister’s office. The advisory role to which the trio has been now officially confined might seem enough for staunch supporters of Modi sarkar, even though others have openly exclaimed how could the tallest leaders, who made the BJP from a two-member party in the 1970s to a 286-member ruling regime in 2014, be disregarded thus.
The stamp of Brand Modi could be seen in both the staggering efficiency that has been injected into
the soporific veins of a lazy bureaucracy since the inception of the BJP government at the centre as well as in the unflinching decision to rid the party of the so-called dead weight bogging it down. Let’s hope this tough call is in the best interest of all.
The rejig, that now situates the three stalwarts of BJP outside the actual amphitheatre of power, is, therefore, a brilliant glimpse into what is going on in the political corridors of the national capital. A tectonic shift apart, the rearrangement is not only about shedding the flab of cosmetic reverence towards political spent forces, it is equally the ushering in of a peculiar kind of slimmed down, sleek and lethally effective parvenu politics, embodied in Modi, Shah and their ilk. While the BJP parliamentary board now comprises a set of leaders in their prime, with years of political activity ahead, the irreverence towards old timers has not gone down very well with many who still believe in taking it slow and instill lasting change.
Much like his abolition of the Planning Commission before instituting a well-defined alternative, the top gun of the ruling party has fired the pistol to announce that tokenism in any form is now an outmoded and unhelpful strategy. While some sections of the public sphere have been vocal in their outrage, branding the treatment meted out to the trio as shabby and vengeful, others have expressed reservations about the paranoia infecting the prime minister’s office. The advisory role to which the trio has been now officially confined might seem enough for staunch supporters of Modi sarkar, even though others have openly exclaimed how could the tallest leaders, who made the BJP from a two-member party in the 1970s to a 286-member ruling regime in 2014, be disregarded thus.
The stamp of Brand Modi could be seen in both the staggering efficiency that has been injected into
the soporific veins of a lazy bureaucracy since the inception of the BJP government at the centre as well as in the unflinching decision to rid the party of the so-called dead weight bogging it down. Let’s hope this tough call is in the best interest of all.