Is there a subtle message in Rajnath and Gadkari's recent remarks?

New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh praise of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his ministerial colleague Nitin Gadkari's remarks deploring the lust for power have created ripples in political circles.

It also gave a handle to the opposition Congress to attack the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh wondered if it was an indication of climate change in the BJP.

Why did he say that? Addressing a gathering in Jammu on Sunday, the defence minister said that many people attacked Nehru but he would not do that. “I don’t want to question the intention (niyat) of any former Prime Minister even if there can be differences over policies (niti). No Prime Minister worked with bad intentions," he said and went on to praise Nehru.

The BJP and its ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have been unsparing on Nehru and repeatedly asserted that had Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel been the first Prime Minister in his place, the country would have taken a different shape.

In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi once stated that India's fate and face would have been different had Patel been its first Prime Minister.

Prior to Singh's remarks in Jammu, Gadkari at a function in Nagpur on Saturday said: “Politics has been a part of the social movement since the time of Mahatma Gandhi. Later, its focus shifted towards the goal of nation-building and development. What we are seeing today is 100 per cent only about staying in power."

Gadkari's statement was widely interpreted as one against his own party and leaders.

Since 2014, the present BJP has turned into well-oiled election-winning machinery under Modi and Amit Shah.

The saffron party has also often been accused of toppling opposition governments to install its own rule in some states such as Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra, and establish its footprint across the length and breadth of the country.

As of now, the BJP on its own is in power in 12 states (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh) and part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra, Bihar, Puducherry and some northeastern states.

So, both Singh and Gadkari have thus taken a strikingly different line from that of their party and the top leadership. It is not that the two are motormouth or those who speak out of context. They are senior ministers and former BJP presidents who have always been careful with their words and measured in their statements.

The political adversaries of Modi read these remarks as a manifestation of the growing resentment within the BJP over his dominance in the government as well as the party organisation.

While Singh may be the official number two in the union cabinet, Shah remains for all practical purposes the go-to man both in the government and the party.

That leaves Singh and Gadkari without any say and confined to their respective ministries. Is there a message in these statements?