The BJP’s organisational reshuffle is important, most of all, for its backdrop, and because of what lies ahead. It comes when the BJP-led government is two years into its third term at the Centre, and it needs to confront the gathering spectre of anti-incumbency. It comes days after a students’ movement forced a Union minister to resign and propelled to centre-stage two long-playing national crises — education and employment. The party reset will be followed, in a few months, by crucial state elections, but going ahead, the BJP as party will need to work with BJP as government to meet formidable challenges that need a long-term compass. From reforms in the education system starting with the government school, to skilling and the filling of gaps between degrees and the market — these problems can no longer be managed, they will need to be addressed. The BJP rejig, therefore, will be assessed not by the to-and-fro of individuals but by whether or not they contribute to its ability to be future-ready.

The students’ movement has served parties and governments an important warning — political and electoral outreach cannot be just about the savvy social-media strategy. It must address the rising aspirations in a country of the young, writ large by new media technologies, and identify the obstacles in social and economic mobility. In the light that has been cast on dark areas by the Jantar Mantar movement, the BJP must also confront challenges larger than Gen Z. It must ask, for instance, why for all its dominance and winning streak, electorates in states are choosing a new player wherever it crosses a minimum threshold of viability — Prashant Kishor’s victory in the BJP bastion of Bankipur appeared to underline this trend most recently. By hitting the refresh button, by drawing in Vasundhara Raje, who has been chief minister of a large state, or Smriti Irani, who has handled the crucial education portfolio in the Union government, or Ram Madhav, who has navigated turbulent political territories like J&K and the Northeast, or Manpreet Singh Badal, who has been state finance minister, the BJP has made a new beginning. How will these veterans, who have navigated the imperatives of governance, enrich decision-making in the party, while coupling it with the government — is the question. They could build on their experience, sensitising the party to governance priorities, keeping it connected to ground realities.

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The party reset, as important as it is, is only a first step. Now that party president Nitin Nabin’s new team is in place, it may well be time for the government to follow the party. Because, quite simply, in times when older patterns don’t hold, and political plates seem to be shifting, the onus of keeping up is squarely on the government and party.