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RSS The Sangh Hits Back The BJP-led Government's trade-off at Kandahar provokes the RSS into hardening its attitude By Uday Mahukar and Farzand Ahmed When External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh escorted three terrorists to Kandahar in exchange for the hostages on board Indian Airlines flight IC 814, at least one major organisation felt it was an act of criminal genuflection. For the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the abject capitulation of the BJP-led Government to the hijackers was an opportunity to raise the shrill cry of ideology once again. That mood within the Sangh was unmistakable when the RSS brass gathered at Ahmedabad to grace a state-level RSS camp held between January 7 and 9. The camp -- which was planned two months ago as a routine affair -- was used by the Sangh to chart out the course the RSS should take to counter the blow to the carefully chiselled image of the BJP-led coalition and the Sangh as guardians of India's security after the hostage crisis. At the end of the three-day camp, there were clear indications that the RSS -- while keen not to rock the coalition's boat -- wished to distance itself from the Vajpayee Government for the way it negotiated the trade-off. What was further significant about the new stance taken by the RSS leaders was the fact that they were meeting in Gujarat, the only state under sole BJP rule, and known as the laboratory of the Sangh. Nothing demonstrated the change in sentiments more than the candid admission of Union Home Minister L.K. Advani in Delhi. After attending the closing ceremony of the meet, he said, "The hijack episode is a setback to the BJP's image as the party had all along been perceived to be different from other parties by the people." The hardening attitude could also be gauged from the unusually strong feelings expressed by the top RSS leaders, Rajendra Singh, H.V. Sheshadri and K.C. Sudarshan, on matters relating to Hindutva. They clearly indicated that the RSS was keen on neutralising the effect of the poor handling of the hijack drama on the minds of Sangh workers by taking a hard-line on issues like conversion by Christian missionaries, Islamic fundamentalism and national security. The RSS is caught in a dilemma similar to the one it faced in 1977-79. Though BJP Vice-President Jana Krishnamurthy does not find a radical change in the RSS -- "It's as close or as distant from politics as it used to be in the 1940s or '50s," he says -- the RSS wants to play the role of raj guru to exert moral authority on the Government. But it finds itself thwarted by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has kept a safe distance from the Sangh. BJP insiders say Sangh leaders have not forgotten the 1977 experience when some Janata Party members -- mainly socialists, fearing that the erstwhile Jan Sangh would dominate it -- raised the "dual membership" issue and brought down the government. At that time too the RSS used to tell the Jan Sangh not to be carried away by coalition euphoria. The impact of the RSS' hawkishness was immediate. "The strategy is to pressure the Vajpayee Government into implementing the RSS agenda," says Vidyut Thakar, a political analyst. "And clearly it won't allow the Government to bend backwards any more vis-a-vis Pakistan." Soon after the meeting, the Keshubhai Patel Government ordered a two-month drive to prevent cow slaughter and also declared its intentions to strictly enforce the state's toothless anti-cow slaughter law. The state Government is now toying with the idea of framing a law to ban construction of places of worship without its prior permission and to empower it to demolish illegal religious structures. Further indication of the RSS' tough stance could be visible next month when the Gujarat Assembly takes up a private members' bill that seeks to make religious conversion by allurement punishable by imprisonment up to three years. Having raised the RSS' hackles, the BJP is truly in an unenviable position. It cannot afford to alienate the Sangh -- neither can it anger its allies. |
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