E-Paper
Nadda to start his new innings with focus on UP
Newly-elected BJP chief JP Nadda and his predecessor Amit Shah, the union home minister, will hold rallies in Uttar Pradesh this week, in what is being seen by political
Newly-elected BJP chief JP Nadda and his predecessor Amit Shah, the union home minister, will hold rallies in Uttar Pradesh this week, in what is being seen by political observers as an indication of the party’s continued focus on the most populous state.
While Shah will hold a rally in Lucknow’s Ram Katha Park on Tuesday to drum up support for the new citizenship law, Nadda will be in Agra on Thursday for identical purposes.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh and union road transport minister Nitin Gadkari, both former BJP chiefs, are also scheduled to hold rallies in UP.
Nadda’s term will last until 2022 when UP goes to the polls.
“His political rally in Agra would reveal his blueprint for UP as well as the country. Under Shah, the BJP expanded splendidly across the country. Now, Nadda faces the tough task of maintaining the good work and building on it. If BJP has to grow, Nadda would need help from UP,” a party leader added.
“He is easy, accessible and gets work done. That’s his biggest strength. Also, he works silently and his RSS association and his proximity to Prime Minister Narendra Modi made him an obvious choice,” said a senior BJP leader from UP.
“UP has played a crucial role in the elevation of both Shah and Nadda. With Shah as the party’s UP in-charge, BJP won 71 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats from UP in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when Nadda was the state in-charge, the BJP defied the caste chemistry of the SP-BSP to post, along with its ally Apna Dal, a hugely impressive 64 Lok Sabha seats,” said Irshad Ilmi, a veteran journalist.
Amid protests over citizenship law, Nadda faces the task of steering the party through the controversy, party leaders said.
“UP indeed played a huge role in Nadda’s rise to the top post and as party chief he would definitely have a job in hand of countering the common perception that minorities have on the Citizenship Law and NRC. How Nadda tackles this situation remains to be seen,” said Athar Hussain of the Centre for Objective Research and Development.
Nadda was also expected to have people from UP in his new team, said party functionaries who burst crackers to celebrate his elevation to the top BJP post.
Nadda is a Brahmin and his appointment as UP in-charge had also helped assuage Brahmins and OBCs, both of whom were apprehensive after the introduction of the SC/ST Act that allowed for police arrest in case of complaint by dalits.
As party chief, Amit Shah had regularly visited UP and asked BJP leaders against speaking in different voices and focused on proper coordination between the party and the government, a line that BJP leaders expect Nadda to continue with.
“In many ways, Nadda is expected to continue with Shah’s policies which led to the BJP’s rise across the country. But it’s UP, which played a great role in shaping BJP’s expansion,” party leaders said.
Like Shah, Nadda too undertook tours to ensure organisational preparedness and visiting majority of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. He also micromanaged tours and visits of party leaders, overseeing the social media team and focusing on campaign targeted at boosting the morale of the cadre, many of whom had their doubts about BJP’s ability to defeat the formidable caste chemistry of SP-BSP in 2019 LS polls.
“On paper, the SP-BSP caste combination was formidable. There is no way one could not be worried at the coming together of parties which commanded the loyalty of OBC and Dalit votes. I remember Nadda ji visited Unnao where he patiently sat with cadres and told them to go to the people with the line that the coming together of old political enemies indicated they feared BJP. He also coined the term ‘maha-milawat’ (unholy alliance). The BJP also kept asking Mayawati if she had forgiven the SP for the Lucknow’s guesthouse incident when SP cadres had targeted her,” a party leader explained.
“In Kannauj, where BSP chief Mayawati had gone to campaign for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple, who had publicly bent down to touch the feet of Mayawati, Naddaji asked the cadre to play up the inner contradictions of the alliance and the strategy worked,” the party leader said.
UP has 19 per cent Muslim voters and in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well as 2017 UP polls, the party made impressive gains even in Muslim dominated regions like Deoband in western UP.
