00:00I'm joined right now by Ms. Renuka Choudhury, MP Loks Rajya Sabha for the Congress.
00:05Ms. Choudhury, thank you for taking the time out and joining us.
00:08My first question, what do you make of a 45-year-old new BJP party president,
00:14generational shift, something your own party hasn't been able to affect in decades, ma'am?
00:20I don't think that's the right approach.
00:23I congratulate Mr. Nitin Nabeel.
00:25Yes, it's very good that he's come.
00:27He's been a five-time MLA.
00:28This is his fifth term.
00:30And he's an organizational man.
00:33So far, so good.
00:35But if it was so easy and such an obvious choice,
00:39why did the BJP have to have that many extensions of the existing tenure before they chose him?
00:45And it's all right.
00:46He's been anointed by the RSS.
00:50Don't even go to Congress party because we did it.
00:54If you recall, Jitin Prasad's father had contested earlier.
01:00We had Shashita Roor and Kargeji's contest.
01:04And we have a regular electoral college where we have people from every state who are in the AICC,
01:11who are appointed and elected, they're elected, and they choose.
01:16So we have a democratic setup.
01:18There's no comparison between them and us.
01:20It's fine.
01:21They've done what they've done.
01:22And it's more for the optics than for real ideology.
01:27Let's face it.
01:28It's not even in their own hands.
01:30No, you know, ma'am, you know, you, what you say about a democratic process,
01:36okay, you have a point to say that he was elected unopposed.
01:39But that has been the way the BJP has been electing their presidents ever since.
01:43But the larger question, Ms. Chaudhary, is look at the BJP.
01:47Because the organizational structural changes that you see point to a generational shift.
01:51You have a 45-year-old man who's at the helm of affairs at the party.
01:54He will be leading the BJP into general elections 2029.
01:58Look at the chief minister choices.
02:00A 55-year-old in the chief minister of Maharashtra,
02:03a young chief minister in Mr. Yogi Adityanath.
02:06Look at in Delhi, look at in Assam.
02:08Similarly, you know, you have a young chief minister in so many, so many states,
02:12which I named Assam, Delhi, Maharashtra, UP.
02:15There is a strategy behind it, which your party still struggles to do.
02:20And there are multiple examples I can get into.
02:25You think that the BJP doesn't have internal fights?
02:28They can't even articulate.
02:31At least we talk.
02:32We are allowed to talk.
02:34We have the freedom to discuss, disagree, and forge ahead.
02:38I mean, after Karge Saab and Tarur's election, it's pretty obvious.
02:43It was a genuine election.
02:45Shashi Tarur also got some votes.
02:48He did get some votes.
02:50And he was comparatively younger to Karge Saab.
02:54I don't think you look at leadership in just age.
03:00Generational shift, of course.
03:01It happens inexorably and it should change.
03:04It's constant.
03:05There's no doubt about that.
03:08But Ms. Mahachoudri, that's where the denial comes in.
03:10No, because I'll give you examples where you've paid a political price of not effecting
03:15those generational changes when you could have and you should have, which is your party.
03:19Look at the example of Madhya Pradesh, where you had to let go of a Jyotir Aditya Sindhya
03:24at the cost of a Kamal Nath.
03:25Look what played out in the state of Rajasthan between Ashok Gheiloth and a Sachin pilot.
03:32You know, if these changes were affected when your party was at its peak in power,
03:37it would have been easier for your party structurally and organizationally today.
03:41Winning and losing an election was basically because of age-related selections of chief
03:52minister candidates.
03:53Do you really believe that?
03:55If you look at the world order, what is the average age?
04:00I don't think Trump is a little spring chicken.
04:04And for that matter, neither is Putin and neither is Sheikh Hasina, neither is anyone in our immediate
04:10neighborhood, neither is Zhiping.
04:12So, I mean, let's not put it down just to age.
04:16Those are posturing, which the BJP is very good at doing.
04:20They have not had the courage to hold an open election or give you the thing.
04:28And let's watch how much autonomy this poor young man will have.
04:31I mean, this is a party where the vice president of the country can't open his mouth without
04:36getting his head chopped off.
04:38And neither does the organization, like an election commission, have any autonomy or freedom.
04:44And we've seen the great appointments that they have done in parliament in Rajsaba, the
04:48people they have brought forward who have given them great judgments in courts and who have
04:53come into parliament the next day.
04:55So, I mean, I don't think you can even begin to compare what's happening.
04:59I wish Mr. Nabindad all the very best.
05:03And let's hope that he can deliver to their front because the past history doesn't show
05:08any great glory.
05:10You know, Mr. Audrey, forgive me for saying this, but that is why what is said is that,
05:15you know, the Congress Party is a tad bit delusional because there is this old guard who
05:19constantly tries to stick on to whatever little power that there is left to not allow the new
05:26guard in.
05:27And that makes it extremely infractious for a party to function.
05:31That's not true.
05:34We've given in where we thought that the youngsters can pull it off.
05:39And we've also dovetailed the experience, which is what is required.
05:43If you look at Madhya Pradesh and Goa and all these states, then I must question the BJP
05:48leadership that why did they think it was a democratic process to a democratically elected
05:54governments being bought out and stalled and toppled and all that they did.
05:59Is that part of their process?
06:01Has that got anything to do with age-related issues there?
06:06Not really.
06:07All right.
06:08So, let's let you wish Mr. Nitin had been well, but you think it all needs to be taken
06:13with a pinch of salt?
06:14Is that what...
06:15He needs a great truckloads of good luck to be able to be able and able to be functioning
06:21because he's a man from the organization.
06:24So, he knows that he doesn't know how it works at these higher levels where a vice president
06:29of the country can, from morning to evening, it's transitioned into history.
06:35So, we'll have to see how that works here.
06:39All right, Ms. Choudhury.
06:40Thank you for taking the time out and joining us.
06:42Appreciate it.
06:43Thank you so much.
