RSS to define stand on BJP politics

TURMOIL IN THE SANGH-I

The first half of this month will be crucial for the waves and eddies that the relationship between the Sangh Parivar's various constituents has undergone since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power.

M Venkaiah Naidu's coronation as the BJP president for a second term has already been announced. On February 6, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) chief KS Sudershan will hold a series of brain-storming sessions with his senior aides to formulate the RSS response to emerging politics.

In all probability, the RSS will articulate its view on national politics shortly at Nagpur - the RSS headquarters. And for the first time, the RSS is expected to comment directly on re-defining the relationship between the BJP leadership and the cadres of the RSS and other RSS-backed constituents.

In the BJP middle leadership's view, the party's success in the Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi Assembly elections has proved the futility of pursuing a hard-core Hindutva agenda.

But what appears to have come as rude shock to Sangh puritans is the view expressed by Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani at a recent meeting in Chennai, attended by the RSS chief, general secretary Mohan Bhagwat and a host of friendly intellectuals, including senior journalists.

Sources in the Sangh Parivar who attended the Chennai meeting say Advani made it clear that it would be difficult to implement the Hindutva agenda even if the BJP romped home with absolute majority in the coming elections. He admitted the limitations of being in the government.

Advani's formulation was that while an organisation like the RSS and other constituents of the Sangh Parivar might not feel constrained by being in power, the government had to work within certain limitations imposed by the Constitution.

The proceedings of the meeting were kept confidential with delegates hearing divergent positions taken by Union Disinvestment Minister Arun Shourie and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) international general secretary Praveen Togadia.

While Shourie referred to Togadia's rigid stance on certain issues, the VHP leader insisted that the full political potential of the rising Hindu consciousness was yet to be realised.

"This is the only route to realise our goal," Togadia is learnt to have remarked in the midst of a galaxy of top BJP leaders.

The Chennai conference has triggered a wider debate within the RSS with constituents like the VHP, the Bharat Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) questioning the ideological faithfulness of the leadership of their sister organisation, the BJP.

This was reflected in the conflicting stances on certain economic issues taken by the RSS and the BJP leadership. In the internal meetings of the RSS, Sudershan has made it clear that the RSS would continue to maintain its own world-view on the economy.

But practitioners of pragmatic politics in the BJP say while the RSS was free to have its world-view, there should be no attempt to force these ideas on the government.

"The government is better informed to guide the economic policies," a senior government functionary said when asked about the RSS line, which was at variance with the government policies.

By all indications, the Sangh Parivar is particularly perturbed over the talk-back approach of the BJP leadership and the government. But the Sangh leadership is also aware that given the rising popularity graph of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it would be unwise to obstruct the flow of the stream.

As the future political scenario unfolds, the RSS leadership is keen to resolve the existing dilemmas with the BJP in give-and-take spirit. But there is hardly any doubt that the future declaration of the RSS will be an attempt to paper over inherent conflicts which plague the Hindutva Parivar.