Jaswant echoes Atal swipe at RSS

Singh, who shares a close rapport with both Vajpayee and Advani and will be a contender for the top post after Advani steps down later this year, was unambiguous in supporting the views of the Big Two on the RSS.

On Vajpayee’s remarks, he said they were ‘‘swagatyogya’’ (welcome) from every possible angle. Ideological openness was crucial for any organisation’s growth. ‘‘If you put a lock on new ideas, a party or organisation loses its dynamism and becomes stagnant,’’ he said.

Ideological openness did not mean indiscipline, he hastened to add but underlined the importance of ‘‘free flow of ideas’’ to ensure that an organisation remained dynamic.

Asked for his views on Advani’s contention that RSS interference in the BJP’s day-to-day affairs was detrimental to both organisations, Singh said, ‘‘I am a disciplined soldier of the party. I have never questioned the views of my party president.’’ Advani, he went on to say, always spoke after great thought and deliberation and he fully ‘‘agreed’’ with the BJP chief.

As for Vajpayee, Singh said, ‘‘Atalji ke vicharon samajhne mein kaafi samay lagta hai (it takes time to understand the import of what Atalji says).’’

He went on to compare Atalspeak to the layered verses of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas: ‘‘Everytime you read it, you find new meaning.’’

But Vajpayee’s words were always of great value and therein lay their importance, he said, underlining that it was Vajpayee’s oblique potshots at the RSS rather than Advani’s unambiguous criticism that was of greater significance in the simmering BJP-RSS battle being played out in the Sangh Parivar.