By Arun Srivastava
“Sangh Saranam Gachchami”. Yes, after a long eleven years’ of insolence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting the RSS headquarters at Nagpur on March 30 for meeting the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and paying his obeisance. In recent months Modi has been trying to send the message across the country and especially to the saffron ecosystem that he was a committed karyakarta (cadres) of RSS and had enormous respect for Bhagwat, but his authoritarian style of governance failed to make RSS leadership change their perception towards him.
The immediate reason for Modi to undertake this exercise has been the contemplated move of RSS to publicly project Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh chief minister as the candidate for the president of the BJP. RSS adding the word “strong leader” for the task has been the major source of consternation for Modi and Amit Shah. It is known in the BJP circle that Gujarat duo do not want Yogi even to continue as the chief minister of UP least to speak of foisting him as the party chief.
The cadres of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal indulging in massive violence in Nagpur on the issue of removal of tomb of Aurangzeb from Sambji Nagar is being seen as a move of the BJP leaders to foil the move of RSS. In saffron ecosystem any imponderable incident may happen any time. What is really intriguing is the VHP and Bajrang Dal cadres carried out arson and vandalism notwithstanding the RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar making it absolutely clear that the Mughal Emperor was “not relevant” in today’s times. His assertion primarily meant to discourage any kind of violence.
Yet another disturbing factor, which is being pointed out by some RSS leaders, is choosing Nagpur by the VHP and Dal cadres. They point out this was executed by the cadres at the directives of some leaders close to ruling BJP.. They also blame the Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for creating such nasty situation. These leaders point out that the incident of violence has two major dimension; it was organised in Nagpur which is the headquarter of RSS and second, to force it drop the move of projecting Yogi.
But this incident instead of retreating, made RSS to adopt a more stubborn attitude and is now determined to go ahead with its decision. Meanwhile backhand negotiations have been going on inside the saffron ecosystem. Fadnavis has also come to foresee the trap laid down. He is also trying to mend his earlier stand. In a gesture his junior minister for Home (Urban) Yogesh Kadam condemned the violence and promised to take serious action.
Modi’s move is a compulsive device. His image of “strong man” has already received serious snub and erosion in RSS leadership after US president Donald Trump forcing him to obey his dictates. RSS leaders do not like the Indian Prime Minister to show his docility to Trump since Modi represents the great Bharat with its five thousand years of civilization.. Modi will explain to Bhagwat and his associates how he is keeping the Indian interest in mind while negotiating with Trump. In Nagpur, Modi would like to have one-to-one meeting with Bhagwat.
Modi in a recent interview to an American researcher Lex Fridman hold told many moralistic phrases for Bhagwat, like crediting him with shaping his life since childhood, inculcating in him the spirit of “nation first” and giving purpose to his life. He had even said “More than anything, the RSS provides you with a clear direction towards what can truly be called a purpose in life”. But RSS leadership is not willing to believe him. They dismiss these attributes as a bunch of lies. A senior leader said, “he is known liar. It is hard to trust what he says”. The RSS leaders recall his previous jibes, which were primarily meant to insult Bhagwat. It a shuttle manner Bhagwat had reacted by disproving “ahankaar (arrogance)” of the “sevak”.
At the Bengaluru pratinidhi sabha, beginning on March 21, the RSS will not discuss any new important agenda. Almost all the issues were discussed at the last Pratinidhi sabha held only some time back. Nevertheless the main thrust will be on two issues, uniting Hindus and fighting for the persecuted Hindus of Bangladesh. The slogan “batenge toh katenge” (if divided, we perish), first used by Yogi in the context of violence against Hindus in Bangladesh, has now been embraced by RSS.
RSS spokesman Sunil Ambekar informed that the Sangh will discuss future roadmap, keeping in mind national growth.”Two proposals are the Bangladesh situation and what should be done in the future: the 100-year journey of the RSS and drawing up a future roadmap for the Sangh,” Ambekar said. It will focus on demographic challenges; with deliberations on NRC, CAA, a comprehensive population policy, and national security concerns, including infiltration.
Holding the pratinidhi sabha meet has become imperative in view of the RSS move to announce its candidate for the BJP president. ABPS is the highest decision-making body and the meeting will have representation from all its 127 affiliates and organisations. A total of 1,500 Karyakartas (functionaries), mainly elected representatives from Prant and Kshetra levels (RSS zones and segments) will participate and take part in the deliberations. (IPA Service)
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