AA Edit | PM’s visit to RSS HQ signal of an evolving relationship
The curious development is that the Hindutva pursuit by the BJP has come in for criticism by the RSS chief who, of late, has become an apostle of the idea of diversity;
A lot of water has flowed down the Ganga between the two visits of Narendra Modi to the RSS headquarters in Nagpur: one in 2013 when he was the chief minister of Gujarat and the other on Sunday as Prime Minister of India. The latest visit was the first for a Prime Minister though Mr Modi was not the first RSS volunteer to sit on that chair. Even Mr Modi chose not to rush to the office of the ‘volunteer organisation’ which has held the Hindutva forces together in these last 11 years during his time as Prime Minister.
That the outcome of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections was not to the liking of the BJP is a generally acknowledged fact. The party went to the town declaring that it had set its eyes on winning 370 seats, the number required to pass a Bill amending the Constitution in the Lok Sabha, on its own and 400 seats for the coalition. The party was so confident of its landslide victory that party president J.P. Nadda openly said the party had come of age and may not depend on the RSS network for electioneering. Observers did not miss the signals that emanated both from the RSS and the BJP and noticed that something that existed in all the earlier election campaigns was missing this time around. The emaciated strength of the BJP in the Lok Sabha today has been attributed to that ‘missing’ factor.
The numbers may be down but the BJP has not gone back on its Hindutva agenda yet; in fact the third edition of the Modi government is aggressively pursuing it. The noise it has been making on rolling out a uniform civil code across the nation and the treatment of minorities in states where the party runs the government best illustrate its commitment to its own agenda. The lynch mobs are out on the streets while there is a dedicated group which will look for a Hindu religious symbol under every prominent Muslim place of worship in the country.
The curious development is that the Hindutva pursuit by the BJP has come in for criticism by the RSS chief who, of late, has become an apostle of the idea of diversity.
He would even advise the Hindutva zealots against digging every mosque in search of a Shivling.
While there apparently is a mismatch in the agenda, the two entities need each other badly to reach their common agenda. The RSS has proved that it can make electoral victory possible even in places considered impossible; the elections to the Haryana, Maharashtra and Delhi Assemblies proved the point that the BJP needs the RSS network if it were to win elections. As for the RSS, it has the best ally in power to pursue its agenda to make India a Hindu nation based on one Hindu culture.
While the RSS plays a slow game, the BJP, a political party engaged in an electoral democracy, does not have the luxury; it needs to fight daily battles and earn quick results. The immediate agenda of the party is to win Bihar Assembly elections, followed by the one in Uttar Pradesh. The Prime Minister’s visit must be seen as a thanksgiving gesture for the showing in the last three Assembly elections, for a different result would have compromised his government’s position a lot, and also a reminder of the job to be completed in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. It works well for both the players to be together, and seen to be so, too.