A soft-spoken man with a thick Bhojpuri accent and a liking for crisp kurtas — that is how most who know Manoj Tiwari would describe him. While his opponents mock him by calling him ‘Rinkia ke Papa’ — borrowing a phrase from one of Tiwari’s famous songs — even they acknowledge off-camera that Tiwari has been true to his political outfit without mostly crossing the line of decency in public life.
While this may be true, it can’t be a qualifier for retaining a BJP ticket when the party went for an 85 per cent change in the national capital. All of Tiwari’s colleagues were either dropped or quit politics, sensing they would be dropped.
So what has Manoj Tiwari done differently than his colleagues?
It’s not just what he has done right, but who he is as well.
INFLUENCE ON 40% DELHI VOTES
Making up nearly 40 per cent of Delhi’s electorate, Purvanchali voters are the most lucrative target of any political outfit.
Purvanchal is a geographical and cultural region that constitutes the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and is part of the larger Bhojpuri region that speaks the language. Tiwari is one of the biggest — if not the biggest — Bhojpuri stars who has sung and acted alike and is nothing short of a sensation among the crowd that speaks Bhojpuri.
With the community having the power to sway electoral fortunes in 30-35 assembly seats, including Kirari, Burari, Karawal Nagar, Ghonda, Sangam Vihar, Nangloi Jat, Badli, and in parliamentary seats like West Delhi, East Delhi, North East Delhi, North West Delhi, and South Delhi, dropping Tiwari wasn’t an option — even if the BJP considered it.
If the BJP had fielded another Bhojpuri star in Tiwari’s place, the message that would be communicated wouldn’t be beneficial for the party for sure — all the more with the prospect of the popular leader playing victim.
ALIGNED WITH TOP LEADERSHIP ON HATE SPEECH
While many across India lost their tickets in what is seen as a sharp rebuke by the party leadership for their consistent hate speeches, Tiwari has publicly voiced his opposition to his colleagues’ hate speech.
After the dismal performance in the 2020 Delhi assembly election, Tiwari minced no words. “Whatever the context, it was hate speech and our party had to face losses due to that. We condemned that speech then as well as today,” he told a daily after the loss, well aware of the fact that Prakash Javadekar — then a powerful Union minister — backed them.
Tiwari’s stand has been consistent with the stand of the party’s top leadership. In the Sangh, as well as BJP, towing the set line is a must and those who do so are often acknowledged.
One of those who made inflammatory comments ahead of Delhi elections, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, has been dropped this time, despite having a caste command and being the son of a former chief minister. A similar fate has been meted to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who, apart from being a person of interest for the NIA in the Malegaon Blast, made hate speeches and backed Nathuram Godse. Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi reacted to Thakur’s statements, saying “Will never forgive her for insulting Gandhi”.
THE ‘YES MAN’
Sources say one quality of Tiwari’s, which probably has been an add-on to all the factors, is his being a consistent ‘Yes Man’.
When he was appointed the Delhi BJP president in 2016, seasoned leaders in the Capital like Vijay Goel and Ramesh Bidhuri were opposed to him and perceived him as an ‘outsider’. But rather than taking any knee-jerk decision, he followed instructions from the top leadership — ‘stay cool and take it easy’.
When Tiwari was removed from the Delhi unit’s top job in 2020 for the dismal performance in the assembly election, with Aadesh Gupta being appointed in his place, Tiwari took it in his stride and followed the leadership, who asked him to “help the Purvanchal seats gel with Gupta’s administration”.
Tiwari even apologised to the people of Delhi for “any mistake”.
In BJP, not being rebellious and being the ‘Yes Man’ is acknowledged and rewarded in the long run. Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan to former Gujarat Deputy CM Nitin Patel were replaced but maintained a dignified silence and worked for the party. This year, both are fighting the Lok Sabha elections along with many other former CMs like Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Rawat, Basavaraj Bommai among others. Tiwari seems to have just followed what many senior BJP leaders with decades of experience did.
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