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The uproar over the prime minister's threat to resign may be over with the NDA reaffirming its faith and promising to behave. But the incident has called into question Vajpayee's inclination to govern. Buffeted by crises, is he preparing for a last bow? A report.

The Political Bank
The never-dying saga of UTI pitches the Government and the Opposition into the usual slanging match. More skeletons fall out of the UTI cupboard proving that the institution has been misused by politicians of all hues.

Crouching Tiger
Discontent is brewing in the RSS and the VHP over the coalition-hampered BJP and a pacifist Vajpayee being unable to push through the saffron programme. How long will it be before they refuse to toe the BJP line?

The Centre
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Prodded by the DMK to requisition the services of three IPS officers involved in the arrest of M. Karunanidhi, the NDA Government is dragged into a constitutional debate.

Unravelling The Plot
A week after Samajwadi MP Phoolan Devi was gunned down by masked murderers, all the men believed to be involved have been arrested. Yet many questions remain to be answered before the case is solved.

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Research reveals life on earth may have originated from outer space comets.

COVER STORY: RSS

Crouching Tiger

The RSS is caught in a dilemma that is gradually stripping it of its hawkish ideology. How long will it be before it refuses to toe the BJP line?

By Uday Mahurkar

Tigers are known to possess an adaptive trait. As the night creeps in, their eyes begin to glow, providing them with a strong night vision. It's not quite dusk for the Sangh Parivar but there's no mistaking the formidable glow in its orbs. And a keen ear might yet detect a faint growl that has the potential of swelling into a roar.

As the coalition-hampered BJP and a pacifist Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee grapple with the consequences of the Indo-Pak summit, a discernible discontent has been brewing in the RSS, placing it in the midst of a debilitating dilemma. Should it dilute its nationalist agenda for the sake of the BJP and Vajpayee and risk alienating a large section of Hindus, including its own rank and file, or follow its core ideology whatever the cost?

To an extent, the choice may already be rendered redundant considering that the dilution is well under way. The RSS leaders are busy justifying the BJP's soft stance to workers notwithstanding their own displeasure. Be it Vajpayee's dealing with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, the BJP's stand on Kashmir or the non-retaliation against the brutal killing of 16 BSF jawans by the Bangladesh Rifles in April this year, the RSS leaders have expressed intense disapproval. Yet, in the RSS bauddhiks (intellectual discourses for the workers) they have been justifying the party's stand over and over again. "If they blast the BJP, the workers will start questioning as to why the RSS is still supporting the party," says a senior swayamsevak.

At one such discourse, the RSS leaders explained the ideological watering down by saying that support to the Vajpayee Government was the only option. If the Congress came to power, the Sangh would lose whatever little it had gained, they said. But the arguments aren't working. None of the NDA constituents is forcing the BJP to bow before Pakistan, retort the workers.

The silent upheaval within the RSS, and the difference in perception between the Sangh leadership and the swayamsevaks is perceptible throughout the country though it is more apparent in saffron strongholds like Gujarat. During the visit of VHP leader Acharya Dharmendra to the state last month, RSS leaders requested him to exercise "restraint" while addressing a bauddhik. Dharmendra, however, went on to blast Vajpayee much to the consternation of the saffron leaders. But the workers were jubilant. "If there is someone who is really concerned about the nation, it is Dharmendra," said a worker.

In a similar display of bravado, Kaushik Mehta, deputy editor of the VHP mouthpiece Vishwa Hindu Samachar, penned a sharply critical editorial against Vajpayee for his Pakistan appeasement policy and his failure to contain terrorism in Kashmir. This despite a severe reprimand by the RSS bosses for having used harsh language against the "honourable prime minister" in a previous edit on the BSF killings. "I am only reflecting the feelings of frustrated Sangh workers. What's wrong in that? The BJP is making mincemeat of our core agenda," says Mehta.

How the BJP and Vajpayee are eclipsing the RSS ideology is best reflected in the appointments to its various organisations. To ensure the BJP doesn't "constantly complain that the RSS organisations are rocking its boat", the leadership has begun propping submissive leaders like Ranchod Bharwad to key organisational posts. Appointed president of the Gujarat unit of Bajrang Dal, Bharwad was preferred over better candidates because he would keep things cool for the BJP and the Keshubhai Patel Government.

This exercise is being complemented by the forced submission of RSS' firebrand leaders. Dattopant Thengdi, founder of the RSS-sponsored Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), has been effectively silenced after his fiery speech at a BMS meeting where he lashed out against the prime minister. This treatment has incensed many hardcore BMS workers. The unceremonious exclusion of BJP's K.N. Govindacharya from the party hierarchy early this year was also perceived as a snub to the RSS as was the taming of former RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan after his tirade against the PMO.

Following the brutal massacre of BSF jawans, RSS workers suggested action against illegal Bangladeshi migrants across the country. However, the proposal was shot down by the top leadership to avoid undue harassment to the Vajpayee Government. More recently, when the film Gadar, Ek Prem Katha evoked violence by Muslim groups in various parts of the country, most of the state VHP units did not utter a word of protest. "Had the BJP been in opposition we would have launched a nationwide movement. We have been reduced to the status of the BJP's handmaiden," laments a VHP worker.

Strident expressions of the traditionally hawkish stance against Pakistan too have been tempered. Prior to the Agra summit, a contest was organised by RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya and Pakistani daily Jung invited suggestions from readers for an enduring "Indo-Pak friendship". That Panchjanya hosted Pakistani views despite Pak-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir was a telling instance of the soft RSS line. For 78-year-old Nilnath Vinod, an RSS pracharak in Punjab who was closely associated with the late RSS sarsanghchalak Guru Golwalkar: "It pains old-timers like us when we see this reversal." Clearly, the exercise was aimed at justifying Vajpayee's invitation to Musharraf for the July summit. The subsequent Indo-Pak meeting bred more bitter reaction. "We need leaders like the Israeli prime ministers who have tackled the Palestinian issue with an iron hand, not losers in front of Musharraf," says an RSS worker from Karnataka.

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