Shortly before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's departure to the United Kingdom and two days after the Bharatiya Janata Party’s crushing defeat in the Bihar assembly polls, the National Democratic Alliance government announced a series of big bang economic reforms on Tuesday in a clear attempt to deflect attention from its latest electoral debacle.
However, the Modi government’s efforts to change the prevailing political narrative came a cropper as a group of senior BJP leaders had other plans.
Four party veterans, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha, released a strongly worded joint statement the same evening in which they targeted Modi and BJP president Amit Shah and demanded accountability for the party’s rout in Bihar.
The four leaders have been upset ever since they were marginalised by the Modi-Shah duo over a year ago. They were denied Cabinet berths and kept out of the party’s key decision-making bodies. Instead, Advani and Joshi were ostensibly promoted to a newly-formed Margdarshak Mandal advisory panel to guide the party.
In the open
Although the party old guard has been taking potshots at Modi and Shah over the past few months, this is the first time the elders have come out openly to challenge them directly. They were obviously biding their time, and they found the ideal opportunity to raise their banner of revolt after the disastrous Bihar election, in which the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won only 58 seats in the 243-member house.
The statement, drafted by the leaders at a meeting at Joshi’s residence on Tuesday evening, questioned the attempts being made by the party to give a clean chit to those who were responsible for the Bihar election.
"The results of the Bihar election show that no lesson has been learnt from the Delhi fiasco," the statement said. “To say everyone is responsible for defeat in Bihar is to ensure everyone is held responsible.”
In a clear attack on Modi and Shah, who led the BJP’s poll campaign, the statement said, "It shows those who would have appropriated credit are bent on shrugging off responsibility for the disastrous showing in Bihar. The review of the defeat cannot be done by people who managed the campaign in Bihar.”
It also drew attention to the manner in which the BJP has been functioning and how the “consensual character” of the party had been destroyed.
An embarrassment
While these rumblings are no doubt a warning and an embarrassment for Modi, his confidant, Amit Shah, is the immediate target of attack. Shah’s term as party president is coming up for renewal in January and the growing voices of dissent are essentially aimed at denying him a fresh term. Even if they do not succeed in this mission, the sidelined party leaders want to use the opportunity to ensure that the next Modi-Shah team accommodates their loyalists so that it is more representative.
Realising that the knives are out for him, Shah went into damage control mode soon after the Bihar results were declared. He was among the first few BJP leaders to call on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in what was apparently a move to save his presidency.
In a swift counter-offensive on Tuesday, Shah and Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari issued a statement of their own in an attempt to neutalise the damage. "The party has been very fortunate to have been led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri L.K. Advani for decades,” they said. “They had set a healthy precedent of the Party collectively taking up responsibility for victories and defeats. The Party would certainly welcome any guidance and suggestion of our seniors in this regard.”
The show of resentment by the veteran leaders may not lead to any immediate upheaval since their clout has been seriously undermined, and the party structures are packed with Modi and Shah loyalists. Nevertheless, the prime minister and the BJP president can hardly afford to brush aside their statement. Advani is the party’s elder statesman, who is credited with building the BJP and nurturing a generation of young leaders.
Growing unease
The views of these elders, even though they have been sidelined, reflect the growing unease in the BJP with Modi and Shah’s autocratic style of functioning. Resentment against the leadership has been building up among MPs and party functionaries, who are chafing at the manner in which all powers are centralised and decisions taken unilaterally without any attempt at building a consensus.
In fact, the Bihar election has proved to be the tipping point for several leaders – Arun Shourie, Shatrughan Sinha, CP Thakur, RK Singh and Bhola Singh to name a few – who have criticised the handling of the campaign.
The Bihar verdict and the subsequent churning within the party could not have come at a worse time for Modi. These developments are threatening to cast a shadow over his high-profile visit to the United Kingdom. Back home, an upbeat and united opposition is impatient to corner him in the coming winter session of Parliament.
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However, the Modi government’s efforts to change the prevailing political narrative came a cropper as a group of senior BJP leaders had other plans.
Four party veterans, LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha, released a strongly worded joint statement the same evening in which they targeted Modi and BJP president Amit Shah and demanded accountability for the party’s rout in Bihar.
The four leaders have been upset ever since they were marginalised by the Modi-Shah duo over a year ago. They were denied Cabinet berths and kept out of the party’s key decision-making bodies. Instead, Advani and Joshi were ostensibly promoted to a newly-formed Margdarshak Mandal advisory panel to guide the party.
In the open
Although the party old guard has been taking potshots at Modi and Shah over the past few months, this is the first time the elders have come out openly to challenge them directly. They were obviously biding their time, and they found the ideal opportunity to raise their banner of revolt after the disastrous Bihar election, in which the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance won only 58 seats in the 243-member house.
The statement, drafted by the leaders at a meeting at Joshi’s residence on Tuesday evening, questioned the attempts being made by the party to give a clean chit to those who were responsible for the Bihar election.
"The results of the Bihar election show that no lesson has been learnt from the Delhi fiasco," the statement said. “To say everyone is responsible for defeat in Bihar is to ensure everyone is held responsible.”
In a clear attack on Modi and Shah, who led the BJP’s poll campaign, the statement said, "It shows those who would have appropriated credit are bent on shrugging off responsibility for the disastrous showing in Bihar. The review of the defeat cannot be done by people who managed the campaign in Bihar.”
It also drew attention to the manner in which the BJP has been functioning and how the “consensual character” of the party had been destroyed.
An embarrassment
While these rumblings are no doubt a warning and an embarrassment for Modi, his confidant, Amit Shah, is the immediate target of attack. Shah’s term as party president is coming up for renewal in January and the growing voices of dissent are essentially aimed at denying him a fresh term. Even if they do not succeed in this mission, the sidelined party leaders want to use the opportunity to ensure that the next Modi-Shah team accommodates their loyalists so that it is more representative.
Realising that the knives are out for him, Shah went into damage control mode soon after the Bihar results were declared. He was among the first few BJP leaders to call on Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat in what was apparently a move to save his presidency.
In a swift counter-offensive on Tuesday, Shah and Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari issued a statement of their own in an attempt to neutalise the damage. "The party has been very fortunate to have been led by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Shri L.K. Advani for decades,” they said. “They had set a healthy precedent of the Party collectively taking up responsibility for victories and defeats. The Party would certainly welcome any guidance and suggestion of our seniors in this regard.”
The show of resentment by the veteran leaders may not lead to any immediate upheaval since their clout has been seriously undermined, and the party structures are packed with Modi and Shah loyalists. Nevertheless, the prime minister and the BJP president can hardly afford to brush aside their statement. Advani is the party’s elder statesman, who is credited with building the BJP and nurturing a generation of young leaders.
Growing unease
The views of these elders, even though they have been sidelined, reflect the growing unease in the BJP with Modi and Shah’s autocratic style of functioning. Resentment against the leadership has been building up among MPs and party functionaries, who are chafing at the manner in which all powers are centralised and decisions taken unilaterally without any attempt at building a consensus.
In fact, the Bihar election has proved to be the tipping point for several leaders – Arun Shourie, Shatrughan Sinha, CP Thakur, RK Singh and Bhola Singh to name a few – who have criticised the handling of the campaign.
The Bihar verdict and the subsequent churning within the party could not have come at a worse time for Modi. These developments are threatening to cast a shadow over his high-profile visit to the United Kingdom. Back home, an upbeat and united opposition is impatient to corner him in the coming winter session of Parliament.
