Two factors seem to have led to the skeptical approach to the New BJP. First is our own inability to reconcile to the organisational model being tried for the BJP. We were so used to the centralised way of decision-making in BJP all these years that any genuine kind of wider consultations is seen as a revolt and dissension. Hence Gadkari is seen as an outside imposter wandering in his own blunderland. The second factor is rather inexplicable. Somehow along the line we have developed a distaste for the new BJP team. This perhaps explains the tendency to go out of the way to find fault with the main opposition party.

Is the BJP in such a disoriented state as is being widely made out? Has the old Advani durbar regained control from a vacillating Gadkari? All this is motivated exaggeration if not utter rubbish. True, leaders of opposition in two houses of Parliament are acknowledged Advani acolytes. And so is Anand Kumar, senior-most office-bearer and some of the leading spokespersons. For that matter, most GenX BJP leaders are those picked up and groomed by Advani who was in virtual control of the party for about two decades. So their presence in high places itself cannot be a proof of Advani's continued control.

It is also true that Advani still remains chairperson of the BJP parliamentary party. He is conscientiously being associated with Hindutva programmes like unveiling of S.P. Mukherjee statue along with Bhagawat and Gadkari. As an old veteran, he will also attend the first office-bearers' meeting. But one cannot ignore the virtual shift of power within the BJP. Crucial decisions are no more taken at Prithviraj Road to be formalised later at regular party forums. Journalists and lobbyists who had held the real power under Advani have all vanished. Visiting foreign dignitaries have ceased meeting the old super boss. All this is widely known to every one in Delhi except the media.

Just this week, US envoy Timothy Roemar and a host of officials met Gadkari for familiarisation. Unlike Advani, it took about a week for Gadkari to find time for the meeting. The envoy made earnest appeals to him to support the US-mandated nuclear liability bill. Gadkari just reiterated the BJP's known position. Contrast this with similar meetings with Advani by Roemer's predecessors during the nuclear deal controversy in 2008. In that year, Advani had at least thrice tried to reverse the official BJP line after meetings with foreign dignitaries. Once his sudden decision to support the nuclear deal was reinforced by media campaign by his consultant journos. However, the RSS, along with Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, had firmly stood the ground.

If the trend so far is any indication, changes are taking place at two levels. Decisions, whether on the nuclear liability bill or Bt. brinjal, are no more guided by outside lobby pressures. At least this is the position so far. The corporates are yet to establish the right links. May be Gadkari with his proclaimed business and management background, may be amenable to closer corporate patronage. In any case, a party like the BJP needs such resource back-up. But the compulsions of the second trend will probably put a restraint on the first. For, unlike Advani's disbanded durbar, decisions of the Gadkari dispensation will have to be in a much wider range. Even if Gadkari personally favours a proposition, he will need the RSS endorsement for it.

The RSS itself has a complex decision-making system. It will not be easy for it to reverse a decision considering its own internal pulls and pressures. Therefore, the obligatory involvement of the RSS will make it more hazardous for the outside lobbies to push things with the new BJP. Moreover, the system Gadkari has introduced entails wider consultation with those holding varied views. On the nuclear liability bill, the PM had first tried to get it through Sushma Swaraj. But she simply conveyed back the party's formal position and said she was not the lone decider. Then NSA Shiv Shankar Menon was sent to Arun Jaitely, perceived as more liberal among the lot.

When the PMO desperately sought another meeting with the two Advani acolytes, they made it clear that the NSA could come and set forth the government's case before a panel of party leaders. Held on March 17, apart from Sushma Swaraj and Jaitely, hardliners like Murli Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and S.S. Ahluwalia were also called. The composition of the team was a clear indication of the new BJP leadership's consensus approach and maximum accommodation as against the old durbari system under which the coterie imposed its views on the entire party. On crucial issues, Swaraj and Jaitely, along with others held joint media briefings - a statement of solidarity. There was such bonhomie at the first meeting of the new official spokespersons when the team spirit was again on display.

There are more qualitative changes in the party's functioning howsoever we chose to overlook them. Its responses in Parliament are more measured and sober. No more blanket boycotts. The party is forming subject-wise MPs' shadow panels for more nuanced responses on emerging issues. There also seems to be a qualitative change in internal deliberations. Advani's wiz kids argued how BJP could score over the rivals by a particular decision or how to corner the rest with sudden policy shifts. Instead of such smart moves, the emphasis is now on making policies more compliant with the Hindutva calculus.

There are signs of Swadeshi and 'cultural and economic nationalism' resurfacing as reference points. This is the RSS brief to Gadkari. However, his confidants say there will not be formal proclamations about it. All that is being done silently is to correct a long distortion. With those who wanted to make the BJP a right-of-centre party after liberating from the RSS, are on the run, there seems little resistance to a return to the 'core values'. This is the position as of now. (IPA Service)