Opposition is your counterpart – will Bhagwat’s wiser counsel go waste?

Now that Nadda confirmed that RSS was influencing the Vajpayee Government, wasn’t Sonia Gandhi right in raising the question about the sister organisation’s pressure? Vajpayee flared up at Sonia on her remark

Amid his Machli-Mutton-Mughal-Muslim-Mujra jibes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s comment that he misses a strong opposition went almost unnoticed. He might have blasted the Congress the next day, after saying the absence of an opposition is a pain in his heart! Well yes, He did the expected. He criticised the Congress-Samajwadi Party combine for promoting Vote Jihadi and garnering support from across the border. Modi’s statement to a TV news channel that the absence of a strong opposition was pain in his heart got opaqued with his statements demonstrating scant respect for his political rivals.

It is in this context that we should view RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat’s statement that elections should not be seen as a war. There could be two sides fighting the elections but that should be seen as a consensus building process. The ruling party and the opposition are akin to different sides of the same coin, Bhagwat said post the Lok Sabha election results in which the Modi-led BJP failed to get even a simple majority. But Modi managed to retain power on the support of Naidu and Nitish (Naa-Ni).

BJP president J P Nadda virtually said the party did not require the RSS support. Bhagwat did not utter a word against Nadda but expressed his displeasure that the RSS was dragged into controversy during the thick of the poll campaign.

Nadda said in a media interview: “In the beginning, we would have been less capable, smaller and needed the RSS. Today, we have grown, and we are capable. The BJP runs itself.” Bhagwat and the RSS were obviously upset

Then Nadda made another dramatic statement that RSS presence is not reflected much as it was evident during Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s term. This triggered a flashback of a 2003 parliamentary debate when Vajpayee, as the PM, got very emotional and came down heavily on the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s statement that he had to choose between his duty and the internal pressures from the sister organisations. “I cannot and will not stand personal accusations against me," Vajpayee said in unusually very angry utterances in the Lok Sabha. He had thus flatly denied that he worked under pressure.

Juxtapose this with Nadda’s statement. Was Sonia right in accusing Vajpayee of working under pressure and was then PM’s outburst unwarranted? Check what Nadda said: The BJP has been in power for 10 years; the RSS is your ideological parent. You are strong now, have a robust network across the country. What is the BJP-RSS state of play? We do not see much presence of the RSS in the government, nor is it reflected in the policies like we had seen in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government.

Understandably, Nadda’s comments were not taken too kindly and it reflected on the ground as the BJP did not perform as good as it did during the 2019 poll. RSS cadre was miffed not only with Nadda but the I-me-myself attitude of Modi. Post the results, Congress did not lose an opportunity to taunt Modi saying that the opposition won wherever the PM addressed election rallies!

While the Congress and rest of the opposition understandably attacked Modi for being an“AhankariRaja” (arrogant king), the RSS leader Indresh Kumar did not mince words as he said the party that worshipped Ram but gradually became arrogant. The party had to pay dearly for the arrogance as God withheld the votes and power that they ought to have secured.

He elaborated: “The party that did bhakti but became arrogant, that party was restricted to 241 but was made the single largest party. Those who disrespected Ram, all of them together were restricted at 236, saying that this is the punishment for your unfaith that you cannot succeed,” Kumar said.

More skeletons from the closet began tumbling down as another RSS leader Ratan Sharda wrote in the Sangh mouthpiece Organiser as to how the overconfidence in the BJP led to the party’s bad performance and manipulations.

Sharda opined that the BJP’s “unnecessary politicking” (what we say POLITRICKS!) in Maharashtra for breaking the NCP, despite the party enjoying comfortable majority after splitting the Shiv Sena. Sharad Pawar would have faded away in two-three years as NCP would have lost energy with infighting between cousins, Sharda said and wondered as to why this ill-advised step was taken? BJP reduced its brand value. After years of struggle to become numero uno in Maharashtra, it became just another political party without any difference, Sharda pointed out.

That the BJP did not give due importance to the RSS is evident from Sharda’s writing. The RSS cadre is taken for granted. Sharda recently said that the Lok Sabha election results had come as a reality check for "overconfident" BJP workers and many of its leaders as they were happy in their "bubble" but not listening to the voices on the streets.

Sharda said the RSS has been trying very hard to make people vote. "This election, Mohan Bhagwat Ji said we have done our job. We have done our duty of arousing people's interest in voting and voting for the nationalist forces. Beyond that, the booth-level management has to be done by the BJP," he said.

Now let us get back to Bhagwat who derided the use of lies and amplification of it with the misuse of technology as a tool. He also very strongly pointed out that attempts were made to divide the social fabric.

We don’t have to stress again as to who spread lies and how during the election propaganda. This column pointed out in as many words that the umpire, the Election Commission, slept when the so-called level playing field was being dug up brazenly.

Bhagwat also broke the RSS’ prolonged silence on the year-long Manipur crisis when he said this must be addressed.

It was whispered in the corridors of power that all was not well between the parent RSS and its protégé the BJP. But no question was posed to the government. Even during the scores of interviews that the PM gave this question was not raised. But now that the RSS began to spill the beans, Mo-Sha combine might sit up and take note of the Sangh Pariwar’s anger. That is their look out as an internal family affair as long as it does not affect the functioning of the government.

The INDIA bloc has an added responsibility here as it must make sure that the RSS ideology is not unduly thrust on the government. One hopes that Bhagwat would walk-the-talk and not interfere with the politics of consensus.

Will Modi with all his stubborn attitude pay heed to what Bhagwat spoke about treating the opposition as a counterpart and not an enemy? What if he does not! That’s a trillion-dollar question and we shall keep raising these questions as a responsible and independent media.

(The columnist is a Mumbai-based author and independent media veteran, running websites and a youtube channel known for his thought-provoking messaging.)