In his brief speech during the Diwali Milan programme last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked the media to debate the issue of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. Interestingly, a few months later, after a media debate, the Election Commission too said it was ready to hold simultaneous polls. This time around, the prime minister had a new message for the media – discuss the internal democracy in political parties.
Modi, speaking during the annual interaction with the mediapersons at the BJP headquarters on occasion of Diwali, recalled the bygone era when things were much easier, and the interaction with journalists without any encumbrances. He was party general secretary, stationed in BJP headquarters at Ashoka Road, before he became Gujarat chief minister in 2001.
However, his suggestion to the mediapersons to initiate a debate was not without an inherent political message. “It is a challenging time for us and we still have to do a lot more work. It is important to discuss democracy in political parties.”
“Internal democracy should be studied—the way new leadership is being created, new recruitment being done and the values and ideology. True democratic spirit should develop in the party. This is good for creating a healthy democracy,” Modi said.
His suggestion has come at a time when BJP's rival parties, primarily the Congress, is undergoing a regime change as Rahul Gandhi is taking over very soon. The BJP prides itself in being a cadre based party where an ordinary worker can become a PM or a party chief. In fact, this has been one of the main argument often used by BJP chief Amit Shah in attacking the Congress. Shah and Modi have been attacking dynastic rule in the Congress and other parties.
Since Shah took over as party chief in July 2014, the party has undergone a sea change as it launched a huge recruitment drive and later massive training programme.
By pitching a debate point for the media, Modi apparently questioned the systems in place in the rival parties. In fact, if the debate was to be started, it would also cover single person centric parties like the Mamata Banerjee's TMC, Akhilesh Yadav's SP, Mayawati's BSP, or even southern parties like the DMK and AIADMK.
All these parties do pose a challenge to the BJP in different areas as they often represent a single caste or regional grouping.
Now, when Gandhi is likely to be elevated to the top party post, there is likely to be discussions about his new role. Modi appears to be questioning the process.
He also lauded the media for highlighting the Swachch Bharat mission.
After finishing his speech, Modi came down from the dais and shook hands with journalists, who stood inside an enclosure. Many of also clicked selfies with the PM.
Along with Modi, his ministerial colleagues Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, I&B Minister Smriti Irani, Minorities Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Jitender Singh were seated with him on the dais, besides Amit Shah and party general secretaries Ram Lal and Arun Singh.
