Not even twenty four hours after the ‘‘compromise’’ that brought L K Advani back as party chief and the RSS has sent its signal. At an RSS camp in Sikar today, sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan likened politics to prostitution, underlining that though the ‘‘Jinnah debate’’ may be temporarily over, the rift between the BJP and RSS over Advani’s remarks is set to widen.Quoting a Sanskrit sloka, Sudarshan translated it into Hindi —in full view of cameras—and said ‘‘Just as a vaishya (prostitute) changes her clothes and appearance, a politician changes his stand.’’ The not-so subtle allusion to Advani’s flip-flop was not lost on anyone.Sudarshan’s comment is particularly significant for its timing and context. The sarsanghchalak, who created a storm two months ago in an interview on Walk the Talk on NDTV 24 X 7 to The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta when he said that Advani should step down to make way for a younger leadership, had remained curiously silent all through the crisis that engulfed the BJP last week.RSS spokesman Ram Madhav had slammed Advani’s positive assessment of Jinnah and the organisation’s powerful general secretary Mohan Bhagwat had conveyed to BJP leaders their insistence that the remarks be withdrawn.Sudarshan’s disdain for politics is part of an old RSS tradition. The second sarsanghchalak of the RSS, M S Golwalkar, is famous in Parivar circles for his comment that politics was like a ‘‘bathroom.’’ A man could fall anywhere but the chances of falling (physically and morally) was highest on the slippery floors of a bathroom, he used to say.His successors—Balasaheb Deoras and Rajendra (Rajju Bhaiyya) Singh—were far less critical of politics and encouraged the BJP to enter coalition politics and pursue the Sangh’s goals through the attainment of political power.Sudarshan, sources said, is a throwback who shares the early RSS distrust for mainstream politics. But his remark in Sikar today reflects much more than a mere ‘‘moralist’’ position. It is a warning to the BJP that the RSS has run out of patience with the ideological ‘‘experiments’’ and the ‘‘personalised politics’’ of the party, epitomised by its erstwhile blue-eyed boy L K Advani.
