The Nation: Kushabhau Thakre; Man with the Towel

Once counsellor to the cadres, the new BJP president will now have to be a subservient crutch for the Government.

As the results of the general election poured in, the BJP central office on Delhi's Ashoka Road wore a carnival atmosphere. Buoyant cadres jostled with victorious candidates to distribute mithai and garland the leaders. It was the moment of saffron fulfilment, the moment the 18-year-old BJP had been waiting for. But sitting in one of the outhouses that double as home to the party's dedicated full-timers, one man kept himself somewhat aloof from the boisterousness outside. The 76-year-old Kushabhau Thakre had always been the quintessential backroom man and a father figure. Now, at a time of celebration, he had to assume a different role. During the long drawn out phase of government formation, Thakre often referred to himself as the "man with the towel". "I am someone who sits at the back with a great big towel, wiping the tears of party workers, the defeated candidates, those who've got nothing ..."

Today, the quiet patriarch finds himself in a more public role: as the newly-elected BJP president and the successor of L.K. Advani. While half the political class is learning to distinguish the spelling of his name from that of the Shiv Sena chief, the other half is asking, "Kushabhau who?" Meanwhile, the self-effacing RSS pracharak is getting used to the perks of office: he now has the luxury of an extra room -- with a hand shower in the bath -- in the party chummery. Despite this extra comfort, Thakre still prefers to sleep out in the open on his charpai (cot). "All my life I have lived in one room. I don't know what to do with the second," he laughs. He is positively embarrassed when asked whether the ruling party president will have the security paraphernalia commensurate with his status. "Why? I am not a dangerous man. Why should I have security?"

Getting accustomed to an enhanced lifestyle is one thing, confronting the challenge of leading a party in power for the first time quite a different matter altogether. The fact that both Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Home Minister Advani are too preoccupied negotiating the minefields of a coalition government, hasn't helped either. Apart from the National Executive meeting last week, Thakre has not really interacted with the prime minister, leave alone visit him at South Block. To Thakre, this is of no great consequence. "Atalji and Advaniji are great party builders and leaders. But their priority now will be the Government. As for me, I'm just a simple party worker. If the party asks me to go to Andamans, I'll go. If they ask me to do this work, I'll do this." Thakre concedes that he has certain "limitations" -- "everybody knows what they are" -- but draws solace from the BJP's collective style of functioning. In simple language, this implies that the role of the organisation in a Vajpayee Government will be circumscribed. Thakre will not speak for the Government, only ensure that the party plays a supportive role without its distinctiveness coming into conflict with the imperatives of a coalition. After all, he is the man most suited to making the party an elaborate counselling service.

This, however, is easier said than done. There is a strong feeling among BJP old-timers that an ideological party should never be subordinate to the Government. But the leadership has deemed otherwise.

Thakre, though, seems happy enough to take the ideological cue from Advani. The outgoing president laid down the line during his opening speech to the National Executive: "The interests of the coalition at the Centre must be paramount. The party's strategies in the states must be subordinate to its national strategies." Since then, Thakre has been repeating ad nauseam: "The National Agenda is the BJP's agenda. There is no party agenda different from that of the coalition Government."

Yet, Thakre has been in the Sangh Parivar long enough to know that for all its supportive role, the party must never become dependent on the Government. "Otherwise we will end up just like the Congress. Fifty years ago the Congress was an ideal, even for an RSS man like me. Today, look at the mess it is in." Dependence on government, the new BJP president believes, saps the lifeline of a political party. "We have never depended on government for our growth and will not begin to do so now," he says. Part of Thakre's brief as BJP president, in fact, is to ensure that party workers do not make too many demands on the Government.

For all his conviction that there are "certain core beliefs that never change", Thakre displays a remarkable willingness to talk the language of a "New BJP". His Hindutva, he insists, is "inclusive". "The country's problems would have been solved quite easily if the Hindu-Muslim divide was the only point of friction. The problem is that the divisions are on caste, region, and so on." And his strategy for growth: "We now know that the BJP cannot move ahead if we don't include everyone. The growth of the party must not be merely geographical. There must also be social growth." What this means is that Thakre will be presiding over the BJP as it tries to spread out among new social groups, particularly in the south and east. "We will have to juggle with caste more effectively. Even while keeping our upper-caste, middle-class base intact," says a senior party strategist.

If Thakre is president of the BJP today it is not because of some extraordinary career in public life but because of his long, dedicated innings in the Sangh Parivar. Little wonder then that he goes to great lengths to counter charges of a hidden agenda. "Our critics who raise the RSS bogey don't understand us properly. They talk of remote control by the RSS. But the RSS thinking is that everything can't be run by centralised control. The RSS gives small instructions. Just one or two instructions. Otherwise the BJP handles its own affairs."

But doesn't his elevation symbolise the decisive hold of the RSS over the BJP? "Even Atalji and Advani are swayamsevaks. They were even pracharaks," says Thakre in defence. As for the hidden agenda and remote control, the new BJP president believes it just isn't there. "Centralised control is un-Hindu," he says. Ultimately, that's the last word.

THAKRE-TALK

ON PARTY: There is no agenda different from the government's National Agenda. But the party must never depend on the Government for growth. That will sap its life-force.

VAJPAYEE'S RETIREMENT: There is no last election in politics. Roles can change but a dedicated partyman like Vajpayee can never just retire.

ADVANI'S ROLE: He is a great party-builder but will now have to give priority to the Government over the party.

'NEW BJP': To me this means that instead of demonstrations we will now have to organise huge pratinidhi mandals.

ALLIES: Alliances work when the parties have a good estimate of each other's strengths.

CHANGING HINDUTVA: Some core beliefs do not change but today we are committed to the National Agenda.

RSS: There is no back-seat driving as the RSS believes centralised control is un-Hindu.

HIMSELF: I'm a simple worker. If instructed, I'll happily go to the Andamans for the party.