His stance clearly shows he will be furthering the hard core Hindutva ideology during his tenure, a significant shift from his predecessor J P Nadda. Nabin’s stance is much more aligned with the stance of the current leadership of both the RSS and the BJP, and that will please both. He will therefore be the stronger link between the RSS and BJP leadership, than J P Nadda, who has said during the last Lok Sabha election in May, 2024 that the party had grown from the time it needed the RSS and was then “saksham” (capable) and ran its own affairs. Nadda’s statement alienated many of the RSS workers, which led to loss of majority of BJP in Lok Sabha. Reports have been coming since then about a rift between the RSS and BJP leaderships on various issues, including on selection of the new BJP national president. Right from the first speech of the Nabin after resuming party presidency, it is clear that the RSS and BJP have found their “right choice” to go ahead with their dream of establishing Hindu Rashtra.

Nevertheless, it is not sure what will be the status of liberal Hinduism within the party organization in terms of giving them responsible posts. The liberal Hindus within the organizations may be running a risk to be sidelined, and mercenary Hindutva forces may be effectively taking over the organisational structure. If it happens, it would be a significant shift before the next general election in 2029, before which four major things are to be done. First, Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Electoral Rolls across India is to be completed; Secondly, Census is to be conducted; Thirdly, delimitation of the Lok Sabha Constituencies is to be completed; and Fourthly, 33 per cent reservation of women in the parliament is to be implemented. The many other political issues are also in the BJP’s pipeline which needed a hard core person also as the BJP national president, apart from the PM Narendra Modi and Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah.

Until now political analysts have been talking about the Modi-Shah duo doing everything in the country, but now they will have to assert the troika of Modi-Shah-Nabin. It is significant as India will be transitioning into a new form of “strong” governance, which the opposition would like to call absolute “dictatorship” of the Hindutva brigade or of the implicit or explicit Hindu Rashtra. India has a transition window from now to 2029, when the next general election of the country will be held. Obviously, the country will be undergoing numerous political and social conflicts from now on until 2029, which will offer unexpected tasks at unprecedented level before the troika.

Nabin’s elevation at the age of just 45 is being seen as a generational shift in the BJP, who called PM Modi his inspiration and urged the youth to deed his call for joining active politics. He asked the party workers to protect Sanatan faith and said political parties opposed to “deepam” tradition in Madurai or existence of Ram Setu should have no place in politics. He clearly targeted the opposition in Tamil Nadu, a state that is going to polls in April-May 2026 along with four other states – Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, and Puducherry. It indicates his immediate task is to take on the opposition in the forthcoming round of state elections.

Nabin has been elected unopposed as the 12th BJP president and took charge in presence of PM Narendra Modi and Shah. Modi declared on the occasion that in party matters, Nabin would be his “boss”. It was a significant comment since he has made a similar comment in 2019 about the then president Amit Shah, and we all know how the duo dictated their terms both in the party and the government. Modi’s comment is a clear message to the rank and file the importance of Nabin, now and the years to come. Shah also congratulated him expressing confidence that his tenure under Modi’s guidance will infuse new “energy” and “speed” in the party’s “dedicated work towards national interest” and people’s welfare ahead.

Nabin, born in Ranchi, is fifth term MLA and first person from Bihar to head the BJP’s organisation, who played significant background role in the recent Bihar election which led to NDA’s overwhelming victory. His twin plank is Hindutva and Nationalism. In his speech he also referred to the issue of infiltration, which is a key issue in the forthcoming elections in West Bengal and Assam.

Following a nearly a year long exercise of organisational polls, Nabin was declared the BJP national president at the party headquarters on January 19, 2026 after 37 nominations received on his behalf were found to be correct, with no other candidate in the fray.

Apart from the electoral challenges in the next round of crucial 5 states elections in April-May 2026, especially in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, Nabin will have to strengthen the organisational structure of the party, and implement internal discipline. Modi has given clear hints about that when he said Nabin will be his boss in party work, and he himself will be reporting about his work.

Beyond these elections he will have to steer bigger elections, such as 2027 election in Uttar Pradesh, and 2028 elections in MP, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Telangana, while Modi-Shah duo will be concentrating on “unfinished agenda” of the RSS clan which will be a tumultuous phase to be completed before 2029 Lok Sabha general election. During this period Nabin will have to play an additional role in co-ordinating with NDA allies to keep them together, which will not be an easy task, given the impending delimitation of the Lok Sabha constituencies and a fresh Hindutva push, that is sure to be resisted by its allies for various reasons.

Nitin Nabin becoming BJP National president is therefore a significant development for not only within the BJP and NDA, but also for the opposition political parties and the INDIA bloc, who will need to recalibrate their political strategy to face the political challenges that are to be offered by the troika – Modi-Shah-Nabin. It is also significant for the Nation because it will be undergoing a tumultuous phase in the next three years from now. Only time will tell which way the country will move. (IPA Service)