Cosmetic Changes

As a prelude to its election of a new national president, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been busy announcing new state unit chiefs, a chore that might seem like a party renewing its grassroots. In reality, these have turned to be little more than cosmetic changes. This selective elevation of regional leaders reflects a centralised party machinery more preoccupied with symbolism and compliance than with resolving internal dissent or genuinely revamping its regional strategy.

The BJP’s party constitution mandates that elections be completed in at least 19 of its 37 organisational units before the national president election process can begin. Until recently, only 14 had done so. Over the past week, that number has ticked upward as the BJP installed new state presidents - some fresh, others re-elected - in 16 states, with more to follow.

With J.P. Nadda’s term set to end and his transition from party president to Cabinet Minister already underway, the procedural pieces must fall into place before the Modi-Shah combine can anoint a successor.

But the significance of these changes is largely illusory. Many of the new appointees are seasoned but faceless organisation men, hardly the type of charismatic reformers that are needed to win over restless voter bases or healing factionalised units. In Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, for instance, the party has chosen Ramchander Rao and P.V.N. Madhav, respectively, names that carry little public weight, but tick boxes for loyalty and discipline. Rao’s elevation has provoked the resignation of firebrand Hindutva leader T. Raja Singh, a three-term MLA and saffron hardliner from Goshamahal, who accused the party of sidelining its real Hindutva warriors in favour of pliant insiders.

In Karnataka, the powerful Lingayat vote bank remains in flux. B.S. Yediyurappa, the party’s ageing patriarch in the state, is lobbying hard for his son, B.Y. Vijayendra, to remain state chief. But Vijayendra, seen by critics as lacking his father’s stature and mired in factional strife, is far from a unifying figure.

In Maharashtra, the elevation of Ravindra Chavan, an unremarkable but loyal Maratha MLA, to state president is clearly meant to shore up the authority of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, under whose shadow Chavan will likely remain. It is a move that consolidates power rather than distributes it. And in Gujarat, the BJP’s crown jewel, the appointment of a new president remains pending, with the caste matrix of Patidar vs OBC being weighed not by local leadership but by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah themselves.

The real story is one of centralisation masquerading as federal renewal. While these appointments are necessary to fulfil constitutional obligations, they do little to answer the strategic questions facing the BJP in multiple states. Swapping figureheads without redistributing power is unlikely to address any of these challenges. A new president will soon take the BJP’s helm. But unless the party balances loyalty with regional adaptability, these ceremonial shuffles will do little to prepare it for the electoral battles that lie ahead.