National

Papa Won't Preach

Forget Golwalkar. The Sangh backs the pro-Muslim noises but doesn’t know how to say so.

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Papa Won't Preach
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The new line of thinking in the BJP, of bringing Muslims into its fold and thus growing into a crossover political entity, has implicit RSS sanction. The Sangh, as a rule, is in favour of any strategy that helps the BJP widen its mass base and become the ‘natural party of governance’. The success or failure of this experiment, as set up by new party chief Bangaru Laxman, will effectively determine the future saffron course.

Yet it poses special practical problems, for obvious reasons. As such, there are many who feel wary of the Muslim line as of the party’s espousal of liberalisation. These critics fear the BJP might end up alienating its hardcore base, the footsoldiers who helped raise its stock in the Hindi heartland.

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The RSS’ dilemma is: how should it help expand the BJP’s base without antagonising cadres and jeopardising its image? Says RSS leader Amrit Sharma, who now looks after the VHP: "Earlier, the thinking was others can be won over only if Hindus are powerful. The entire emphasis was on organising Hindus. Of late, there’s a growing feeling that 17 crore Muslims can’t be wished away; you can’t throw them into the Arabian Sea."

That precisely was the spirit sought to be conveyed during the Ayodhya agitation, which polarised the Hindu middle class throughout India and alienated the Muslims. But RSS strategists now seem to have veered around grudgingly to the view that ignoring the Muslims is electorally counterproductive in the long run. So better get them on your side. Adds Sheshadri Chari, editor of RSS mouthpiece Organiser: "If the 17 crore Muslims cannot be wished away, the best policy would be then to convince them about our policies and thinking."

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But it’s easier said than done, as they well know. Says joint general secretary Madan Das Devi: "Ultimately, whether or not we win the confidence of the minorities, we would definitely want them to share in our national glory." Such piety offers a glaring contrast with the stated sentiments of RSS founder fathers. While K.B. Hedgewar described the Muslims as parakeeya (aliens), the second sarsanghchalak, M.S. Golwalkar, saw them as one of the three enemies of a Hinduised nation - the other two being the Christians and the Communists.

RSS pracharaks are now working overtime to take the message to the cadres. The new Muslim strategy is being discussed at the morning shakhas and at informal meetings. It is these ordinary activists who have to be convinced because they constitute the vast network of workers who go from door to door campaigning for the BJP.

Home minister L.K. Advani’s efforts to project himself as a moderate can be best understood against this backdrop. His Nagpur speech only reiterated what he had been saying for well over a year that "good governance is more important than ideology". Coming from the person who helmed the outspokenly anti-Muslim ‘movement’ leading to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the statement shocked many. But RSS leaders now say Advani’s statement was part of a possible future policy. "Jo party ka nirnay hota hai, uske anusaar karyakarta bolta hai. Vah vyakti ka nahin party ka vaktavya hota hai (party workers articulate party’s policies; it is not their personal statement)," Madan Das, who is in charge of the BJP in the RSS, told Outlook.

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RSS strategists are wary their new line on Muslims could be confused with "appeasement of Muslims", a fact their cadres would find difficult to reconcile with. So, say insiders, there will still be scope for the affiliate organisations to remain autonomous in their functioning. For instance, it will not be surprising if the VHP issues strident statements or tries to fuel the temple issue all over again. A strong statement or a veiled threat against the Hindu-virodhis will have enough appeal to galvanise the rank and file. Also, the VHP has not given up its plan to take out a yatra from Jaipur to Ayodhya with a model of the proposed temple. VHP leader Onkar Bhave confirms that the VHP margdarshak mandal will take a decision on this in October.

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But what will happen to attempts to woo the Muslims? It is indeed a tightrope walk for the parivar. On the one hand, it wants the BJP to expand its base as a political party but simultaneously keep its promise to construct the temple at Ayodhya. Says Bhave: "Musalmaanon ke dar se ham kab tak chup rahenge (how long will we keep quiet fearing the Muslims)? We’ll take our decisions." So won’t this VHP plan upset the BJP strategy to woo Muslims? Bhave replies: "Why should we bother about others’ difficulties? Every organisation has to work according to its role."

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Similarly, the Sangh parivar’s other affiliate, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM), is determined to carry on its campaign against economic policies. The RSS does not want to convey the impression that supporting the BJP (read A.B. Vajpayee) necessarily means supporting all anti-swadeshi economic policies as well. While disapproving the language of the swadeshi lobby against Vajpayee, RSS leaders justify the anti-government swadeshi campaign of the SJM. "It is the duty of the people to alert the government about the fallout (of such policies)."

The flexibility in chalking out the strategies - without letting the core of its ideology to be diluted - is one thing that puts the RSS several notches ahead of its ideological rivals. It is this strategy which enables the RSS to keep its flock together even as you hear BJP national president Laxman objecting to the foreign press describing his party as "Hindu nationalist" or "rightist" party even as UP party president Kalraj Mishra visits Ayodhya to pay obeisance to Ram lulla. In other words, it is the familiar story of confusing voices and doubletalk.

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