Hard work, humility are hallmarks of new BJP working president Nitin Nabin

The RSS is looking at the BJP leadership over the next 15 years, beyond Narendra Modi. And both Mr Modi and Amit Shah like Nitin Nabin

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) victory in the Chhattisgarh Assembly election (2023) is considered a turning point in the political career of Nitin Nabin, declared national working president of the BJP last week, the youngest ever to hold the position. But the real boost to his career came in 2019, when he was put in charge of the party’s campaign in the Sikkim Assembly polls.

 

The BJP’s performance in that election was not up to standard. Although the P K Chamling-led Sikkim Democratic Front was thrown out, ending Mr Chamling’s five-term tenure as chief minister, the gains were mopped up not by the BJP but Mr Chamling deputy, P S Tamang, and his Sikkim Krantikari Morcha. The BJP could not open its account in the state though it put up 31 candidates in the 32-member Assembly. For the top leadership, this was not unexpected. Typically, in states where regional parties are strong, the BJP finds the going tough, whether it is Jharkhand, West Bengal, or Tamil Nadu. But his appointment did mean that Mr Nabin got the opportunity to interact with central leaders, elevating him above and beyond youth politics — he started on the fringes of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), joined the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), was its national general secretary from 2010 to 2013, and rose to become its Bihar president from 2016-19. In 2019, he was called to work in the polls to help with the R K Puram Assembly segment of the New Delhi Lok Sabha constituency, and he established a rapport with BJP leaders in Delhi, especially Rekha Gupta, now chief minister. Little wonder then that an elated Gupta was one of the first to congratulate him on his appointment. In 2019, from strategising his own election (he had already become a member of the Legislative Assembly after his father’s sudden death), he was tasked with the responsibility of the BJP’s fortunes in the whole state. His party seniors were watching how he would tackle Sikkim.

 

Apparently he showed promise, bringing in its wake another challenge. From 2021 to 2024, he was appointed co-in charge of Chhattisgarh ahead of the Assembly polls. His senior colleague was D Purandeswari, more conversant with south Indian politics, and she was succeeded by O P Mathur. It fell to Mr Nabin to coordinate with BJP foot-soldiers, who were generally demoralised. In fact, party leaders candidly admitted at the time that they expected the Congress, then the ruling party, to return to power. So Mr Nabin set out to prove pollsters like Yashwant Deshmukh (BJP leader Nanaji Deshmukh’s grandson but an independent psephologist) wrong. The crucial issue, in Mr Nabin’s assessment, was a gap of a 1 to 1.5 per cent vote share between the Congress and the BJP, which would spell the difference between victory and defeat. It was this gap the BJP needed to bridge. Mr Deshmukh and others said the gap was almost 5 per cent.

 

The BJP’s challenge in Chhattisgarh was not just numerical. There was also a crisis of leadership with people like Raman Singh, former chief minister, disconnected from the cadres and it fell to Mr Nabin to tactfully correct this. He worked very hard. After the success in the Assembly polls, he was given charge of the Lok Sabha elections. The party swept the polls in the state. In July last year, he was named the “party in-charge” of the state. This represented a significant elevation. The entire Chhattisgarh team travelled to Bihar to manage his campaign in the November elections.

 

Little attention is paid to his tenure as minister in the Bihar administration, a job he carried out with characteristic thoroughness. He held the road-construction portfolio 2021 onwards with urban development added to it for a year. In an interview to Business Standard a few weeks ago, he said that while Bihar had now got an extensive road network, what it lacked was maintenance. A few months before the Assembly polls, Mr Nabin announced a road-maintenance policy, the first state in India to do so. He identified this as a major requirement in the state, which now has roads of around 100,000 km, up from 8,000 km in 2005.

 

His strength lies in his affability and humility. He rarely raises his voice and is always accessible. Other leaders of his standing revel in flamboyance. Mr Nabin distrusts it.

 

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has been interacting with him regularly through Joint General Secretary Arun Kumar, the key interlocutor between the RSS and BJP. The organisation is looking at the BJP leadership over the next 15 years, beyond Narendra Modi. And both Mr Modi and Amit Shah like Nabin — because they know he will never answer back.