BJP still in the shadow of RSS

The BJP’s RSS dilemma, or to put it in another way, the RSS’ BJP dilemma, continues to puzzle BJP-watchers and poses a challenge to the BJP insiders. The BJP’s leadership issue hinges crucially on the RSS, whether it is the party president or the party’s prime ministerial candidate.

A reliable party insider speaking on condition of anonymity explains the basic relationship between the two, “In the communist party system, the trade union, the cultural and the youth wings are the front organisations of the party. In our case, the BJP is the front organisation of the RSS and not the other way round.”
He traces the historical origin of this link - where the RSS is supreme and the political wing is the affiliate of the Sangh - to the situation after Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. The RSS was banned and faced acute isolation. It realised that it is not enough to be a cultural organisation and that unless it had a political arm of its own, it will not be able to survive. So, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh (BJS) was created in 1951, which merged with the Janata Party in 1977 and re-emerged as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980.

The other front organisations of the RSS are the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha (BMS), Bharatiya Kisan Sabha (BKS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

It is the RSS which decides as to who will be the president of the front organisations, including the BJP. It becomes clear that the BJP belongs to RSS and it cannot shake off this dependence.
 

A senior leader of the party and former Union minister speaking on condition of anonymity agrees, “Even when the party decided on Venkaiah Nadu to be party president, the RSS had to approve it.”

He says that the RSS has a stranglehold over the party, and he has no doubt that it is obstructing the freedom of the party to evolve the right political policies. He says Ram Lal, general secretary (organisation), is the most important among general secretaries because he has been deputed by the RSS. 

The party insider says the RSS delegates, about 30 to 40 people, to the BJP are placed at different levels of the organisation, and this is done every few years. Atal Bihari Vajapyee, LK Advani, Sundasingh Bhandari were among the earliest RSS pracharaks who had been deputed for political work. The insider argues that there is no discrimination against those in the BJP or any other front organisation because they do not belong to the RSS.  BJP president Nitin Gadkari is the nominee of the RSS and he will get a second term because he enjoys the confidence of sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat.

The senior leader concedes that there is public space for organisations like the RSS and VHP, but he thinks that they should have no political role.

“The RSS should have no role in the BJP. The RSS should keep away because politics is not its business.” The senior leader also rues the fact that the BJP has not been able to evolve its ideas as a right-of-centre party, which should be its rightful position on the political spectrum, on the economy, on security because of the RSS shadow over the party.