6 reasons Amit Shah was re-elected BJP president
When the habit of oversimplification grips one's thought process, a certain kind of inertia develops, and people refuse to go beyond what meets the eye. Understandably, one tends not to dig any deeper for analysis, refusing to read between the lines.
Something similar has happened while reporting the news as well as commenting editorially on Amit Shah's second coming as national president of the BJP. True, he is one of the closest confidants of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
But lured by oversimplification, many in media refuse to see the contribution of Shah. The value addition under his presidency during the last 18 months is too remarkable to be overlooked. There are at least six important reasons that makes his brief first tenure noteworthy:
1. Modi and Shah together have successfully ensured that the importance of the party organisation did not get diluted after attaining power. There is today a perfect synergy between party organisation and government. Deepened dialogue and mature mutuality are the cornerstones of this relationship and it was perfectly at display during the last 18 months. From regular visits of the prime minister to party headquarters to ensuring participation of the party cadre in programmes of national development, a sound leadership has been evident everywhere.
This sound leadership is crucial for the nation. Under some of the famous prime ministers from the Congress, we have seen how the head of the government would take party organisation almost for granted, or how a party vice-president would openly assail a draft Bill of his own government simply to earn some brownie points.
2. By winning back-to-back elections in four state assemblies and installing BJP governments in Jharkahnd, Maharashtra and Haryana, Shah has hugely expanded the party's political base. A government with BJP participation in Jammu and Kashmir was a historic achievement and people within the party know how resolutely Shah worked towards that.
3. Shah has also worked hard for instilling a sense of purpose among the party rank and file. He has appealed to the party workers to work for three constructive activities, namely preventing female foeticide as well as working for prevention of girl child dropouts from schools; the Namami Gange project for ensuring not just a clean Ganga, but any river in a district; and thirdly, working for the rehabilitation of those engaged in manual scavenging.
"Enrolling huge number of people as workers is not for converting (the) party into an election winning machine," he explained to workers at a gathering. "What BJP stands for is not machine but mission politics; politics with a purpose of service to the people." Taking party membership to more than ten crore, and conducting a massive training programme across the country in a short span, is undoubtedly a unique feat achieved by the party under him.
4. He also needs to be credited for strategic expansion of the party organisation. All along, he has been focusing on, what he calls "Coromandel states", which means the seven states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradhesh, Telangana, Odisha and West Bengal, and the Union Territory of Puducherry. He understands very well that the BJP will have to look beyond the Hindi heartland and break new grounds to be able to regain adequate mandate.
5. He has also made significant efforts for social outreach. With his ears always close to the ground, Shah has added one more frontal organisation in the form of the OBC Morcha. He knows very well that the party has to make deeper inroads into creating strong bases among the other backward classes (OBCs), to broaden its mandate.
6. His efforts to institutionalise the functioning of the party has largely gone unnoticed. The fact is that he has, for the first time, created as many as 18 departments of party functioning, with neatly defined work profile. This includes many non-traditional departments such as policy research, e-library, documentation and office modernisation. A "party-owned office in every district" is his dream and he is out to translate it into reality.
A sound government-party relationship, expanding electoral footprint, underscoring a sense of purpose among party cadres, working for strategic expansion of the party, social outreach and efforts for greater institutionalisation of party functioning were the six sigma of Amit Shah 1.0. Political observers and analysts need to remember that these have greatly contributed to his second coming.