RSS control

The Rashitrya Swayamsewak Sangh is the holding company and all the parivar organisations are its subsidiaries, Manmohan Singh had once said. Though the RSS always denies it has a hold over the BJP, proof that Singh’s observation has merit can be seen in recent developments. Rarely has an RSS chief been so vocal about what ails the BJP as Mohan Bhagwat, the current one and now a Sangh spokesman, has virtually set out the agenda for leadership change in the political party.

Ram Madhav has clearly stated that LK Advani, the BJP’s leader in the Lok Sabha, will step down from the post in late January. His statement came in response to a question about speculation that Advani would go on his 83rd birthday on Sunday. Advani had initially offered to resign after the party’s poor performance in the elections in May but had been persuaded to stay on. This was interpreted as the lack of an internal consensus on who would replace him as the leader of the opposition in the lower house.

But the RSS saw it as a temporary move. Enough hints have been dropped that the party needs younger faces to rejuvenate it which implies that Advani and others of his generation are past their prime and should make way for the next cohort of leaders.

This set off conjecture on who might replace him and more important, who would be the next president once the term of the current incumbent Rajnath Singh ended in December. Here too the RSS has let it be known that the new president would not be from Delhi, which effectively rules out the four next generation leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj, Ananth Kumar and Venkaiah Naidu. Several names have cropped up as possible candidates, but what is noteworthy is the fact that the RSS has such a clear view on this issue.

Bhagwat has repeatedly said that the RSS does not “interfere” in the BJP’s affairs but only “advises” whenever asked. That is a moot point. At a time when the party is in crisis mode, the RSS is obviously concerned. It feels the party’s problems are systemic and it needs surgery not cosmetic changes. Hence, it has decided to take matters in hand.

Though this will undermine the BJP’s independence as a political party, which is not a happy augury in a democracy, there is no guarantee it will revive the party’s fortunes. Will the RSS then run the BJP on a day to day basis? It is a dilemma both organisations must address.