 "On a Janmashtami deadline, Govt announces OROP; RSS gets the credit")
Over a simple vegetarian lunch on Wednesday afternoon, the first day of the three day coordination committee meeting of the Sangh Parivar, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) top brass, including its chief Mohan Bhagwat, sought to understand from senior government ministers the impediments in early announcement of the “One Rank One Pension” (OROP).
The RSS leadership grilled these ministers, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, with its customary politeness. But the steel in the voices of the Sangh leaders was enough to convey the seriousness the RSS accorded the issue of OROP, says a source who claims to be privy to the conversation.
The news trickled out but was vehemently denied. By questioning government ministers on OROP, the RSS had left the Narendra Modi government, at least sections of it, embarrassed. BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said OROP was not part of the official agenda of the “samanwaya baithak” on Wednesday. But RSS leaders, although off the record, equally forcefully maintained the issue was not just on the agenda but was raised with BJP President Amit Shah.
It would seem the RSS did all the pushing to bring about the OROP even as ex-servicemen had been sitting on a hunger strike for over 80 days. According to an RSS leader, the ministers apprised the Sangh leadership that the delay in announcing OROP was due to some unresolved issues while the government in principle accepted “one rank one pension”.
Bhagwat and his lieutenants suggested to Shah that an announcement on OROP should be made soon. As for the pending issues, the government should, just as it did in the case of the Naga accord, constitute a committee which should give its report within a specific time period. It was even suggested that nothing could be better than Janmashtami, the Hindu festival that marks the birth of Lord Krishna, to announce OROP. The government, or so it would seem, had given an undeclared 72-hours deadline to the government.
At the end of the three day meeting on Friday, RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale left none in any doubt on what had transpired on the OROP issue. He said BJP President Shah informed the meeting that the government was moving towards an early resolution. “We hope they will do it fast,” Hosabale said.
From then on, the wheels of the government indeed moved fast. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in Turkey to attend a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, spoke with Defence Minister Parrikar over the issue. The Finance and Defence Ministries haven’t been on the same page on the issue, and the Defence Ministry has felt that the North Block, the headquarters of Finance Ministry, has at times stonewalled early resolution of OROP with its stance that it cannot revise pensions.
The RSS was concerned at the continuing ex-servicemen strike, and its high decibel coverage in the media. It felt further delay in OROP might disillusion their voluble support base with the Sangh. The ex-servicemen, ever since Modi’s rally in Rewari in Haryana on September 15, 2013, have been key allies of the Sangh Parivar. Ex-servicemen have joined the RSS in ever larger numbers in the last couple of years. Some in RSS estimate that one sixth of their new volunteers are ex-servicemen. It was also conveyed to the government that the RSS wanted the NDA’s approach to defence personnel to be different than that of the UPA, which had “mistreated” officers such as Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit.
The RSS says it has always stood for the interests of the defence and paramilitary forces as also the police. This does indicate that the government will take up similar demands by retired personnel of paramilitary forces sympathetically.
The Congress said the government had “insulted” ex-servicemen as demand of equalisation of their pension has been rejected and criticised the BJP for “politicising” the issue. Former Defence Minister AK Antony said the UPA had intended to coverall ex-servicemen under OROP, including those having taken voluntary retirement. He said the NDA government has excluded 46 per cent of defence personnel who take voluntary retirement. Antony said the allocation of Rs 5 billion (Rs 500 crore) by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 2014 was just a token amount.
The RSS leadership grilled these ministers, including Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, with its customary politeness. But the steel in the voices of the Sangh leaders was enough to convey the seriousness the RSS accorded the issue of OROP, says a source who claims to be privy to the conversation.
The news trickled out but was vehemently denied. By questioning government ministers on OROP, the RSS had left the Narendra Modi government, at least sections of it, embarrassed. BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said OROP was not part of the official agenda of the “samanwaya baithak” on Wednesday. But RSS leaders, although off the record, equally forcefully maintained the issue was not just on the agenda but was raised with BJP President Amit Shah.
It would seem the RSS did all the pushing to bring about the OROP even as ex-servicemen had been sitting on a hunger strike for over 80 days. According to an RSS leader, the ministers apprised the Sangh leadership that the delay in announcing OROP was due to some unresolved issues while the government in principle accepted “one rank one pension”.
Bhagwat and his lieutenants suggested to Shah that an announcement on OROP should be made soon. As for the pending issues, the government should, just as it did in the case of the Naga accord, constitute a committee which should give its report within a specific time period. It was even suggested that nothing could be better than Janmashtami, the Hindu festival that marks the birth of Lord Krishna, to announce OROP. The government, or so it would seem, had given an undeclared 72-hours deadline to the government.
At the end of the three day meeting on Friday, RSS joint general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale left none in any doubt on what had transpired on the OROP issue. He said BJP President Shah informed the meeting that the government was moving towards an early resolution. “We hope they will do it fast,” Hosabale said.
From then on, the wheels of the government indeed moved fast. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, in Turkey to attend a G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bankers, spoke with Defence Minister Parrikar over the issue. The Finance and Defence Ministries haven’t been on the same page on the issue, and the Defence Ministry has felt that the North Block, the headquarters of Finance Ministry, has at times stonewalled early resolution of OROP with its stance that it cannot revise pensions.
The RSS was concerned at the continuing ex-servicemen strike, and its high decibel coverage in the media. It felt further delay in OROP might disillusion their voluble support base with the Sangh. The ex-servicemen, ever since Modi’s rally in Rewari in Haryana on September 15, 2013, have been key allies of the Sangh Parivar. Ex-servicemen have joined the RSS in ever larger numbers in the last couple of years. Some in RSS estimate that one sixth of their new volunteers are ex-servicemen. It was also conveyed to the government that the RSS wanted the NDA’s approach to defence personnel to be different than that of the UPA, which had “mistreated” officers such as Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit.
The RSS says it has always stood for the interests of the defence and paramilitary forces as also the police. This does indicate that the government will take up similar demands by retired personnel of paramilitary forces sympathetically.
The Congress said the government had “insulted” ex-servicemen as demand of equalisation of their pension has been rejected and criticised the BJP for “politicising” the issue. Former Defence Minister AK Antony said the UPA had intended to coverall ex-servicemen under OROP, including those having taken voluntary retirement. He said the NDA government has excluded 46 per cent of defence personnel who take voluntary retirement. Antony said the allocation of Rs 5 billion (Rs 500 crore) by then Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 2014 was just a token amount.
BJP President Shah said the Congress decision on OROP was a joke with servicemen. He said the Modi government has fulfilled its commitment and given ex-servicemen economic security. Significantly, Prime Minister Modi was in Bodh Gaya attending a Buddhist conference on Saturday.