In his two months in the job of party president, Gadkari has realised that the BJP has to develop a strategy to counter Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s largely successful efforts to connect with the youth. In consultation with former party president Lal Krishna Advani and other senior BJP leaders, he has drawn up a road map for the purpose.
The key element of this road map is a proposed 50 per cent increase in party posts from block to national level to facilitate greater participation of the youth. The party’s constitution was amended at the convention to pave way for the entry of the younger leaders into the decision-making structure of the BJP.
BJP’s young leader Virendra Sachdev says: “There has always been theoretical talk of youth participation. But the message that came through in Indore was that the young have enthusiasm and energy which need to be harnessed. When young party workers fan out throughout the field, they are bound to encourage other youth to join the party in large numbers and strengthen the grassroots organisation.”
Sachdev is bang on. A country, of whose population two-thirds is young, the segment cannot be ignored. It would be fatal for a political party to disregard these dynamics. If the BJP is to come to power in 2014, the young will have to bolster it. Even Advani realises this pressing need and made it a point to stress it in his speech.
In the convention’s closing speech, Advani, well aware of his own lost chances, had said: “Nitin Gadkari is a representative of the party’s third generation. I have full faith that his team will have workers from the fourth generation as well. The party is also committed to identifying and training young, deserving candidates who will take the BJP forward.”
Liberalisation and globalisation have changed the mindset of the young – the mandir-masjid question or issues related to caste and religion are but nearly forgotten blips in the minds of today’s youth. Develeopment and good governance are the keywords. The Gandhi scion is appealing because he speaks a language that is modern and progressive and because he believes in the young man in the street. Gadkari wants to borrow the same lexicon to project the BJP as a modern and liberal party.
For the first time, a BJP national president has appealed with humility to Muslims to permit the construction of a temple in Ayodhya and delivered a Power Point-laced speech. Gadkari’s message was loud and clear: the party has to move with the times to remain relevant.
It is learnt that several senior leaders had suggested to Gadkari that he should switch to dhoti kurtas or at least kurta pyjamas while addressing the convention in keeping with the party’s ideology. The party chief would have none of it. Even on day three of the convention, when he did address a rally at the city’s Dussehra grounds, though he chose to wear kurta pyjama, his kurta was from Fab India, a definite youth favourite.
Amit Thakur, the national president of the party’s youth wing, is excited. “The atmosphere at the convention was electrifying for the youth. Our national president wants the youth to be a big part of the party’s structure and government. He spoke of giving chances during every term to at least 25 per cent untried, young new faces in every office of the organisation right from the lowest to the national level ones.”
The key element of this road map is a proposed 50 per cent increase in party posts from block to national level to facilitate greater participation of the youth. The party’s constitution was amended at the convention to pave way for the entry of the younger leaders into the decision-making structure of the BJP.
BJP’s young leader Virendra Sachdev says: “There has always been theoretical talk of youth participation. But the message that came through in Indore was that the young have enthusiasm and energy which need to be harnessed. When young party workers fan out throughout the field, they are bound to encourage other youth to join the party in large numbers and strengthen the grassroots organisation.”
Sachdev is bang on. A country, of whose population two-thirds is young, the segment cannot be ignored. It would be fatal for a political party to disregard these dynamics. If the BJP is to come to power in 2014, the young will have to bolster it. Even Advani realises this pressing need and made it a point to stress it in his speech.
In the convention’s closing speech, Advani, well aware of his own lost chances, had said: “Nitin Gadkari is a representative of the party’s third generation. I have full faith that his team will have workers from the fourth generation as well. The party is also committed to identifying and training young, deserving candidates who will take the BJP forward.”
Liberalisation and globalisation have changed the mindset of the young – the mandir-masjid question or issues related to caste and religion are but nearly forgotten blips in the minds of today’s youth. Develeopment and good governance are the keywords. The Gandhi scion is appealing because he speaks a language that is modern and progressive and because he believes in the young man in the street. Gadkari wants to borrow the same lexicon to project the BJP as a modern and liberal party.
For the first time, a BJP national president has appealed with humility to Muslims to permit the construction of a temple in Ayodhya and delivered a Power Point-laced speech. Gadkari’s message was loud and clear: the party has to move with the times to remain relevant.
It is learnt that several senior leaders had suggested to Gadkari that he should switch to dhoti kurtas or at least kurta pyjamas while addressing the convention in keeping with the party’s ideology. The party chief would have none of it. Even on day three of the convention, when he did address a rally at the city’s Dussehra grounds, though he chose to wear kurta pyjama, his kurta was from Fab India, a definite youth favourite.
Amit Thakur, the national president of the party’s youth wing, is excited. “The atmosphere at the convention was electrifying for the youth. Our national president wants the youth to be a big part of the party’s structure and government. He spoke of giving chances during every term to at least 25 per cent untried, young new faces in every office of the organisation right from the lowest to the national level ones.”
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