It is interesting that former BJP president Nitin Gadkari should vent his anger against officers of the income-tax department for his grim and unanticipated departure from the party’s top post, rather than his own senior colleagues who succeeded in hounding him out in the end.
This is indicative of his frustration at his own inability, in spite of the full backing of the RSS, to take on the party’s veteran leaders. Presumably this is because he fundamentally lacks the standing to do so. But Mr Gadkari’s outburst against the tax officials is also suggestive of something worrying.
Although the former BJP chief tried to cover up his remarks with suitably clever words of regret when the income-tax officers’ association demanded an apology, the former BJP chief had unequivocally warned earlier that officials probing his controversial Purti group of companies would come to grief when — and not if — the BJP came to power in 2014. This is a regrettable attempt to browbeat officials in the discharge of their duties.
It is also as clear a statement as any that the BJP would seek to oblige officials to bend to the party’s will if (or when) it comes to power at the Centre. This is shocking for a party that aspires high. It might be apt if the party found a way to disavow Mr Gadkari’s low-grade observation. Fortunately, no senior BJP leader spoke up in their former president’s defence when he came under fire from the tax officials’ association.