Ram Madhav returns to BJP amid fluid ties with RSS

BJP brings old J&K hand Ram Madhav for poll

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, August 20: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday appointed former general secretary Ram Madhav as the election in-charge for Jammu and Kashmir. The BJP has also appointed Union Minister G. Kisen Reddy as the election in-charge for J&K.

The Election Commission has announced three-phased Assembly elections for J&K. The BJP is gearing up for the polls with high stakes in the Jammu region.

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The J&K elections will mark the return of Madhav in active politics. He was a powerful general secretary of the BJP.

The BJP had removed Madhav as the general secretary of the party in 2020. The consolation afterwards for him came through a position in the executive committee of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) in 2021.

For the last four years, Madhav had been lying in the political wilderness. He confined to writing columns in newspapers, while also associating with an advocacy group.

Madhav called shots in the BJP with the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the helm of the saffron outfit. Madhav, hailing from the RSS, will often accompany Modi in his foreign tours.

Madhav was a regular companion of Modi in the diaspora outreach. Besides, Madhav almost carried a weight at scale of the BJP president. He often attended meetings with Modi and the BJP president.

Madhav was the architect of the BJP’s pact with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Jammu and Kashmir. The PDP was routed in the Lok Sabha elections this year.

“Madhav is being brought in the BJP at crucial juncture. The Congress and the National Conference may win the J&K elections unless the BJP springs surprise,” said a senior BJP functionary.

He also stressed that the “BJP has given a political task to Madhav which makes his de-facto comeback in the party”. “He is an RSS person. He is taking the political role at a time when the relations of the BJP with the RSS have been fluid. It should signal the growing role being taken up by Nagpur in running the affairs of the BJP,” added the BJP functionary.

Madhav along with P. Murlidhar Rao and Ram Lal were the troika in the BJP who were direct links of the party with the RSS. Lal was the BJP general secretary (organisation), which is always held by an RSS functionary.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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