The gloves are off. Three years after it was last held, this September when the economic arm of the RSS, the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch, holds a two-day-long ‘swadeshi jutan’ (a get-together of like-minded people in Delhi), there will be no ambiguities. Senior pracharak and organising secretary Kashmiri Lal, also the Sangh’s nominee in its economic wing, has been given a clear mandate by the Sangh’s top leadership. He is to look for new political talent to replace the existing lot, build consensus on issues to corner the BJP leadership and create a pressure group within the parivar that can talk tough with the political front.
The exercise planned is simple. Over two days, senior leaders of the RSS and the BJP will brainstorm over “past mistakes and chart out a roadmap for the future”, in what is now being described as a “purging exercise” by senior pracharaks themselves. As one of them put it, “The present set-up does not allow for any changes. We have tried various experiments in the last year-and-a-half and nothing seems to be working. Something drastic needs to be done. There has to be a change in the thinking and response to various issues.”
The catchword “drastic measures”, which has so far been only isolated murmurs within the Sangh, is now gaining in strength. Last month, when the RSS top leadership met to review the situation post its Ramdev experiment, sources confirm that a unanimous decision was taken to look for political options outside of the BJP. Sangh leaders now believe the BJP, as it is now, has become ineffective. Unless there’s a complete makeover, things will remain the same. It is with this aim that the RSS directed the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch to send out invites to all Sangh-inspired and affiliated organisations. The organisations have been specifically asked to put forth their complaints and views on the current political scenario, opinions on what the BJP’s stand should be in the present circumstances and present a roadmap on the way forward.
Sources in the RSS say “there is a sense of urgency this time. Senior leaders are now questioning the BJP’s very attitude and style of functioning. It is felt that there is too much infighting and only vested interests are being promoted all the time. In December 2009, when the Sangh brought in Nitin Gadkari as party president, it was believed things would change. Even that experiment seems to have failed with the party failing to make a dent even in purely political terms. It is this failure that drove the Sangh to support civil society (first Anna Hazare and later Baba Ramdev) in their crusades against the government, corruption and black money. Had the BJP played that role, the Sangh would not have lent support to the civil society’s campaign against corruption”.
No wonder then that anger against the BJP’s non-performance is building up fast within the Sangh. What one pracharak says is revealing, “In the last six months, the Sangh seems to have become completely helpless with its own man, Nitin Gadkari, refusing to listen to their diktats. There have been at least five important issues in the last six months when Gadkari has gone against the RSS line and taken decisions that it not only disapproves of but strongly opposes.” This view is echoed by other pracharaks. Sources also confirm that the RSS leadership is now beginning to ask some serious questions about Gadkari’s leadership, including “whether the BJP president will be able to deliver at all and should he be replaced”.
Over the last one year, the Sangh has been at loggerheads with the BJP over important issues like the mining policy, the Land Acquisition bill, farmer issues, FDI in retail and even corruption. Despite clear directions from the RSS to both Gadkari and the BJP leadership over these issues, sources confirm that the party has refused to toe the RSS line. Points out a senior pracharak: “The BJP is in no mood to follow the RSS ideology even when it comes to nationalistic issues like exploiting natural resources. It is doing little to promote issues that can emotionally reconnect the party with the Hindu samaj. In fact, it has not even managed to take advantage of the people’s anger against the Congress and the UPA.” While specific issues are being ignored, what’s worse is even the Sangh’s broad guidelines over national issues are being ignored by the party.
A former Sangh ideologue adds, “The RSS is more than just miffed with the BJP. The mood in the top rung is to take full control of things. Just like it pushed its way through when it wanted Uma Bharati to be reinstated in the party, keeping the Uttar Pradesh elections in mind, it now wants to ensure that its agenda is followed by the political outfit.”
While in the past too there have been threats from sections of the parivar to look for alternatives, it is unlikely that the umbilical chord with the BJP will be snapped by the RSS. In fact, the move clearly is to rein in the party and to ensure that it works towards the larger cause of the Sangh.
