In his first press conference at the party headquarters, BJP president Nitin Gadkari today projected himself as an outsider in Delhi politics. And topped up his hour-long press conference with the promise to reach out to non-BJP voters — Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the minorities.
Invoking two slogans — Deendayal Upadhyaya’s “making the lot of the man standing last in the queue better” and “nation first, party next, and self last” were painted on the banner used as a backdrop at the conference venue — Gadkari said he hoped that Upadhyaya’s portrait and message would be “the roadmap for every BJP leader”.
In a party struggling to fight growing RSS influence — Orissa and Rajasthan being the latest examples — Gadkari left none in doubt where his sympathies lay. To a question on whether he agreed with L K Advani’s 2005 Chennai speech — in which he said the impression that the RSS micromanaged day-to-day affairs of the BJP was not good for either of the two outfits — Gadkari claimed no one would say the RSS interfered in BJP functioning.
“During my stint as Maharashtra BJP president, not once was I instructed by the RSS,” he said. “The party and the philosophy are most important. Sangh ka vichar hamare jeevan ki nishtha hai (the Sangh philosophy is a question of life-long commitment),” he said.
The promise to strengthen the NDA was dismissed in a sentence although the text of his statement had one paragraph on the NDA.
Claiming he had “nothing to lose” and indicating that he would not be daunted by BJP biggies in running the party, Gadkari used his image of an outsider in Delhi politics to the hilt. “I don’t know the Delhi roads or Delhi’s weather, but I expect support from everyone.”
He vowed to check the “culture of sycophancy” in the party and added that the issue of indiscipline would be dealt with utmost seriousness. “We need to understand the spirit behind the term discipline. Indiscipline is not a subject for discussion but for execution. No indiscipline will be tolerated,” he said.
Hindutva’s pet themes found space in Gadkari’s pronouncements — he blasted “appeasement politics” and also called for “stringent measures to check terror strikes”.
Agreeing that the “crisis of credibility” in politics was a huge problem, Gadkari said that contesting an election could not be the sole objective of a political party. In consonance with the RSS, he also spoke about the “ill effects” of globalisation — a booklet that was distributed had Gadkari echoing Dattopant Thengadi’s world view on westernisation and he also said “there was a difference between modernisation and westernisation”, that he was “all for swadeshi, and against westernisation”.
Invoking Gandhi’s principle of trusteeship, Gadkari called for a paradigm shift in expanding the canvas of political parties. He said that under his leadership, the Maharashtra BJP had adopted 500 families affected by farmer suicides in the state.
Gadkari's priority should be to strengthen the organisation and transform BJP once again into a cadre based party par excellence, which has Hindutva as its ideal. For this a lot of study class modules have to be prepared. While this work is going on, Gadkari has to ensure that the party delivers where it is in power. For this he has to set up a high calibre and experienced team capable of working round the clock to set targets and oversee implementation. And last but not least, he has to appoint a key man, like Arun Jaitley, to be the political spokesperson of the party. Gadkari should not be bogged down into answering day-to-day political questions the press would raise.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/new-bjp-chiefs-new-line-need-to-work-for-last-man-in-the-queue/559069/0
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