Three senior RSS leaders -- Suresh Soni, Krishna Gopal and Dattatreya Hosabale -- sat quietly through the series of interactions over economic, social and ideological policy matters between various ministers and the Sangh affiliates.
Over the past week, these RSS joint general secretaries attended all three coordination meetings covering a range of issues be it education, FDI, workers issues or tribals right. The top two in the Sangh hierarchy — its chief and general secretary -- do not generally participate in such interactions and it is left to the other senior leaders who guide the organisations affiliated with the Parivar, sources said.
An apparent attempt to avoid antagonism between government and the BJP's ideological mentor which was witnessed during the Vajpayee regime, the Modi government and RSS have put in place a mechanism to ensure synchronisation on issues before they are in public domain. If not 100 per cent, it may lead to at least a 80-90 per cent understanding, a party veteran said.
"Such coordination will help in creating better communication. Problems arise because of lack of it," said BJP general secretary Ram Madhav, who along with Ram Lal, general secretary in charge of the organisation, has been attending the meetings.
The interactions have drawn a comparison between the role of the RSS and that of the National Advisory Council (NAC) during the UPA regime and raised questions about the extent of the Sangh's influence in the Modi government's policy matrix. "Organisational level consultations are the most natural thing to happen in a democratic system. People who never raised an eyebrow about the constitution of NAC as a super cabinet interfering with every government policy are now talking about RSS leaders meeting ministers in the NDA government," said R Balashankar, convenor of BJP's intellectual cell, who was a Sangh ideologue.
Sources familiar with the interactions at the coordination meetings said the RSS brass present only listen.
Suresh Soni, 63, had been a pointsman between the Sangh and BJP for nearly ten years. A post graduate in philosophy, he is a man of few words but a good orator. A Sangh pracharak since 1970, he went on to become prachar pramukh (propaganda secretary) of the RSS. Originally from Gujarat, his family was settled in Madhya Pradesh, of which he was in-charge.
Krishna Gopal, 56, who has taken over the responsibility of coordination between party and RSS from Soni, is a doctorate from Agra and has written books on BR Ambedkar. An RSS pracharak for over three decades, he was made joint general secretary around three years ago. He was provincial organiser of Kashi pranth.
Dattatreya Hosabale, 53 a post graduate, was the all India general secretary of the ABVP. The post graduate from Karnataka plays a crucial role in the intellectual activities of the Sangh. He is a former organising secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student wing of the BJP.
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