The accommodation in tents for those who had become used to five-star hospitality, and a meal at a Dalit home, were an attempt by Nitin Gadkari to show that a new era was beginning for the party. But even as the new president grabbed the headlines, pushing L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh out of the limelight, he must have known that he would not have been able to impose his writ on the party but for the solid support of the RSS.

Unlike Atal Behari Vajpayee and Advani, and even some of the smaller fry like Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, Gadkari's ascent is not based on personal merit but the push from behind by the Nagpur bosses. This is the seminal change that has taken place in the BJP whose long-term consequences are yet unclear.

The lack of clarity is also due to the fact that no one, including Gadkari, will admit that the RSS is pulling the strings from behind. Such inferences by the media and political circles will be based mainly on conjectures and selected leaks from within the party. Besides, every move by Gadkari will be scrutinized to detect the hidden hand of the RSS.

Such guesswork, however, will not be easy because the RSS seems to have chosen its nominee with care. It has evidently learnt a lesson from its earlier selection of Rajnath Singh, who turned out to be driven by overweening personal ambition - he wanted to lead the party's “baraat” to Delhi - and animus towards putative rivals like Jaitley and Vasundhara Raje.

Gadkari, on the other hand, has turned out to be a more amiable person. If he has any ambitions, he has kept them well hidden. And it is too early in the day for him to clash with anyone else in the party. Those who have lost out in the race for the president's post - Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu - are also lying low at the moment, perhaps waiting for Gadkari to slip up before making their move.

Significantly, the only discordant note about him has come from outside the Sangh parivar. The Shiv Sena's criticism of Gadkari's proposal to help the Muslims construct a mosque if they renounce their claims on the disputed site in Ayodhya is the first shot that has been fired at him by a currently estranged member of the Hindutva brigade.

Much will depend on what firebrands like Ashok Singhal and Pravin Togadiya say about Bal Thackeray's assertion that allowing the Muslims to build a mosque near the Ram janmasthan will be an insult to the martyrs among the kar sevaks. However, considering that a proposal to relocate the Babri masjid was mooted by both the BJP and the VHP in the early day of the Ramjanmabhoomi movement, Gadkari hasn't said anything new.

What is more, Thackeray himself had said in 1998 that the mandir-masjid issue should be “put to rest” and a national monument erected at the site. “I am not suggesting a cancer hospital or a public school or any religious institution”, he had added. “We should have a monument that stands as a symbol of our freedom struggle that appeals to both Hindus and Muslims. I would like a monument to Mangal Pandey … He was from U.P.”

Thackeray's latest stand is a reaction, of course, to the RSS's castigation of the attacks on north Indians in Mumbai, which has split the saffron camp in Maharashtra. Even earlier, Thackeray had distanced himself from the BJP by supporting Pratibha Patil for the President's post instead of the NDA's nominee, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Thackeray had also expressed a preference for Sharad Pawar as the prime minister, disregarding Advani's candidature. All that can be said, therefore, about his criticism of Gadkari's proposal is that it has widened the breach in the saffron parivar.

However, although nothing substantial may come out of these moves, what Gadkari's suggestion is likely to do is to turn the focus yet again on the temple, which Vajpayee had put on the back burner in 1996 after failing to secure a majority in parliament. A renewed attention on the temple may not be of much help to the BJP in political terms because it will cause renewed unease in parties like the Janata Dal (United) in an election year in Bihar. Since the JD (U) chief, Sharad Yadav, is now the NDA's convener, he will be more forthright in these matters than his predecessor in this position, George Fernandes, who was closer to the BJP-RSS. (IPA Service)