RSS-BJP meet might defer decision on Amit Shah

Party considering breakfast interactions to bridge gap between workers and senior leaders

A meeting of the Samanvaya Samiti (coordination committee) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will review the working of the Narendra Modi-led government and evaluate the role of its ministers sometime after January 14.

But as neither Modi himself nor RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat are likely to attend, any decision on immediate changes in the party structure, including replacing the party president, Amit Shah (pictured) is likely to be deferred, maybe not even discussed. The process of organisational elections in the BJP is on and should end by mid-January. After that the party has to decide whether to appoint a new party president; or let Shah continue who technically has two three-year terms left.

According to party insiders, internally the RSS seems to be of the firm view that the chief of the government and party should not be from the same state. However, that it has taken nearly 14 months for the RSS to reach this conclusion (Amit Shah was appointed BJP president in July 2014) suggests that the reason for a discussion on his replacement lies elsewhere. The feedback the Sangh is reportedly getting from several quarters is that ordinary BJP workers have no access to the top organisational leaders. They have also been complaining that ministers don’t have time to meet them.

To correct this, the BJP has been putting out reports that breakfast meetings of ministers with BJP workers have been planned in the inter-session period so that there is more coordination between the organisation and the government. Shah, meanwhile, is going about his work in the normal course, giving no hint that he could be replaced. He recently replaced the chiefs of the Assam and West Bengal units of the BJP and gave the green signal to them to reshuffle their teams in the state. Both states are going for elections in the middle of the year. In Kerala also, due for Assembly elections, Shah arranged the visit of Narendra Modi to the social/cultural body that represents the Ezhava caste, the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam last month. Interaction between the RSS and the BJP is a routine quarterly exercise.

The index of the importance lies in whether the PM attends the meeting or not. The last time Modi attended such a meeting was in September. BJP sources say the PM attended after the RSS asserted itself and asked him to come. A host of ministers made presentations about their work on that occasion. In the current round of consultations, a crucial role will be played by the person who has been selected as interlocutor between the RSS and the BJP.
 

Krishna Gopal, originally from Mathura, has done intensive RSS work in the north east before he was appointed in his current position.