23

May

Is Modi’s BJP really ready to snap umbilical ties with RSS?

image

Today’s Edition

New Delhi, 23 May 2024

Dr Satish Misra

Is Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP indeed ready to snap its umbilical relationship with its parent body Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh or there is something more to party President Jagat  Prakash Nadda’s statement that his party had “grown from time it needed the RSS and was now ‘Sasksham’ capable to run its own affairs than meets the ordinary eye?      

 

The relevance of the above question is grounded in Nadda’s recent interview with an English daily in which he said that the RSS  It all started with the BJP president Nadda's interview to an English daily that, broadly meant that his party had "grown from the time it needed the RSS and was now 'Saksham' (capable) to run its own affairs".

Article at a Glance

 

The article discusses the growing speculation about the relationship between the BJP and its parent organisation, the RSS. BJP President Jagat Prakash Nadda recently stated that the BJP can now run its own affairs, which has led to speculation about a potential rift between the two organisations.

The RSS has always maintained that it is a socio-cultural organisation, but it has been known to be involved in the BJP's functioning. The article suggests that there may be differences between the two organisations over the appointment of the next BJP president. While some BJP leaders dismiss the speculation as mischief, others suggest that the RSS is not happy with the BJP's conduct, particularly the induction of corrupt and criminal leaders into the party.

The article also notes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not been consulting the RSS's Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat on issues, which has not gone down well with some RSS leaders. The article concludes by stating that the BJP's performance in the ongoing elections will determine the future of the relationship between the two organisations.

With a clear objective of driving his point further, Nadda went on to state that the BJP's parent body RSS was an “ideological front and does its work".

 

While it is true that it is not the first time that the ruling BJP is making such an attempt as the party had sent some signals of assertion obliquely during the tenure of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but Nadda’s categorical statement through media is unprecedented in the long relationship between the BJP and RSS.     

 

Though Sangh leaders, for their part, have always maintained that the RSS is not a political party but a socio-cultural organisation involved in nation-building but, their involvement in the BJP’s running is well known and not hidden to anybody.  

 

They claim the RSS does not participate in elections, nor are its office-bearers supposed to become office-bearers of any political party. They also say that it is a social-cultural organisation and can support any political party willing to work for nation-building. At the same time, RSS has been loaning its leaders to the BJP and Bharatiya Jansangh earlier and have been taking them back after some time. 

 

The above is not credible since the operating principle has always been that once a Sangh member, always a Sangh member. Ties are never snapped; BJP’s General Secretary (Organisation) has always been a Sangh leader who also used to act as the link between the party and the parent body. All along, from the days of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh, party office bearers have been drawn from the RSS pool, and non-RSS party leaders have been exceptions.        

 

However, speculations have once again revived over the strained relationship between the BJP and the RSS. Though leaders from both sides go to great lengths to deny it, the genesis of these speculations or buzz is also the low voter turnout in the first five phases and, as some insiders point out that differences over the appointment of the next president of the BJP.

 

Earlier this year, the BJP amended its constitution, allowing its Central Parliamentary Board to make a decision related to its president and Nadda’s tenure as party president was extended till June 2024.

 

Though the Sangh strategy is to not publicly state anything that can remotely be construed as political or interfering in the BJP affairs, sources say it is not in agreement with the party's idea of former Haryana CM ML Khattar as the new president.

 

The Sangh seems to be pushing for Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, the Nagpur MP who in the past is credited with "doing a lot for the party during his tenure as the BJP chief". Gadkari served as the BJP president from 2009 to 2013.

 

Some BJP leaders, to keep the issue in realm of confusion, dismiss the ongoing controversy as a 'shararat' (mischief) to create trouble in the middle of the crucial 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They insist that the RSS and the BJP are entirely in sync with each other and that there is nothing to worry about, but some others recall how Modi, as Gujarat Chief Minister, had completely sidelined the RSS.

 

"The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have only been implementing Sangh's core agenda, so where is the problem," they state.

 

Can Nadda say something so controversial that may be construed so without the approval of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, is highly doubtful?

 

Modi was looking for the right time to express what Nadda was made to say. Convinced relatively pretty sure that the BJP is winning overwhelmingly and he is getting a third term, the Prime Minister has made the move, sources said.

 

The RSS has not been mighty pleased the way the BJP has been conducting its affairs sans moral principles. It has not gone down well with the old-time RSS apparatchik that the BJP’s top leadership has stopped making a distinction between fair and foul and remaining in power at any cost. Some RSS leaders have also resented the induction of corrupt and criminal leaders into the party from opposition ranks. But the Sangh leadership has not gone public with its reservation, though the same has been conveyed to the BJP's top leadership, including Modi, who has not been amused with such observations or moral preaching.            

 

In his 10 years as the PM, there have been a very few examples that show the Prime Minister consulting Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat on issues.

 

Though Bhagwat was present at the 'pran pratishtha' ceremony of Ram Temple in Ayodhya earlier this year, that's about all one saw of the closeness between the two. Some also claim that Modi has been keeping away RSS emissaries and the BJP "wooing" Sangh cadres with plum positions within the government and party set-up, things that have not gone down well with those "left out". According to Sangh leaders, no one is above the organisation, including the Sarsanghchalak.

 

It seems that the "lack of enthusiasm of its cadres" in these elections couldn't have been more evident as in the first five phases. Sources also say that the BJP leadership is trying to make amends so that the situation improves in the last two phases. "The bottom line is if the BJP and PM Modi win their third consecutive term, the RSS may find itself becoming more irrelevant.

 

But if it does not happen the way Modi has planned, then it will be an altogether new ball game," an old timer Sangh leader stated saying that the ball is now in people’s court.

---------------

  • Share:

About Us

We must explain to you how all seds this mistakens idea off denouncing pleasures and praising pain was born and I will give you a completed accounts..

Contact Us

Contact Info

  • 70, Gyan Khand- 4, Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. Uttar Pradesh.
  • +91-9810533682
  • info@mediamap.co.in
  • Week Days: 09.00 to 18.00 Sunday: Closed