As the BJP led by Narendra Modi is surging ahead in the polls, there are indications that he will head the next Government. The RSS, which has played a crucial role, will want to ensure its holds over the new regime
It’s like a holding company and its subsidiaries. Very often, the holding company asks its subsidiaries to run their business their way, and thus appoints CEOs, gives them targets and then does quarterly or annual reviews! In the same manner, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh used to look at the BJP as its subsidiary, even when the BJP won elections the last time. At that time, the BJP was more or less independent as the RSS gave much autonomy, hoping that Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee would stick to the principles of the RSS. However, Mr Vajpayee became more populist and the RSS was not necessarily the most satisfied with him always. Insiders in the RSS believe that the BJP went out of power because RSS principles were not followed properly by Mr Vajpayee. Despite that, the RSS followed its style of looking at the BJP as just another subsidiary and gave it reasonable autonomy.
In fact, the RSS has always called itself a social movement and never a political party. Its aim has been to build a robust, democratic and free India since 1925. It believes in the Hindu philosophy of inclusiveness, peace and tolerance. Although it has been called extremist — because of its Hindutva goals — what is appreciable is that it has never focussed on Hinduism as a religion. It’s not as if RSS members are asked to go to temples and pray; neither are meetings etcetera held in temple premises or with references to religion. The RSS believes in spreading the philosophy of peaceful coexistence of Hinduism through a strong, disciplined, social organisation, which makes it clear that peace is a choice and not a compulsion out of fear. The Muslim Rashtriya Manch — a social arm of the RSS, which now has more than 10,000 members across the nation — is further evidence of the same. The RSS’s history of social work and service has been acknowledged even by Jawaharlal Nehru when he invited the organisation to participate in the Republic Day Parade in recognition of its social service during the Sino-Indian war of 1962, and by lal Bahadur Shastri when he sought their help for controlling traffic in Delhi during the India-Pakistan war of 1965, in order to free the police for defence duties.
Thus, with a clear-cut goal of spreading the sparkling Hindu philosophy of universal peace through a strong India, and prosperity for all by economically uplifting the downtrodden, based upon the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the world is one family), the RSS remained largely apolitical, despite an unparalleled grassroots support base of about six million social workers and members. However, having seen how its basic principles were compromised during the last stint of the BJP, and realising that this is a great chance to come back to power,it seems the RSS has this time decided that it will play the role of a guiding hand and help the BJP not only come to power but also to stay focussed, non-corrupt and disciplined. So, if the BJP comes to power, the RSS has not only decided to have a team of 2,000 key personnel guiding the Government (and keeping governance clean, non-corrupt, sacrifice-oriented and greed-free, as per RSS philosophy), it has also already assigned them strategic duties in order to see to it that a BJP victory is ensured this time.
While RSS leaders are always behind the scenes and shun publicity, their discipline and work ethics are of a very high standard. Two of my key problems with the BJP have been, first, its unaggressive focus on trying to remove its anti-Muslim image; and second, its lack of focus on uplifting the Dalit and Scheduled Caste communities and on promoting a clear non-casteist stand. The RSS, on the other hand, from the very beginning believed that the Hindu philosophy of universal brotherhood could never be achieved because of the caste system. It has been against the caste system, as well as against untouchability; even the Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, during one of his visits to an RSS camp, praised its disciplined life and stand against untouchability! Thus, taking advantage of the disciplined force of swayamsevaks (volunteers), post the beating in the Delhi Assembly election, the RSS swung into action full-time, giving instructions to BJP leaders to ensure that similar results are not repeated.
It is argued and contended by many that the BJP, on its own merit, can’t even get 100 seats; and neither can it gather the thousands coming in to hear Mr Narendra Modi nor can it create a Modi wave! It’s the RSS’s support that is getting people, creating the wave and ensuring that this time, by its workers’ active participation for the first time in the political process, the BJP comes back into power. While the communists always used their grassroots members for political gains, it is for the first time that the RSS is doing the same. And it’s needless to question the power that the RSS wields over BJP. The fact that from time to time, Mr lK Advani, the man the RSS trusts the most, gets away with various anti-Modi banter, is because the RSS has its hand behind him; many suspect that the RSS even gets certain messages passed on by making Mr Advani speak openly on various issues.
While Mr Modi is a disciplined RSS member — and the RSS trusts him to deliver on its mission of selfless work for nation building — the organisation is leaving no stone unturned to bring in more of its key people into decisive roles in a possible BJP regime. The man behind all this planning and initiation is Mr Mohan Bhagwat, the RSS chief.
(The writer is a management guru and honorary director of IIPM think tank)