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BJP Parliamentary Board revamp: Narendra Modi’s big gamble with next-gen leaders

For BJP, AB Vajpayee’s ‘Suraj hatega, Andhera chatega, Kamal Khilega’ is now Narendra Modi’s ‘My Idea of India: Satyameva Jayate’

Published: August 27, 2014 3:05 PM IST

By Shikhar Jiwrajka

BJP Parliamentary Board revamp: Narendra Modi's big gamble with next-gen leaders

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) witnessed a paradigm shift in its party’s structure on Tuesday as party President Amit Shah announced a revamped Parliamentary Board. Senior leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi were dropped from the highest decision making body of the party whereas Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and BJP General Secretary JP Nadda were included in the team. Sushma Swaraj was the sole female member in Amit Shah’s newly formed team. A new committee was formed namely ‘Margdarshak Mandal’ in which the trio of veterans will be constituted.

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The complete revamp was long due as even during the run-up to 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, there were discussions about the role of Advani and Joshi in the General Elections. While MM Joshi was shifted from his first choice constituency Varanasi to Kanpur and there was also a debate as to where will Advani contest elections from.

On May 16 when Narendra Modi-led National Democratic (NDA) alliance won the Elections, names of LK Advani and MM Joshi were doing rounds of handling one cabinet berth. The senior duo was snubbed of a cabinet post too signaling the transitional phase of the saffron party.

There were speculations of MM Joshi being appointed as the Maharashtra Governor, but those were put to rest as speedily as they rose.

The recent move of revamping the Parliamentary Board all together officially brings an end to Vajpayee-Advani era as the team under Amit Shah depicts a stamp of Modi with no other senior but Rajnath Singh in the list. BJP did make a courtesy move of forming ‘Margdarshak Mandal’, but the seniors will have no say in taking the final call whatsoever. Will Modi-era usher in BJP after seniors exit?

BJP was Jana Sangh before 1978 and the party was formed in 1980 after a split from Janata Party. It was the hard work and strategies of AB Vajpayee and LK Advani who took the party from 2 seats in 1984 to 182 seats in 1998. The major surge for BJP came in 1991-92 when they took Hindutva as their main ideology. The main motive was to bring a saffron revolution in the country and re-building the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. Since then it has been a roller coaster ride for BJP.

It’s no brainer that it is because of Narendra Modi’s charm, confidence, and his proven track record that BJP could reduce the Congress party to a paltry 44-seats-party in Parliament. But does the next-gen ministers have the vigour for bringing in the saffron revolution? The issue of Ram Mandir and saffron revolution remains the same even after nearly 20 years of Babri Masjid demolition. Narendra Modi did fight these elections keeping the agenda of development on the fore, but the desire of saffron revolution underlies.

The BJP has decided to call curtains on party leaders in the decision making and has instead made them mentors to the party. How much beneficial it will be for the party will be seen as time passes, but for now, the BJP has passed on the torch to Narendra Modi and it is upon him to live upto people’s expectations.

For BJP, AB Vajpayee’s ‘Suraj hatega, Andhera chatega, Kamal Khilega’ is now Narendra Modi’s ‘My Idea of India: Satyameva Jayate’!

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