Its hard not to miss the belligerent tone in RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwats speeches,post-Vijayadashmi. After having started on a reformist note he repeatedly invoked Abdul Kalam and Verghese Kurien in his first few speeches after taking over as RSS sarsanghachalak early this year,to explain his idea of an inclusive Hindu way of life Bhagwat has been overtly political in his pronouncements lately.
He spoke about a swayamsevak chief minister setting an example for others (Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappas statue diplomacy with his Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi); stressed the need to restore the pre-August 15,1947 map of the Indian Union; and last week,like a veteran demagogue,warned China against its designs on India. India has the wherewithal to divide China into three parts,were such a need to arise, he reportedly said.
Bhagwats message,evidently,has gone down well with the BJP cadre. The IIT-educated Goa BJP leader Manohar Parrikar,whose name has been discussed as a future prospect,often likes to temper his speeches with his being a bal swayamsevak. Some of the central partys lawyer-turned-spokespersons,too,spare no effort in convincing others how they are thoroughbred swayamsevaks.
The party has taken Bhagwats sampurna desh ko sanghmaya banaeyin (the RSS should permeate the nations consciousness) message,given in his Delhi Vijayadashmi speech,a tad too seriously; the original project to restore and protect the autonomy of the BJP thus has taken a severe beating.
In one of his finest moments,L.K. Advani,in his by-now-famous 2005 Chennai speech,had warned against the perception that the RSS interferes in the day-to-day functioning of the BJP. With Advani considerably weakened,theres little to show that the coming weeks will see order returning to the BJP,and with it resolve to fight the Sanghs tightening grip.
Consider this: The BJP lost the election in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Haryana even before the match began. Its best-known face,and someone who acted as Advanis point man in the North-East,Kiren Rijiju,left the party after being declared its chief ministerial candidate in Arunachal Pradesh. In Haryana,the partys strategy vis-à-vis Chautala and the Haryana Janhit Congress,is often decided by the factional feud between powerful central leaders.
In Maharashtra,it struggled to nuance is position on outsiders; under severe pressure from Raj Thackeray,and then its own ally,the Shiv Sena,it stopped just short of supporting a permit-system for outsiders coming to the state leaving its allies outside the state squirming. In the name of winnability,the party nominated the kith and kin of powerful satraps,after earlier setting an example elsewhere. The party is,however,resigned to a Congress-NCP comeback,when votes are counted on October 22 here as well.
Thus,when the BJPs Parliamentary Board meets after the results,it will probably,again,discuss the Vasundhara Raje episode rather than the elections. This highlights what ails the party. Rajes fight essentially between the Centres arbitrariness and the States right to have its own say in deciding its fate has been converted into yet another slugfest between the warring groups in the central BJP.
The decision on October 22,and even in the coming weeks,therefore,is unlikely to help. A new team,as also a new party president,will be in place by year-end,or early next year. This interregnum,till that new order is established,will be used by every single player in the party to protect their own little turf. In all probability,Advani would have made his future plans on distancing himself from day-to-day affairs in the party public by then too.
Its unlikely,however,that the new order will be able to redeem the BJP,given the systemic collapse it has suffered,especially after the recent parliamentary elections. The vacuum in the organisation will likely only help the Sangh tighten its stranglehold. The BJPs vision of defining the second pole of Indian politics will lie severely compromised in the process.
suman.jha@expressindia.com
