At 8 am on August 4, away from the media glare, a clutch of bjp leaders assembled at the residence of hrd minister Murli Manohar Joshi. It was the guru-dakshina ceremony, a special shakha where followers of the Sangh make an offering and salute the bhagwa dhwaj, the saffron flag of the rss. Among those present were Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, L.K. Advani and senior rss and bjp leaders who were pledging their allegiance to the Sangh.
But one man who caught everyones attention was Sunil Shastri, a relatively low-profile politico, whose only claim to fame is that he is the son of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. On that August morning, the son of the great Congressman placed his offering in a vessel and saluted the saffron flag.
Till then, his career in the bjp had been going nowhere. A member of the partys national executive, Shastri would occasionally surface during elections to represent the bjp on various TV shows. Yet, he was appointed general secretary last week, a powerful organisational post usually reserved for long-time party faithfuls. Shastri landed the job because of the backing of Prime Minister Vajpayee. That he had made the right overtures to the rss also came in handy.
When he took charge of the bjp at Nagpur last month, the new president, Bangaru Laxman, conveyed the impression that the bjp could enter a new era if and when it breaks free of the shackles of the rss. But a close scrutiny of the list of office-bearers released last week reveals that the Sangh still controls the party. The bjp continues to be a curious party where individuals without a grip on mass politics run the organisation. They get elevated, courtesy their association with the Sangh.
Contrary to the media spin, only those who enjoyed the rss support have been entrusted with important organisational posts by the bjp. Bangaru Laxmans new team is not the projected liberal Vajpayee team although the PM may have got in a few more of his men than in the past.
Otherwise it is the same old Sangh team. Two of the seven vice-presidents, Kailashpati Mishra and Pyarelal Khandelwal, are full-time rss pracharaks. Others like Sangh Priya Gautam and Jana Krishnamurthy had long associations with the Jana Sangh and the rss. Even the younger inclusions, Gopinath Munde and Karia Munda, have also cut their teeth in the rss.
Finally, there is former Delhi chief minister Madan Lal Khurana, a long-time bjp/rss loyalist who was languishing in political wilderness after his well-publicised spat with the Sangh a couple of years ago. Since then Khurana has made several trips to the rss office in Jhandewalan to "apologise". Now he proudly proclaims that he is back because of the Sanghs blessings.
The antecedents of the five general secretaries are just as impressive. Narendra Modi is a full-time pracharak, while both Venkaiah Naidu and Saheb Singh Verma have had an association with the Sangh. The sole woman nominee, Maya Singh, is a protege of the former president Kushabhau Thakre. Shastri would have been the oddball in this saffron pack - but he too has gone through the initiation ceremony.
Former vice-president J.P. Mathur asks: "Why make such a big deal about the rss? The Sangh is like a mother to us." Vice-president Jana Krishnamurthy is even more candid: "You people have wasted reams of paper trying to explain the relationship between the bjp and the rss. It is no secret that we know each other very well. The rss has a moral authority over the bjp. It is like our alma mater."
For good measure, he adds: "I will shout from the rooftops that I am a swayamsevak." Clearly, Atal Behari Vajpayee was speaking from the heart when he described himself as a swayamsevak in the recent vhp meet at the US. In the bjp, everyone is a swayamsevak.
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