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Even three weeks after the Gujarat poll-quake, the epicentre at Ahmedabad is reeling with the after-shocks of this question: What was the most critical fallout of this seminal political event?
And that’s where a tale hangs. Prime Minister Modi and his formidable colleague, BJP president Amit Shah, are the supremely feared duo of Indian politics, for an ally and adversary alike. Just before the Gujarat results, no colleague dared disagree, forget about any rebellion. That Nitin Patel could cock such a snook, and win, is a staggering post-Gujarat event whose ramifications cannot be foretold so easily.
For me, it reignited a mental tussle I’ve had over the nature of leadership. I’ve wrestled with this intangible dichotomy for years now – does the style of a leader matter? Or does only the leader’s substance create an impact? Let me elaborate a bit on this quandary before I return to the Gujarat question.
Think of political leaders with very different styles: Barack Obama, Narendra Modi, Donald Trump and Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Now add iconic business leaders to this mix: Ratan Tata, Richard Branson, Sundar Pichai and Silvio Berlusconi. All of them are giants within their sphere of influence. Yet, all of them are so utterly different on the style spectrum, from chalk to cheese.
Once you begin to plot these attributes for each successful leader, you will see the sheer randomness of the graph. You can be loquacious, an introvert, straight liar, empowering and late sleeper – and just as effectively, you could be a networker, taciturn, whisperer, power centraliser and early-to-rise person. Clearly, a leader’s style-to-success mapping is utterly zigzag and haphazard. There’s no discernible trend or correlation there.
Now look at a leader’s substance. Irrespective of his style or quirks, no leader can be successful unless he or she can:
To conclude, style is skin deep and trivial, while substance is core to a leader’s success.
But why did I take this philosophical detour to give you my instinctive treatise on leadership? What’s that got to do with the BJP’s near-win (or near-defeat, depending on which Twitter timeline you follow) in the Gujarat polls?
Well, here’s the thing: all through the feverish campaign, the focus was entirely on the BJP’s style; but after the ambivalent outcome, a lengthening shadow fell on the substance of the party’s leadership. Their fearsome aura was challenged by Nitin Patel, at best a provincial politician – and, somewhat unbelievably, the BJP’s top guns got stared down by a junior colleague who earlier would not have dared look them in the eye even in a nightmare.
The BJP’s defenders say they bought peace at a delicate moment; it was a tactical retreat to avoid a bigger political crises. But that’s the argument I will not buy. The BJP leadership is an absolute one. They do not brook any opposition. They command fear, followed by awe and a grudging respect. The very substance of their leadership is incompatible with a tactical retreat which allows a junior colleague to proclaim, and then parade, a political victory over them.
The BJP’s duo cannot suddenly become “consensus” oriented, willing to bend but not snap. Within their lexicon of leadership, a bend is a snap. The maximum concession that Amit Shah should have made is called Nitin Patel to say, “back off now, and at the right time, we will give you the extra power that we think you deserve, but back off now.”
When “take no prisoners” is the hallmark of your leadership, you simply cannot allow renegades to dictate terms and open the prison gates. Because then, a tiny, and potentially widening, political crack also opens up.
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Published: 05 Jan 2018,09:14 PM IST