Patna. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has once again strengthened its strategy of ‘promoting young faces’ and appointed Bihar Cabinet Minister Nitin Nabin as the National Working President. This decision has been approved by the Parliamentary Board of the party and has been made public through an order issued by the current National General Secretary (Organization) Arun Singh. Nitin Nabin is currently the Minister of Road Construction and Urban Development in the Government of Bihar, now he will replace JP Nadda on this post (National Executive President). This appointment not only demonstrates the strength of the BJP in Bihar at the national level, but also adds to the party’s old tradition where leaders holding positions like national general secretary or working president later become full-time national presidents.
Young face, big message
balance of power from organization
Nitin Nabin’s record on the electoral front is also excellent. In 2006, he became MLA for the first time when he won Bankipur (an assembly constituency of Patna city) in the Bihar Assembly elections. Since then he has been winning elections continuously – in 2010, 2015 and 2020 also he was successful from Bankipur on BJP ticket. In 2021, he was made the Road Construction Minister for the first time in the Nitish Kumar government and now he is handling the responsibility of the Urban Development Department along with road construction. These achievements earned him recognition at the national level and today this appointment is a reward for his organizational skills.
Pattern of BJP’s ‘President Factory’
The appointment of Bihar’s Nitin Nabin joins the tradition of BJP where many leaders, after holding positions like National General Secretary or Working President, have later become full-time national presidents. There is a clear pattern in the party’s history, where leaders with RSS background or organization managers undergo this ‘transition’. Talking about major examples, Amit Shah, the current Home Minister of BJP, became the National General Secretary (Organization) in 2010. While holding this post, he played an important role in getting the party 282 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the same year in July 2014, he was elected full-time national president and remained in this post till 2020. Shah’s tenure is considered the ‘golden period’ of BJP when the party won 303 seats in 2019. This is also a great example of tradition in the sense that the journey from general secretary to president took only four years.
Nitin Naveen’s growing political stature
The journey of current national president JP Nadda is also a part of this tradition. In 2010, he left the post of minister in the Himachal Pradesh government and became the national general secretary. He was the Union Health Minister from 2014-2019, but after Amit Shah became the President in 2019, he was appointed National Working President. In January 2020, he was elected full-time national president and holds this post till date. Nadda’s appointment gave stability to BJP during the pandemic period and his role in NDA’s victory in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was commendable. His transition from general secretary to working president to full president can be a model for Nitin Nabin.
Power shift from Bihar to Delhi?
In the eyes of experts, these examples reflect the internal system of BJP, where the post of National General Secretary is considered as the ‘incubator of the post of President’. According to the information, since the establishment of BJP in 1980, at least four out of 11 national presidents (Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Rajnath Singh and LK Advani) had held the post of general secretary or equivalent. However, this is not always guaranteed – like Nitin Gadkari (president 2009–2013) came straight from the organization and that too without becoming general secretary. Nevertheless, this track record can be called strong for RSS influenced leaders. In the case of Nitin Nabin, political experts believe that this appointment could be his testing before the 2029 national elections. Will Nitin Nabin prove to be the next Amit Shah? Wait for the time.
