So finally Nitin Gadkari is going to Delhi. On saturday December 19th Nitin Gadkari will formally take over as the next BJP President from Rajnath Singh. Nitin Gadkari’s elevation comes at the same time as L.K. Advani relinquishes office in favor of Sushma Swaraj. Mr.Advani says its not an end of an era but if the new website launched to mark Nitin Gadkari’s elevation is anything to go by it truly is the beginning of a new era.
To fully appreciate why it is the beginning of a new era, consider this question when was the last time a National Party appointed an Entrepreneur to lead it, mind you “entrepreneur” not a “crony capitalist”, and did not feel apologetic about wearing his Entrepreneurship as a badge ?
Rahul Gandhi’s pretensions at running a business dont count, for he shamefully describes his occupation as a “farmer” in his election affidavit.
The jury will be out for long on the merits of Nitin Gadkari’s elevation and his competence for the BJP top party job but if there is one reason the Center Right must give Nitin Gadkari a shot it would be his faith in the Spirit of Enterprise and his strength of conviction in not being shy about it.
While Nitin Gadkari’s personal convictions are not in question it remains to be seen to what degree he is able to champion change within the BJP in steering towards a Center Right agenda that provides a coherent and aspirational alternative to the Congress’ politics of poverty and appeasement.
Nitin Gakari has the right resume with his experience in Urban Local Governance to take on the Congress’ centralized one-size-fit-all psued0-progressivism. But will Nitin Gadkari put that experience to practice to advocate policies and programs that will be a stark contrast to the Congress’ centralization remains to be seen.
There is a window of opportunity here for the BJP to lead a movement that advocates reorienting India’s fledgling federalism with a firm focus on administrative efficiency and governance.
The issue of smaller states and autonomy to local governance has the potential to rewrite many an existing political equations and marginalizing many an existing political power centers.
The BJP’s hopes of revival rest on breaking new ground and on stitching new social coalitions. There cannot be a better opportunity than this to take on the Congress over the next few years.
Is Nitin Gadkari up to the challenge of offering a coherent vision and leading the movement and in the process script the BJP’s revival ?
While the manner of his election did not inspire confidence to this blogger, his reiteration of his faith in the spirit of Enterprise does raise hopes.
Offstumped wishes Nitin Gadkari the best in his new role.
Filed under: DesiPundit, Nitin Gadkari, Shveta Chhatra
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