In its hundred years of long journey, the RSS leadership did not appear to be so scared and insecured as it is feeling now, in the post Lok Sabha electoral verdict of 2024. Rahul Gandhi is the nightmare. His politico-ideological agenda challenging the philosophical base of RSS’s politics of Hindutva has unnerved the RSS to such an extent that it had to convene an all India co-ordination meeting of all its frontal organisations to evolve a strategy to counter him.
Apparently the three-day meet of the RSS held from August31 to September 2 in Kerala, attended by 320 members from 30 odd affiliates, was organised to review the progress and practices of organisations, including the BJP, but it was the threat perception from Rahul’s attacking the very foundation of the RSS that dominated the proceedings of the meet. The best brains of RSS were hard pressed to evolve fresh strategy to counter him.
It is not that Rahul is the first person to attack RSS. During its hundred years of operation it has always been under attack and on couple of occasions it was banned too, but it never witnessed sharp erosion in its support base. V P Singh’s Mandal politics was visualised as a direct attack on saffron politics, but it not only managed to survive, instead it used the Mandal-Kamandal symmetry to gain more support and expand.
But Rahul assailing RSS and BJP saying that they were attacking the foundations of the country, promoting the interests of the rich people and denying Dalits of their rights and space, have eroded its support base and substantial number of the Dalits and extremely backward caste people have deserted the RSS ahead of Lok Sabha elections. Incidentally the situation has come to such a stage that RSS is finding it difficult to find and induct fresh dalit and EBC youths in the RSS rank. The erstwhile Pappu of saffron ecosystem appears to be virtually endangering the existence of RSS.
Much ahead of holding of the conclave, RSS leadership had cautioned the BJP leaders and especially Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to mend their ways and send a comprehensive action plan as to how they contemplate to counter Rahul’s onslaught. In was in this backdrop the president of BJP J P Nadda had a closed door meeting with RSS boss Mohan Bhagwat at Palakkad, the place of conclave. Sources maintain that Nadda promised to literally abide by the instructions of the RSS.
The general mood at the conclave was jaded. A lingering perception grips the rank and file, and even the RSS leaders, that RSS has failed. This owes to its adopting too soft attitude towards Modi. The RSS leadership should have adopted a clear political stand on the issue of caste census. But it faltered. The result has been disastrous. Rahul has taken away the wind and is now dictating the political action and discourse.
The participants were unanimous that Rahul has inflicted severe damage to the RSS and saffron ecosystem through his maiden speech as Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha on July 1, during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address. Gandhi had said, “Narendra Modiji is not the entire Hindu community, the BJP is not the entire Hindu community, the RSS is not the entire Hindu community”. Though Modi had tried to retort by saying Gandhi had insulted Hindus by calling them violent, it did not catch peoples’ imagination.
He had hurt the saffron ecosystem so brutally that even the RSS was forced to issue a statement. It said it was “unfortunate” that the leader of opposition linked Hindutva with violence. “People occupying important positions linking Hindutva with violence is unfortunate. Whether it is the Hindutva of (Swami) Vivekananda or (Mahatma) Gandhi, it is a symbol of harmony and brotherhood.”
The conclave was of the view that Modi should have been asked to restrain. The meet also shared that inauguration of Ram Temple has backfired. Though none openly dared to say that Bhagwat should not have participated at the inauguration, the delegates in hushed tone said that RSS should have kept away. The delegates shared the perception that this helped Rahul to penetrate into the Hindu support base of RSS and BJP.
Participants were unanimous that Modi, and more than him, his protégé Amit Shah has harmed the interest of RSS and BJP. The duo had understood that BJP needs renewal but once the RSS faces reverse, it would be hard to salvage the situation. The delegates conveyed the message to Modi and Shah that they were not the sole proprietor of BJP. The members expressed concern at the decline of the impact of Modi’s guarantees. Earlier Modi used to set agenda. Now Rahul sets the agenda and Modi responds.
The feedback from the members of RSS-affiliated organizations about the political activities was not encouraging. The message was clear that RSS must have its own person as the party president and also should seriously start the search process for the new leader who can replace the present President J P Nadda. Further the consultative machinery between RSS and Modi.3 government must be continuously proactive.
The participants were worried the possibility of BJP losing the election to four states. While Modi and Shah have been busy creating the impression that BJP will win the elections, RSS leaders have not that hopeful.. Some members pointed out that in spite of Lok sabha reverses Modi-Shah duo are resorting to the same tactics of using Modi’s face to fetch votes. Modi’s charisma has dived low is also clear from significant fall in his winning margin. In 2-019 he had won by a margin of around 5 lakhs, but this time it was 1.5 lakh.
The three-day RSS conclave, Samanway Baithak, also discussed the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. Some delegates did not approve of Shah’s comments to create a Bangladesh like students’ agitation in Bengal.
The strategical importance of Bangladeshi Hindus for RSS could be understood from the anxiety expressed by Mohan Bhagwat on August 15 in his address to RSS volunteers at Nagpur. Bhagwat said Hindus living in neighbouring Bangladesh are facing the heat without any reason. He said it is India’s responsibility to ensure Bangladeshi Hindus don’t face any injustice or atrocities.
Surprisingly Bhagwat expressed “serious concern” over the unrest in Bangladesh and said attacks on minority communities were “intolerable” but he has been maintaining a passive silence on the minorities being attacked by Hindu bigots in India. The question arises, if the Hindus of Bangladesh are human, so are the Muslims of India.
The most worrying factor for RSS was emergence of Rahul as the biggest brand of Bahujan Samaj in northern India, the region which so far has been the strongest base for RSS. The delegates nursed the feeling that Gujarat lobby has turned the BJP into a private company. The members are nevertheless quite hopeful that leadership would evolve mechanism to check the shift of the support base. The condition of BJP is really pitiable in Haryana and Maharashtra, with Dalits, Farmers and girls shifting their allegiance. They point out if Shah would not have supported Brij Bhushan Singh, president of wrestling association ignoring the complaints of the girl wrestlers of Haryana, the situation today might have been quite different. (IPA Service)
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