It is always a painful thing in Indian politics for the old guard to yield place to the younger lot. Parties are often ruthless about weeding out dead wood. Almost every political party goes through upheavals when leadership changes hands. Therefore it is not surprising that in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections the BJP is opting for younger faces in preference to the old guard, upsetting the dumped leaders.

It is the end of the road for many BJP veterans. Although not unexpected, the decision marks the political boldness of the present day leadership of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The classic example is that of the nonagenarian BJP leader L K Advani. He has not been given a ticket this time. BJP insiders claim that party chief Shah had asked Advani about the ticket and he had declined. Whatever may be the truth, Advani will not be contesting from Gandhinagar. Amit Shah will replace him.

Advani has been the party patriarch and responsible for the growth of the party since the 1980s. It was his famous rath yatra from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya in UP in the eighties that was a turning point in the history of the party. He hit upon the issue of Ram Mandir and exploited it fully for electoral purposes. He was number two to Vajpayee during his era and also the prime ministerial candidate of the NDA in 2009. He spotted talent in the party and promoted many younger leaders including Modi, Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and others. He lost his grip after his ‘Jinnah moment’ in Pakistan and also later when he opposed Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate in 2013. Since Modi came to power, Advani’s influence in the party has declined and he was shown his place by being made a member of the margadarshak mandal, an advisory committee that never met. He was in the company of other veterans like Murli Manohar Joshi.

Advani in the past five years was not involved in any decision-making and no one fought his battle after he chose his path. When the party sees the mood of the present leadership, they fall in line without questioning decisions. After all till the other day it was Advani and Vajpayee who ruled the roost. Before that it was Sunder Singh Bhandari and Balraj Madhok.

Other senior leaders like former Uttarakhand chief ministers B C Khanduri and B S Koshyari have bowed out. Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Shanta Kumar is not likely to get a ticket. Former minister Hukum Dev Narayan Singh has been replaced with his son. Ministers like Sushma Swaraj and Uma Bharti have declined to contest this time citing health reasons. UP leader Kalraj Mishra has also bowed out of the electoral race.

Among seniors, former President Dr Murli Manohar Joshi is also likely to be dropped though he wants to contest. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan is also inclined to contest as she has represented Indore seven times.

RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat has described the sidelining of veteran BJP leaders as a change that was inevitable. At an event in Delhi some months ago, he said, “It is said that change is inevitable. According to time, whatever changes required have to be done…to let the journey be successful and constant.”

The BJP’s push for new blood is in line with what is happening in other parties also which are led by younger leaders. Rahul Gandhi now heads the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray is the boss of Shiv Sena. Akali Dal has been almost taken over by Sukhbir Badal and the Samajwadi Party by Akhilesh Yadav. The DMK is led by M.K. Stalin and the National Conference by Omar Abdullah. Telangana chief minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao is paving the way for his son K.T. Rama Rao and his Andhra counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu is promoting his son Lokesh. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is promoting her nephew Abhishek. All these leaders want to project new faces loyal to them.

With the purging of the old guard, Prime Minister Modi and party chief Shah’s hold on the party is total. There are no potential challengers to question them.

Secondly, it also signals the beginning of the rule of Generation Next in the party which is totally loyal to Modi. Also the new BJP leadership has no qualms about opening the doors to leaders and talent from other parties.Thirdly, the induction of new blood in the party might enthuse the workers, as they would begin to feel that they too might have a chance to progress in the party.

After all, all changes are the outcome of a power struggle, which does lead to some periodical churning. The new order has to replace the old order. This is exactly what is happening in the BJP today. It is a party, which unlike in the past, now promotes personality cult. It is a new BJP, not the party of the 80s or the 90s, for better or worse.