BJP has emerged as the only party that is being run professionally today. It seems to be the only party that has a very strong talent strategy. It has been really successful in nurturing home grown talent as well as spotting and acquiring talent either from the public or from other parties. Much of its success today can be attributed to its ability to put the right man or woman in the right job and its ability to quickly course correct early in the game in case of any non-performance irrespective of the seniority of the individuals.
There are umpteen examples that shows BJP’s excellent talent strategy. Let’s take up the nurturing of the home grown talent first. Smriti Irani is a classic example of the eye for talent that BJP has. She was an actor before she joined politics. When BJP saw her skillsets, she was steadily nurtured and was given the room to grow quite fast within the organization. The fact that she was made the youngest cabinet minister in 2014 when BJP came to power talks volumes of how Modi’s BJP is open to give a position that they think a team member deserves even though it might look risky. Smriti Irani’s stint as the HRD minister was riddled with controversies and it looked like BJP had burnt its fingers taking this aggressive decision with a comparatively young member. BJP quickly did a course correction and moved her to Textiles but didn’t lose hope on her. She eventually went on to become a giant slayer by beating Rahul Gandhi in Amethi and now continues as a Minister of Women and Child Development. I won’t be surprised if she is made the Chief Minister of some state at some point in time. This is called nurturing of talent.
Another great example is Nirmala Sitharaman who seemed to suddenly emerge from nowhere and became the Defense Minister and was quickly given the Finance Ministry although everyone expected her to continue with Defense. How can we not take the names of the likes of Piyush Goyal and Ashwini Vaishnaw who are thorough professionals in their own right and are managing very key portfolios? BJP did not hesitate in taking Ravi Shankar Prasad’s portfolio and giving it to Ashwini or Kiran Rijiju even though the former is a very senior party member. This is a party that does not get bogged down by seniority or other compulsions like the Congress and takes tough and fair decisions. Mansukh Mandavia, Tejaswi Surya are other examples and the list goes on.
Who would have foreseen Yogi Adityanath becoming the Chief Minister of a big state like UP? As it was Modi’s BJP, this became a reality and he is now rocking as one of the best Chief Ministers of India. Only an organization with an excellent eye for talent and strategy can take such decisions. No wonder BJP is unbeatable today in the political stage of India.
Let’s now come to external talent acquisition strategy of BJP. The firebrand leader in Tamil Nadu, K. Annamalai, was a great addition to the BJP team who was an external acquisition per se. Annamalai in his interview has clearly mentioned that he took time thinking a lot of about which party he should join and finally chose BJP. Once he joined, BJP immediately realized his potential and made him the Vice President of the Tamilnadu BJP and some months later was rightfully made the party President there. Which other party today has taken such swift actions to give the rightful opportunity to the most deserving. It has turned out to be a win-win for both the individual and the party. Jyotiraditya Scindia was such a prize acquisition from competition. He was immediately given challenging ministries even though there might have been the risk of upsetting some tenured members in the party. Himanta Biswa Sarma is another example of an excellent talent acquisition again from competition and was given the right job at the right time, deservedly so. He is now shining in the North-east as one of the strongest BJP Chief Ministers. BJP is open to take people from the competition but they pick and choose the right talent and don’t shy away from growing them quickly by giving them plum posts instead of getting into the trap of applying the tradition hierarchical approach that some organizations take, fearing their existing talent might leave them if the new entrant jumps the line.
Most of the names that I have taken above are fairly young people who have lot of years left in their political careers. These examples point towards one thing. Modi’s BJP is an organization with a clear talent strategy that keeps merit as the sole parameter for growth within the party. Their people strategy gives more weightage on quality rather than quantity in terms of number of years spent in the party for a member to grow. I don’t see this in any other party today and this is secret of BJP’s unstoppable success. If you are a youth or a person with excellent skills and you aspire to make it big in politics by working hard and smart for the public with sincerity and honesty, Modi’s BJP is your destination!
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