Nitin Nabin’s elevation as BJP’s national president a calculated move by Modi-Shah

On October 25 last year, when Home Minister Amit Shah visited Nitin Nabin’s Patna residence, speculations were rife in BJP circles that Shah was set to give an important position to his “trusted man” in the poll-bound state.

Many predicted that Nabin would be made a deputy chief minister in the Bihar government when Shah paid him a visit on the first day of the Chhath festival. Others felt that Shah might have conveyed to Nabin that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had chosen him for an important position in New Delhi.

After two months, it is just a matter of formality that 45-year-old Nabin has become the saffron party’s national president.

Modi and Shah tightening grip on party

Nabin’s appointment could be a surprise for many, but for others who have closely monitored Modi-Shah’s BJP policy, it is a calculated move. BJP watchers make it clear that Nabin’s appointment to the party’s top post is a clear indication that the duo wants to tighten their grip on the party.

“They wanted someone whom they trusted and would not contradict them. They have signalled they are the masters in the party,” said a political analyst in New Delhi who did not want to be identified.

Also Read: Nitin Nabin elected BJP president unopposed; youngest ever

Nabin may be unknown to the BJP’s old guard and in national circles, but he is no stranger to Modi and Shah. The BJP leader from Bihar has already worked with Shah to wrest Chhattisgarh away from the Congress where, as the party’s co-incharge, he led the BJP to win 54 seats out of 90 in the 2023 assembly elections. Besides, it was Nabin who organised Modi’s roadshows and rallies in the recent Bihar assembly elections.

Sangh background

Nabin was an engineering student at BIT college in Patna. However, he couldn’t complete his engineering, and contested the polls after his father’s death. He has been contesting elections from the Bankipur assembly seat (the erstwhile Patna West seat) undefeated from 2006. Nabin and his family have a Sangh background. He served as the general secretary of BJP’s Yuva Morcha also.

The decision to appoint an upper-class Kayasth from Bihar has surprised many in the party, since the decision doesn’t gel with the BJP’s outreach to the backward classes in recent years, and restricts it to consolidating its privileged-class voters where it enjoys a significant influence already.

Placating the RSS

With the appointment of Nabin as the party president, Modi and Shah have conveyed the impression that it has been done with RSS approval. BJP insiders told The Federal that there has been pressure from the RSS for the party to pursue its Hindutva ideology, and that it is only due to the RSS’s well-knit structure that they could reach out to the masses in the country.

Many believe that the reason why the BJP ended up with only 240 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections rather than the 400 seats it was projecting was due to differences between the Sangh and Modi. The differences were only accentuated when the previous BJP president JP Nadda even said that the party didn’t need the RSS.

Also Read: How Nitin Nabin’s elevation lays bare the hollowing of BJP by Modi-Shah

Modi and Shah now seem to have realised that they need the Sangh on their side if they want to continue winning elections and dominating the party. “The RSS wanted its man at the helm in the BJP. This is a master move by Modi and Shah where they have chosen their man from the RSS itself,” said a university professor in Delhi who hails from Bihar.

‘Promoting younger leaders’

A senior BJP leader from Bihar told The Federal that it is a “shift” towards giving third-generation leaders responsibility in the party. “You have to understand that Nabinji was born in 1980, the same year that the BJP was born. The messaging is clear: it is time for the youth.”

The leader also claims that the party is on a “mission to promote future leaders” in the age group of 40 to 50.

Also Read: BJP to announce new national president on Jan 20: Nitin Nabin likely to head

With Nabin’s appointment, Modi and Shah want to create an impression that the Sangh controls the BJP. There are questions within the BJP as to how Nabin will be able to work with the old guard in the party and get things done while managing their ambitions.

“It is certain that he will be cementing the hold that Modi and Shah exercise in the party. He won’t be making his own decisions but will be carrying out the duo’s policies. He has been handpicked by them, but it has been made to feel that he has been picked by the Sangh,” said a JD(U) leader from Bihar.

Youngest president

However, a BJP leader in Delhi doesn’t agree with this point of view. He feels that Nabin fulfils all the required qualifications to be a national president of the BJP.

“He has done the work. He has been an organisational man. He has been a minister in Bihar. A man of impeccable integrity and honesty. His nature is polite. He meets all sections of society,” said the leader, who is an admirer of Amit Shah.

Also Read: Why did BJP pick 45-year-old Nitin Nabin as BJP working chief?

With the BJP’s headquarters at Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg in Delhi fully decked-up for the installation of its new president on Tuesday (January 20), Nitin Nabin, at the age of 45, is all set to become the saffron party’s youngest president, breaking the record of senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari who had attained the position at the age of 52.