Two days after he lavished praise on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his Independence Day address from Red Fort, Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended another olive branch to the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ideological mentor. The party's parliamentary board picked RSS man and current Maharashtra governor CP Radhakrishnan as the NDA nominee for vice-president.
The choice is replete with signals. It comes amid a standoff with the RSS over the next BJP president. The three-year term of the present incumbent, JP Nadda, ended in January 2024. He continued on extensions because of a lack of consensus on his successor.
Traditionally, the BJP appoints its president after extensive consultations with the RSS. It is no longer secret that the conventional route has led to a dead end, explaining the inordinate (and unusual) delay in choosing a replacement for Nadda.
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The Tensions With RSS
Modi's consecutive electoral successes in 2014 and 2019 elevated him to an unassailable position, with the RSS giving him a free hand to appoint the BJP president. However, tensions between the mentor and mentee surfaced during the 2024 Lok Sabha election, with Nadda taking a swipe at the RSS in a newspaper interview to declare that the BJP no longer needed the Sangh and was capable of standing on its own.
The extent to which relations had frayed was evident in the poll results. For the first time in 10 years, the BJP failed to win a majority on its own and suffered heavy losses in two vital states: Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Internal assessments attributed these losses to a lack of support from RSS workers during the election process. Some of the damage was indeed repaired in subsequent assembly elections, in which RSS cadres fanned out in large numbers to campaign for the BJP - particularly in Haryana and Maharashtra, where the party won thumping majorities. The relationship, however, remains fraught.
The Question Of The BJP President
At the heart of the discord is the choice of the next BJP president. Party circles candidly but privately acknowledge that the RSS is unhappy with the turn the BJP has taken in recent years. From being a cadre-based, ideologically-rooted organisation that nurtured younger mass leaders for the future, the BJP was increasingly turning into a flabby replica of Indira Gandhi's Congress. The RSS feels that the BJP is far too dependent on one man's charisma to win elections. Worse, it had become a parking space for rebels from other parties who were rewarded with ministerial posts, Rajya Sabha berths and tickets to contest elections, frequently at the cost of long-time loyalists waiting in the wings.
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Strong prime ministers like Indira Gandhi have traditionally wanted their parties to be subservient to them to make the process of governance and policy formulation smoother. BJP sources point to previous Prime Ministers like Narasimha Rao, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, who often found themselves circumscribed by party chiefs with conflicting priorities and loyalties.
Modi's recent dual moves are seen as peace offerings to the RSS to facilitate a compromise and ease the process of selecting a new party president who can balance the interests of both. The appointment of a BJP chief is long overdue, and the uncertainty is disturbing the equilibrium between the party and the government.
Two Reasons For The Pick
Radhakrishnan's nomination should be seen in this light. Although it was widely known that the government would opt for someone from the ranks after it burnt its fingers with 'outsider' Jagdeep Dhankhar, the choice of Radhakrishnan has surprised many in the party.
There are two reasons for this. Radhakrishnan is first and foremost an RSS loyalist with deep roots in the organisation, with which he has been associated since the age of 16. He also doesn't quite fit into the mould of the current BJP. Although relatively young at 68, he comes from the Vajpayee-Advani era of the party, when politics was more consensual and less confrontational.
Coimbatore Days
In fact, when the BJP was born out of the Jan Sangh in 1980, Radhakrishnan was appointed an aide to Vajpayee. He must have imbibed some lessons from the former Prime Minister - in fact, political circles in his home state of Tamil Nadu would jokingly refer to him as the Vajpayee of the state BJP.
Radhakrishan was elected from Coimbatore twice to the Lok Sabha, first in 1998 and then in 1999. His margin of victory in 1998 was the highest in Tamil Nadu as he rode on a wave of Hindu consolidation following the Coimbatore riots, which killed 85 persons.
He lost all the elections fought after that, but, nevertheless, remained the BJP's face in Tamil Nadu, largely because of his rapport with the Dravidian parties. He had a good relationship with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) when it was part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). When the DMK exited the NDA in 2003, Radhakrishnan played a leading role in stitching up an alternative alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK).
The Rise And Fall Of Annamalai
He was put out to grass following two successive defeats in the Lok Sabha polls of 2014 and 2019. With the BJP deciding to adopt a hardline in Tamil Nadu, Radhakrishnan's talent for making friends and allies was no longer needed. He was replaced as Tamil Nadu BJP chief by the younger and more energetic K Annamalai, who gleefully plunged into confrontational politics in an effort to expand his party's base.
Now that the BJP has decided to shake hands again with the AIADMK following its failure to make inroads into Tamil Nadu on its own, Annamalai has been discarded. In fact, Radhakrishnan's old connections may prove useful in the coming days as the BJP changes course in the state. Known for his moderation and sobriety, he is not a 'yes man' and BJP circles believe he will strike an independent tone in the functioning of the Rajya Sabha.
A Smooth Road
Although the Opposition has chosen to field a joint candidate in Justice B Sudershan Reddy, the election will be a mere formality given that the NDA has sufficient numbers in Parliament to ensure a smooth victory for Radhakrishnan.
It will be interesting to see how the relationship between the new Vice-President and the Modi government evolves in the coming months. If Radhakrishnan's tweet thanking Modi and the BJP for choosing him as the candidate is any indication of his strong commitment to conventions and traditions, he looks set to be a constitutional vice president rather than a party man. He signed off his tweet with the words "Jai Hind".
(The author is a senior Delhi-based journalist)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
