The Opposition can yell all it wants. Narendra Modi will never give up Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti: not because he doesn't want to; but because she has a utility.
Look around you. Where is the opposition to the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government? In the now-you-see-me-now-you-don't Rahul Gandhi-led Congress? In the oh-so-parliamentary Left parties ? In the Ilish-laden speeches of Mamata Banerjee?
Actually it is Madhu Kishwar, the savant of Indian politics, who saw it first. The opposition to Modi is unseen as yet but it comes from within the Sangh Parivar. And by retaining Jyoti, Modi has lost his first battle, but only so he can live to fight another day. He has given in to the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), which proclaimed proudly before the general elections that Modi was its creation. In doing so, he is attempting to neutralise it.
Jyoti comes from an extremely poor family of Nishads. This is an other backward classes (OBC) caste, which got the appellation of ati-pichhra (most backward) in 2012 so that it could be included in Uttar Pradesh's scheduled caste quota for job reservation. Her family is from the impoverished Bundelkhand and she gave up studying so that she could help her father and family eke out a living from the few bighas of land that they had, along with selling fish caught in the river. Even as a child she was unafraid of speaking her mind and she caught the eye of Swami Achyutanand, a member of the VHP's Marg Darshak Mandal, who used to run an ashram. Jyoti used to attend religious meetings and along with the free food, was deeply influenced by story-telling traditions.
The VHP, which is always on the lookout for fresh talent found her and adopted her after her marriage failed. Her mentor was Swami Parmanand of the Akhara Parishad and vice-president of the VHP. She fit in perfectly with the VHP's project of the social engineering of Hindutva. She contested the Hamirpur Assembly seat in 2002. She lost, followed by another defeat in 2007, but five years later she became one of the three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs from the Bundelkhand region, winning Hamirpur. She was later moved to the Fatehpur Lok Sabha constituency, which she won. But her style of campaigning was always derived from the VHP and she remained the organisation's mascot in the BJP - which incidentally didn't particularly take to her because police complaints were filed against her by her own party workers in the last election and Kanpur BJP chief Bhalchandra Mishra was appointed to probe charges party workers made against her.
There were any number of Dalit/OBC MPs Modi could have chosen to elevate as minister. Sanjay Paswan from Bihar has a doctorate in sociology. Udit Raj, MP from Delhi, studied in Jawaharlal Nehru University, joined the Indian Revenue Service and then joined politics. But these men did not have the VHP's backing.
Modi has had, mostly, a hate-hate relationship with the VHP. They keep trying to foist a radical Hindu agenda on him via the government route. He is always foiling their plans. Kishwar says in her book "Modi, Muslims and Media" that V V Augustine, former member of the Minorities Commission, complained about the VHP's terror in the Dangs region of Gujarat where they planned to organise a "Shabari Kumbh Mela" and explained to Modi how nervous the Christians were, fearing for their lives. Modi said banning the mela would only empower the VHP further but promised that if anyone did anything in violation of the law or resorted to violence they would be dealt with like criminals. He issued appropriate instructions to the police commissioner in the region.
There are enough stories about how Modi turfed the VHP out of Gujarat's administration, whether it was collections for flood relief or other charity work (he told them they did not need to exert themselves, the state was perfectly capable of dealing with the situation). He outlawed the colourful Pravin Togadia's proposed Trishool Deeksha Yatra that he then had to take to Rajasthan. There was an unofficial ban on the entry of Pramod Muthalik of the Sri Ram Sene in Gujarat. There were no Jai Shri Ram slogans at his swearing in.
When he didn't need a hammer, he didn't use one. The Swadeshi Jagaran Manch did very little in the years that the BJP was out of power. When its members started talking big after the government was formed, it was defanged by creating another similar organisation, and tacitly blessing it.
It will take nothing for Modi to crush the VHP. But it is so much easier to manage it by having its minister in the government, especially as she serves a political purpose as well. And with that, manage the opposition within.
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