Gadkari done and dusted: Who's next?

The new Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), being shaped by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and trusted lieutenant Home Minister Amit Shah, neither forgives nor forgets. This is reiterated by the decision to drop senior leader Nitin Gadkari from the party's Parliamentary Board, and its Central Election Committee regardless of how the move is read.

There was a time when Gadkari was considered immune from the whims of the Modi-Shah duo because of his proximity to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was born and grew up in the Mahal area of Nagpur, the headquarters of the RSS. However, reports are that the RSS okayed his removal from top party positions, and there is a possibility that he might even lose his cabinet berth unless he modifies his behaviour suitably.

Read | Nitin Gadkari attributes BJP’s rise to power to efforts of Atal Bihar Vajpayee, L K Advani

Considered among the most efficient in Narendra Modi's Cabinet, how did Gadkari fail to read the tea leaves? When he was removed as party president in 2013, he should have realised that the coup was engineered by the hard-line faction of the party itself against those perceived to be 'moderates'. With the help of some in the then Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, income tax raids on his Purti Group of companies, brought accusations of tax evasion of Rs 70 million. He had to step down and renounce re-election as party president. It meant little that he was cleared of the charges both by a judicial commission and the Income Tax department. The political damage was done, and Gadkari's challenge to Narendra Modi ended then itself.

Though he was given a Cabinet seat when the Modi government assumed office, those who still saw him as the only challenger to Prime Minister Modi, were mistaken. The ground had shifted, and the principle of reshaping the BJP was, unquestionably, loyalty to the leader and the party. Gadkari's public behaviour, however, remained old-school. He often appeared in the company of Opposition leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress with whom he had an excellent personal equation. This was not appreciated by the new BJP. His indulgent behaviour towards members of the Opposition was interpreted as reducing the credibility of the BJP's no-holds-barred criticism of the Opposition.

Read | Biggest problem is central government not taking decisions on time: Gadkari

Gadkari, for example, is believed to have boasted that anybody who, irrespective of his/her party, came to him demanding roads in their constituency, he never left them disappointed. His critics played that up to mean that he was extending the government's largesse to the Opposition when he should have only favoured requests made by BJP leaders. He was also known initially as the only minister who spoke his mind at Cabinet meetings. Rumours have it that after one heated exchange, he has chosen to withdraw into himself.

Nor did the Modi dispensation take kindly to his statements criticising politics as having become too focussed on "sattakaran" or "politics becoming 100 per cent about coming to power". He publicly asked a question about whether politics was only about staying in power or about the welfare of society also, and that was interpreted as a direct attack on the leadership of the BJP government. On the face of it, it was hard to believe Gadkari's lament that politics was no longer a vehicle for social change and development. Even his supporters admit, that though a good person and an efficient minister, he is no saint.

It is rather rich, they point out, for someone who was the public works minister of Maharashtra and party president to be cynical about "people running after political parties to give them money". And to then wash his hands off influence peddling by adding, "Of course, these days I am not the party president, so there is no scope for me for such dealing." He even tried to take the credit for the massive majorities of the BJP under the present leadership by pointing out that real credit goes to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani who paved the way for present day successes.

Clearly, these were targetted statements and were recognised by the BJP as directed inwards rather than at the Opposition. Such criticism was seen to betray personal ambition and increasing frustration at seeing no prospects of realising it. Taken together, the BJP leadership interpreted Gadkari's behaviour as being out of step with the direction the party had decided to take.

Prime Minister Modi, more than his predecessors, does not appreciate any deviations from the political narrative set by him for his government and the party. Whether it was a saffron-clad Sakshi Maharaj or a Sadhvi Pragya Thakur fulminating in public, he has silenced attempts to embarrass his government. Ravi Shankar Prasad's proclivity to speak out of turn and health minister Harsh Vardhan's endorsement of the controversial "Coronil" of Baba Ramdev as the best cure for Covid-19, have cost them their ministerships. Prasad as the minister of information technology, could not even prevent Twitter from deactivating his account (for violation of the US copyright law). Harsh Vardhan's pitch brought the government up against allopathic medicine globally.

Gadkari failed to read the complete intolerance for 'behavioural lapses' by the new dispensation. Narendra Modi never forgives his critics, all potential challengers are cut down to size, and punishment will follow no matter how long it takes. His wrath could be drawn by an RSS functionary like Sanjay Joshi, an ambitious BJP chief minister or leader, public intellectuals or civil society organisations and activists.

What has happened to Gadkari is also a signal to others in the party or closely associated with it. It puts on notice people like Meghalaya Governor Satyapal Malik, whose statements against the government have become increasingly caustic. His latest salvo was that the government was doing nothing to develop legal guarantees for minimum support price (MSP) for farmers, because of "Prime Minister's friend (Gautam) Adani". Rumours have it that dossiers are being prepared on Malik, and the moment he demits office in two months, he is likely to find himself in very hot waters indeed.

(Bharat Bhushan is a journalist based in Delhi)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.