Its not about them Its about us
Dear Shri Nitin Gadkari
It was interesting to see and read your comments to the media in Delhi.
You were the epitome of humility and loyalty no dispute with you on that.
But Sir there is a tiny problem with that humility for it takes us for granted.
It takes us for granted because it assumes that someone else is vested with the authority to appoint you President of BJP and we in the general population should merely put blind faith in the wisdom of that authority.
Your willingness to shoulder responsibilities for the Party while admirable also poses a tiny problem sir for “willingness” by itself is no measure of competence to shoulder those responsibilities effectively.
By merely conveying a willingness to shoulder responsibilities and expecting to be bestowed with those responsibilities Sir not just takes us for granted but actually insults us for it assumes that you are entitled to those responsibilities irrespective of whether we deem you fit and able to shoulder those responsibilities.
There maybe at least 4 good reasons in Delhi to present a diktat as fait accompli, but Sir this is not “about them”, this Sir is “about us”.
So Sir the choice is yours.
You can either choose to feign humility and willingness to make this about them.
OR
You can be honest about that humility by actually making it about us by making a public case for why you are best suited to rebuild the BJP Organizationally as its Next President.
And Sir when you do get to make that choice please do not further insult us by bandying cliches such as “its time for Unity”, “its time for collective leadership”. It would be disrespectful of our intellect.
A Party that is incapable of managing contradictions and diversity of opinion through an electoral process frankly is a Party beyond redemption.
We call for an election not because we believe the election is the solution to all problems but because the election forces you and whoever else to make this about US by proving to us why you are the best person suited for this job.
So in closing Sir you can either choose to be treated by History as another figurehead propped by the backroom lacking in moral authority or Sir you can make a place for yourself in History as the man who earned his place at the top echelons of the BJP with the mandate of the electoral college and moral authority of public opinion.
Hoping you would make the right choice.
Yours Sincerely
a keen observer and advocate of Center Right Politics based on Dharma
Filed under: DesiPundit, Nitin Gadkari, Shveta Chhatra
Yossarin,
I would love to follow your blog, but i am not able to access any of the “wordpress” blogs from home, (service provider is MTNL), don’t know what could be the reason. Is it possible for you to host your blog in “blogspot”?
Sanjay – sorry to hear that, will enable email distribution shortly you can also visit offstumped.in which has all the posts and more
I admire the principle set out in your open letter. I agree with you that one of the only way to clean our today’s polity is to democratise our political parties in terms of choice (through primary-internal elections) of their candidates as well as office bereres at all levels. This will encourage & make possible for the brightest to enter, survive and be effective in politics. Political parties in democracy are not private properties as they seek power to rule over us. Some of us are just trying to establish these principles through Lok Satta Movement. Thanks for spreading the message that we need to work to set right the current political culture.
I admire the principle set out in your open letter. I agree with you that one of the only way to clean our today’s polity is to democratise our political parties in terms of choice (through primary-internal elections) of their candidates as well as office bereres at all levels. This will encourage & make possible for the brightest to enter, survive and be effective in politics. Political parties in democracy are not private properties as they seek power to rule over us. Some of us are just trying to establish these principles through Lok Satta Movement. Thanks for spreading the message that we need to work to set right the current political culture. Thanks
its a shame that BJP supporters are allowing the RSS to openly humiliate BJP leaders. is there any reason why people like Sushma Swaraj are putting up with this gorilla from Nagpur? Either throw all RSS members out of the party or the Swantantra Party becons …
if we start now, we may easily finish as the second largest party in the 2014 polls.
Balaji: did you call Mohanji gorilla? If you are a hindu, no wonder Hindus have to live like this for ever. Did you say throw all RSS members out of BJP? If you are in BJP, then you will be left with majority people like Reddy brothers, may be you are their loyalist. BJP and RSS can’t be separated. But may be you are being loyal to Madam. don’t play your congress games in nationalist forums.
heard the phrase “900 pound gorilla”? it fits Bhagwat to the T. throwing tantrums and messing up things. someone wished Mohan Bhagwat be the last Sarchangachalak there ever was. i think its very much in the offing. 10 years from now RSS might have as much following as the Hindu Mahasabha. Sushma, Jaswant, Yashwant et al came from the Janata/Swatantra background. They shud go back to their roots.
