BJP keeps winning, but why the unease? What PM Narendra Modi, Nitin Nabin told new team

BJP keeps winning, but why the unease? What PM Narendra Modi, Nitin Nabin informed new team PM gives party's new office-bearers a pep talk, advises them against any complacency: His message was that.

Key points

• 5 min read New Dlhi Aug 27, 2026 05: 41 AM IST First published on: Aug 27, 2026 at 05: 40 AM IST.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during an organisational session chaired by BJP national president Nitin Nabin at the BJP headquarters, in New Delhi.
• The leaders met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Nitin Nabin to discuss the new plan of action.
• In 2023, he informed us that the BJP had to fight the Lok Sabha election on organisational strength.
• A number of leaders are additionally apprehensive regarding how deploying Union Ministers to universities will play out.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks during an organisational session chaired by BJP national president Nitin Nabin at the BJP headquarters, in New Delhi. (File/ANI). Written by: Liz Mathew.

As the BJP's new national office-bearers gathered at the party's national headquarters in Delhi last week for a closed-door session, the mood in the room was far from triumphant.

Notably, the leaders met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Nitin Nabin to discuss the new plan of action. Modi struck a mild but firm note, advising the office-bearers not to grow complacent on the back of repeated electoral wins in the last couple of years, sources remarked. Nabin, they continued, cautioned that power had created a distance between the party's leaders and residents.

In practice, the leaders who were at the briefing in Delhi remarked the PM exuded confidence concerning the new team and had sent out a clear message. "He sat for hours and listened to each of the new office-bearers. He created them talk concerning themselves and how they came up in the party, " noted a leader who was at the gathering.

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"PM saab has always been clear. He had informed us earlier that while the angst against the UPA brought us into power in 2014, it was the initiatives taken for the poor and the country's security that brought us back in 2019. In 2023, he informed us that the BJP had to fight the Lok Sabha election on organisational strength. His message was that the party leaders and the cadre have to be back at the forefront and we cannot take our wins for granted, " the leader continued.

In practice, the session came at a time when there is a sense of growing unease among sections of the leaders and the cadre in various states.

Some BJP insiders remarked uncertainty concerning the new organisational team – it took months for it to be put in place – and the long-speculated administration reshuffle had created a climate of uncertainty among a number of senior leaders. As one state BJP leader described it, this put a number of such leaders in a "self-preservation mode, " and that indecisiveness percolated down to the states. "With uncertainty and anxiety over one's own position, each senior leader in the party and the administration has been in a self-preservation mode. The fear of change has been hanging over their head. While governance becomes a casualty, ordinary karyakartas feel frustrated, " remarked the leader.

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To add to the BJP's reservations, even the RSS has conveyed the "growing disconnect" and the "fatigue factor" among state leaders, it is learnt.

According to A senior BJP leader with deep ties to the Sangh, public statements by some senior ministers on the Gen-Z protests and their matters appeared to have backfired. "When the ministers say the problems raised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and its leaders are correct, but they had ulterior motives, how does such an argument hold? If the matter is correct, how does it matter who raises it? Such responses could create an impression that the party or the administration does not have better arguments and the minister's remark would just keep the Opposition leaders and the critics in the limelight."

Notably, a number of leaders are additionally apprehensive regarding how deploying Union Ministers to universities will play out. "If a minister visits a university, basically a domain of students and democratic space, a monologue will be disastrous. If he or she enters into a dialogue, each response of the minister may turn into a massive spectacle if it is not handled with care or utmost maturity. It may end up creating scenes for the CJP and other Opposition to target the party and the administration, " stated a leader.

BJP leaders remarked the party had been receiving feedback along similar lines from throughout the states on the youth protests that have now happened in Patna after the CJP-led protests in Delhi and then the demonstrations in Ranchi. According to Party leaders, the discourse had shifted to basic matters such as education and jobs. In a state such as Uttar Pradesh. It is slated to hold polls early next year, this anxiety over the Gen-Z disconnect has become enmeshed with a larger concern over the internal factionalism and friction along caste lines. In UP, voters in the Gen-Z age bracket of 18-29 years are estimated at over 20% of the electorate and problems such as alleged irregularities in recruitment exams and unemployment have produced them volatile, noted BJP leaders from the state.

Taken together, the developments around BJP keeps winning, but why the unease? What PM Narendra Modi, Nitin point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.