New Delhi: BJP eyes generational shift in upcoming rejig
The appointment of 45-year-old Nitin Nabin as the working president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set off speculation that the organisational rejig that is expected early next year will also be carried out with the larger idea of implementing a generational shift in the party, people familiar with the thinking in the party said.
While Nabin, who is expected to be elected as the president, will be the youngest to take on the role, the BJP has been quietly picking relatively young people for leadership roles since 2014. A new team of office bearers, which includes vice presidents, national general secretaries, secretaries and spokespersons will be announced after the new president is formally appointed after January 15.
“In recent years the party had consciously picked leaders in the age group of 45-55 years as state and national office bearers, even as ministers –– look at Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh,” one the people cited above, a senior party leader and office bearer who asked not to be named, said.
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In Bihar, deputy chief ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Sinha are 56 and 57 years old, respectively, while in Chhattisgarh, deputy chief ministers Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma are 57 and 52, respectively. Pushkar Singh Dhami, the chief minister of Uttarakhand is 50, while UP CM Yogi Adityanath is 53.
Referring to the organisational rejig that is expected, the person quoted above said, “Going by the (high command’s) decision to groom new leaders who will lead the party for the next decade and more, the national office bearers are also likely to be younger in age. There will, of course, be representation of the experienced leaders as well… in addition to caste and gender.”
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In 2014, BJP patriarchs Atal Bihari Vajpayee, LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi didn’t find a presence in the party’s parliamentary board and central election committee.
“Transitions and generational shifts are not new to the BJP, but it is more visible now than before. In 2002, when M Venkaiah Naidu was announced as the president, there was the same discourse about how the younger generation (Naidu) was taking over from an older generation leader (Jana Krishna Murty)…” said a second leader, who too asked not to be named.
“Nitin Nabin is not the only leader who has been picked for a leadership position. The party has identified at least a 100-odd leaders in the age group of 35-50 who will be groomed for various leadership roles… they are the ones who will lead the party to the 2047 Viksit Bharat.”
On December 14, the party announced the appointment of five-term legislator and Bihar minister Nabin as the working national president. Once he is elected as president, he will take over from JP Nadda, who was appointed as working president in 2019 and national president in January 2020.
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