BJP Should Resolve Leadership Issues

BJP should have proposed Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s name for CM before the elections began. This is not wisdom achieved in hindsight. Readers of the blog know that we had been saying that ad nauseum. One of the reasons why SP and BSP (to some extent) did well was because the voters knew whom they were getting. In case of Congress, the voters KNEW that Rahul Gandhi was never going to be the UP CM. In case of BJP EVERY leader was a possible candidate. Therefore the possible supporters of Congress and BJP did not know around whom to rally. Lack of a clear cut leader has been bandied about as a reason for Congress’ loss as well by their experts. BJP may have lost the election in Uttarakhand because of the same issue. The next general elections are going to be held before 2014 and thus BJP needs to resolve their leadership issues because with Congress we know who that guy is going to be and so should the BJP supporters.

After Advaniji there has been a power struggle at the top, which still is going on. In fact Advaniji himself has not taken himself out of the running even though he ruined BJP’s chances of winning in 2009. RSS leadership forced Gadkari on the party who has turned out to be even more incompetent than Rajnath Singh and that is saying something. Sushmaji is sulking and really wants the top job without showing any ability except to make speeches. Arun Jaitley is BJP’s Manmohan Singh- a man who has always found his way into the government through the Rajyasabha. Of course as long as these people are around, another leader can never come up and that is going to ruin the next elections for BJP.

BJP needs to establish a clear hierarchy of leadership. This way they can establish a vision and a path forward with a leader whose decision and authority does not get questioned at every juncture. In absence of a royal family like the Gandhis, how can the BJP achieve that? The answer in not that difficult. The leader will have to be someone who is respected and feared if not loved by the party workers so they can rally around him or her with enthusiasm. The leader will have to be a person who has established him or herself as an organizer, a winner (in general and state elections, not the Rajyasabha), national recognition (that is less important because once projected, they can make a name for themselves), a very strong performer and a man of unimpeachable character. Now such a leader may exist in heavens but not earth. However, we can always find someone with most of these abilities. The BJP need to hold their own party elections where the possible candidates throw their names in the hat. EVERY member of the party should be allowed to vote. Whomever wins should become the party head. That is the only way we can find someone who can effectively lead the party because then no one can second guess his or her being there. Also, we need to do this quickly so that the party gets time to build this person up and the voters get used to the idea of that leader as our PM. That makes the process of decision making a lot easier. This also makes it possible to enthuse the voter base who may otherwise stay home.

That is my suggestion and I do not have another idea. However what we do not want is seniority as a criteria or the RSS leadership deciding who should be the leader. If the party workers elect an outsider like Bhai Narendra Modi or an old timer like LK Advani then so be it. Merit should trump all. If we cannot practice meritocracy or democracy at a party level then we have no business practicing at a national level.