Скачать или смотреть Journalist Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay on how the BJP blurs the line between party and government

In the third episode of Frontline’s SpeakEasy, independent journalist Amit Baruah is in conversation with Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, journalist and author who has closely tracked the BJP and the Sangh Parivar for decades, to unpack the political meaning behind the appointment of Nitin Nabin as BJP’s working president.

Mukhopadhyay argues that Nabin’s elevation is less about organisational renewal and more about tightening the grip of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah over the party apparatus. He examines how the BJP has normalised a culture of diminished leadership, sidelining mass leaders in favour of low-profile figures who pose no internal challenge—mirroring the Congress’s historic collapse into personality-driven politics.

The conversation ranges widely—from media’s monochromatic coverage of the BJP, the erosion of internal party democracy, and the blurring of lines between party and government, to the changing power equation between the BJP and the RSS. Mukhopadhyay traces how the RSS, once an equal ideological force, has been reduced to a subordinate partner, intervening only selectively, as seen during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Highlights
Why Nitin Nabin’s appointment signals deeper centralisation within the BJP
How media coverage of the BJP has become uniform and scripted
The deliberate weakening of state-level leaders and internal party checks
BJP as a “new Congress” without institutional correctives
The shifting and unequal power relationship between the BJP and the RSS
How education, bureaucracy, and institutions are being ideologically reshaped

Perfect for
Viewers tracking BJP’s internal politics and leadership strategies
Readers interested in party–state convergence and institutional erosion
Students of Indian politics, media, and democratic decline

Credits:
Host: Amit Baruah
Camera: Dipesh Arora
Editing: Razal Pareed
Creative Assistance: Vitasta Kaul
Producer: Mridula Vijayarangakumar

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