Nitin Gadkari has not really fought any serious elections so far. He gets elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council and does not fight elections for the assembly. Despite being a well known personality, he has never fought an election for becoming a Member of Parliament.
Considering that many of the BJP top brass are unelected ‘leaders’, I suppose it is only fair that their new chief should also be someone anointed as one, in the tradition of an overwhelming majority of political parties that contest elections in the country.
If you think about it, all political parties in democratic India are essentially dictatorships. Ironically, it is the left that has a more democratic internal setup than most supposedly centre, centre-right or right wing ones.
Hello Folks,
This is an not related to the topic here but a more important one. There are some groups, the secular types (you guessed it – pseudo-secular types) especially being run or moderated by Islamists (in India) who are deliberately misrepresenting facts and pushing their agendas. There is this one group which I was monitoring where the moderator is saying that Jammu and Kashmir is a separate country!!! According to another member (associated with a local political party) even the Simal agreement, it seems, says that it is a disputed area…..(there is not a word called ‘dispute’ in the Simla Agreement).
Have any of you guys been monitoring such groups, countering them?? Can any legal action be initiated against such groups and people who misrepresent facts, because that moderator says he is a journalist in Chennai, which means he is influencing his constituencies, he interacts with journos from outside and he will be telling the same…..
Any thoughts, suggestions… I can give you guys the link to that group…
You can also email me at dgkwd9@yahoo.com
Thanks.
I agree with you offstumped.. Nitin Gadkari is not a suitable person..
I have one blind and crude judgement method.. Any possible leader who is praised by the media, or who is not criticised by media, are most probably, the unsuitable leader for BJP..
Imagine, if modi’s name is suggested for that top job.. how he would have been ostracised..
The enemy knows the BJP’s leaders well than the BJP/RSS themselves..
How many of you would have endorsed the “appointment” of Narendra Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister, way back in 2001? He had never contested any elections and had no political background. He was simply appointed and Keshubhai was unceremoniously removed. He accepted the job with the same humility that you now mock.
There were several people who knew Modi’s contribution to the party at the ground level for decades before his “appointment.”
BJP does not need a “face” for the BJP in the immediate future – what it needs is someone who is relatively “new” to the position, so that the party reorganization can be executed smoothly.
There might be several candidates that could fit this role – including Gadkari.
Regardless – Gadkari could simply be a red herring for the media. It is possible that BJP might pick a relatively unknown person as well.
congress walla media asking How can a person who ever fought election can become BJP president?
Well they hv no problem in accepting MMS as PM
Yossarin,
after many months I am visiting your blog, the passion with which you write is really amazing. I eagerly look forward to your book on Media Bias. I wish it becomes the best selling book in India like “Five point some one” or something like that. That should sound as the death-knell for this hopeless media. Even animals are better than Indian media. Wishing you all success. I would be happy to help you in any way I can.
Nitin Gadkari is a MLC, but his constituancy of the MLC is very big and consist 5-6 districts, and election is not easy, so u can not say that he didnt got elected in any elction. His dedication and capacty to administe is proven in his Journey of leadership. He delivered some things, recently in Nagpur or Vidarbha he does well in asembly election of 2009. I think a fresh look will give rebirth to BJP.
You should research how effective he has been in the past responsibilities he was given. He has done a better job than most other politicians irrespective of the party.
I didn’t know Rajnath singh either….neither I have heard of him doing anything significant.
I just know that Gadkari has done it in the past and he deserves a chance. I have hopes in him.
[...] the manner of his election did not inspire confidence to this blogger, his reiteration of his faith in the spirit of Enterprise does raise [...]