I would like to discourage sycophancy in every way, new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Nitin Gadkari tells SANJAY JOG
The BJP is passing through a difficult phase with two successive defeats in Lok Sabha elections. What’s the future of the party?
I do not have the slightest doubt about the BJP’s future. It is bright and we will try to make it brighter. Electoral defeats are part of the game and every party has to take these reverses in its stride. Even the Congress had faced two consecutive defeats. My conviction is: We shall overcome.
The party recently saw many ups and downs. A veteran leader, Jaswant Singh, was expelled for his book on Jinnah, while there has been groupism and largescale rebellion in the party. How are you going to put the party on track while addressing these issues?
Happily for me, all our leaders are aware of the challenges and everybody in the party has supported my resolve to bring discipline and strengthen mutual trust and respect. I have also appealed to everyone in the party to shun the practice of rushing to the media or speaking ‘off-the-record’. I believe things will improve, slowly but certainly.
The BJP has lost its identity as a ‘party with a difference’ due to these developments. What do you plan to do to regain the party’s lost glory?
Let me underscore that we are still a party with a difference. Although there are things that have crept into our culture which we need to do away with as fast as possible, the BJP has no parallel on several counts. Out of more than 1,000 political parties registered with the Election Commission, the BJP is the only serious national party that is not run on the basis of family rule. We are a genuinely democratic party and therefore our problems are bound to be different. Galvanising the party structure, enforcing discipline, cultivating mutual trust and evolving an internal performance audit mechanism are my priorities.
It seems there has been a rapid Congressisation of the BJP considering the tendency to use party discipline to check individual interest. What’s your message to the party cadre?
We are different from other parties in several ways. A grassroot worker like me who used to paint walls and put up posters during elections can become the party’s national president. For that you do not have to take birth in a particular family. First and foremost, I would like to discourage sycophancy. I have asked the party rank and file to touch the feet of only those who are elder to them and for whom they have genuine respect. I have also asked cadres to take up at least one development project.
Your appointment comes at a time when the era of party veterans like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi is over. The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has played a key role in your appointment. There is also criticism that RSS’ interference in the BJP has increased. Former MP Kharbala Swain has even left the party over this.
Although I am relatively junior to many, seniors have blessed me and extended their support. Let me make it clear that my name was proposed by Advaniji and Rajnathji and later by others. The RSS has never interfered. Its role is limited to giving us guidance when we approach it. I am talking to those who are disillusioned with the party and finding solutions.
Recently, severe differences have surfaced in the RSS family. Is coordination among the members of the parivar possible?
Most certainly. I will try and make deep inroads into the minds of all the members of our ideological movement and build new bridges with the help of dialogue.
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A section of the party feels that you lack mass appeal as you have never been elected directly. How confident are you about fulfilling your new responsibility?
I am hundred and one per cent confident.
Has Ram and Hindutva lost their importance? How will you revive the BJP to make it a pan-Indian party? In the wake of the Liberhan Commission report, what’s your view on the reconstruction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya?
Hindutva and Ram temple continue to be part of our conviction and therefore our agenda. The party has a new president but that need not mean that our convictions will undergo any basic change. The BJP is already a pan-Indian party. We are ruling in nine states. We are the main opposition party in three states. We have active units even in the North-East.
The BJP was always at the forefront of the movement against criminalisation of politics. How can you justify your party’s move to support Shibu Soren in Jharkhand?
We continue to be against criminalisation of politics. It was the Congress that made the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) members fall in a trap. By joining hands with the JMM, we have prevented the Congress from backseat driving through the President’s rule.
The BJP has been a strong proponent of smaller states. What are your views on Telangana, Vidarbha and the demand for new states?
Our positions on both these issues are known to all. We would like the UPA government to follow what the NDA did while creating three new states in 2000.
What do you plan to do to revive the NDA and bring back the BJP’s former allies?
This is high on our agenda. With the JMM, we have now added to our allies. We will do everything to strengthen the NDA.
Currently, relations between the BJP and the Shiv Sena are not so cordial. Is the BJP in a mood to dump the Sena and become cosy with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ahead of the next general elections?
Our relations continue to be cordial. I met Balasaheb recently and he gave me his blessings and support. About the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, it has fought elections against us and so there is no question of joining hands with it.
You and the newly-appointed deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Gopinath Munde, are engaged in one upmanship. Does it affect your party's position in Maharashtra?
There is absolutely no question of one-upmanship. We are working in Maharashtra in a united manner.
Are you going to resign from the Maharashtra Legislative Council? Do you have any plans to get yourself elected to the Rajya Sabha?
I will take a decision on my membership of the legislative council in due course. I have decided not to contest for the Rajya Sabha as that will give me the moral authority to ask others not to hanker for elective positions.