)
For long, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharaks could only look wistfully at how smoothly those from the Sangh Parivar students wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), climbed the leadership ladder of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde, Ananth Kumar, M Venkaiah Naidu and several more were products of student politics who went on to become influential party leaders and ministers. But instances of RSS pracharaks, barring exceptions like L K Advani, making it to BJP’s front ranking leadership were few and far between.
The rise of Narendra Modi, a pracharak, and more recently of Manohar Lal Khattar, the new Chief Minister of Haryana, is changing the power equations within the Sangh Parivar. The effect of the rise to the top of these two gents is most visible in the ever increasing numbers of young men joining Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) shakhas.
A visit to an early morning shakha at an East Delhi park was a lesson in how the Sangh is trying to change with the times. Most of the young men, ranging from college students to professionals in their late 20s, had joined that shakha in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections or immediately afterwards. They told me their role model was Modi, and one day they hoped to emulate him.
Their socio-economic backgrounds also mirrored that of Modi’s. These young men looked at the Sangh as a vehicle of upward social mobility. The shakha meets only Sundays, as its members have their private sector day jobs to keep for the rest of the week. This one is unlike the shakhas for older men that hold their drills every morning. The Sunday drill of these youth comprise a game each of handball and kabaddi followed by a discussion on current affairs.
When I visited the shakha, and what is no longer an exception in many shakhas across India, only the two shakha leaders were in ganavesha – the Sangh uniform of khaki shorts and white shirts. The rest wore trendy tees and track pants. That they are required to wear khaki shorts only during the once a year training session was of some relief to the young men. All of them claimed to be active on social media, where they helped spread Modi government’s message and countered propaganda against it. At times, they meet over dinners to discuss strategy. Their smart phones help them remain in contact through WhatsApp round the clock.
They were also convinced that mainstream media, particularly English language media, cannot be trusted. They pointed at the reports in the media about incursions of Chinese troops into Indian territory as evidence that media was biased against Modi government. “How can the media run such stories? Were any of you reporters there at the border to see the Chinese trooping in?” one of them asked.
But most were well aware of the power of mainstream media. They didn't think it is a bad strategy for the Sangh and its leaders to be under the media spotlight, as they are currently, after Modi’s rise. “Jo dikhta hai wahi bikta hai (what is visible, sells),” the shakha leader told me. It reminded me of how some of my communist friends condemn mainstream media as bourgeoisie but have little doubt when it comes to using it for their 'tactical' ends.
Last Saturday, as Modi freely mingled with media persons at BJP's Diwali Milan I thought of my young friends at the shakha. I wondered what they made of the Modi-media 'rapprochement'?
