RSS pools all resources for HRD minister

Joshi’s abrasive behaviour has also alienated a chunk of BJP workers who have abandoned Allahabad and gone to Machlishahr from where

UP assembly Speaker Kesrinath Tripathi is contesting the LS polls.

While Joshi’s supporters say that the minister has done a great deal of development work for Allahabad, opponents ridicule the claim. Samajwadi Party district president Jokhulal Yadav says, ‘‘Joshi goes about repairing old roads and old bridges and then takes credit for constructing them.”

With the SP putting up senior leader Reoti Raman Singh and the Congress candidate S.P. Malaviya poised to cut votes because of his long association with the city, the BJP senses trouble and that is why the RSS has swung in.

At the BJP central election office, several workers speak confidently of ‘Doctor saheb’ trouncing his opponents again. And one reason he will succeed, Ram Prasad states confidently, is that ‘‘this time the Sangh is fully backing’’ Joshi. But doesn’t the RSS always work for the BJP? ‘‘It does, but in this case it is much more than normal — the RSS has decided to make it their own campaign,’’ he says.

At the RSS headquarters a little distance away, the Vibhag Pracharak who calls himself just ‘Anupamji’ confirms that the Sangh has decided to fully work for Joshi because of ‘‘both his individuality and his ideology.’’

He is full of praise for Joshi’s success in undoing the ‘‘distortions’’ in history textbooks through ‘‘Hindutva amendments’’ and presenting ‘‘correct history’’ to the new generation. ‘‘Despite the charge of saffronisation, Joshiji went ahead and the entire society accepted it.’’ And then echoing Atal Behari Vajpayee’s words in praise of saffronisation, ‘Anupamji’ adds —‘‘Bhagvakaran nahin hoga to kya harakaran hoga’’ (should there be greenisation instead of saffronisation?).

Even without the RSS help, Joshi will win, he says but ‘‘we want him to win by a huge margin. ‘‘To that end, the RSS is fine-tuning the campaign. On April 4, a meeting of 2000 functionaries of RSS and allied organisations was held to discuss the details. Joshi was present at the day long meeting.

But despite waxing eloquent about Joshi’s ‘‘great individual qualities and ideological commitment’’, even the RSS feels that getting votes only in his name may be difficult. That is why, the focus of the campaign will be the need to elect a ‘‘Hindu’’ prime minister.

According to Anupam, the RSS campaign will be ‘‘man to man, door to door, heart to heart.’’ And RSS workers in village and town will go ‘‘even to our opponents and simply ask them — do you want Sonia Gandhi as Prime Minister or Atal Behari Vajpayee.’’ That, and not Joshi’s greatness, will be the cornerstone of the RSS offensive.