Falling Star
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
Cannot Hold
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.

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

COVER STORY: RSS

Disillusioned Cadre

While VHP International General Secretary Pravin Togadia scales down such reactions he does not refrain from voicing displeasure over India's stance on Pakistan. "There is no difference in the stands of the workers and the leaders. Only the style of expression might differ. We all believe that the Vajpayee Government has projected India as a soft state and that its repeated peace overtures to the Pakistanis and its decision to ease movement on the Indo-Pak border are being interpreted as a sign of India's loss of will to fight terrorism," he says.

Togadia cannot, however, explain the gradual erosion of the VHP mass base. In Ahmedabad, a protest rally by the Bajrang Dal against the killing of the Amarnath yatris last month attracted only 500 workers, an event that would have drawn no less than 5,000 workers earlier. Besides, in the past three years, the enrolment of new members in the RSS has come down significantly, as has the attendance at shakhas across the country.

Ravi Garach, a college student, began frequenting an RSS shakha in 1999 but withdrew when the leadership sought to justify Vajpayee's decision not to cross the LoC during the Kargil war, as part of Chanakyaniti (diplomacy). "What sort of Chanakyaniti is it," asks Garach, "if you sacrifice your soldiers to score a point?" No wonder then that the hardcore RSS workers are distraught at the Shiv Sena stealing the thunder by taking a strident position on national security issues.

The RSS' dilemma could be attributed to the organisation's obsession with discipline. Discipline has always been sacrosanct-even a senior leader like VHP President Ashok Singhal wasn't invited to the RSS' chintan baithaks (deliberations) for a while after the Babri demolition because he "couldn't control the Hindutva brigade". The leaders fear that approval of an anti-Vajpayee stance could let loose a torrent of criticism creating disciplinary problems among the workers.

That hasn't, however, stemmed criticism against Vajpayee, and even Home Minister L.K. Advani, though it's done in hush-hush tones. The fear persists that if the RSS leaders continue to peddle BJP's soft line as diplomacy, the "nationalist and militant character" of the organisation might simply perish. Aparvar Singh, a senior Sangh worker from Madhya Pradesh, is quick to dismiss the apprehension. "There is no dilution in our stand but we limit our discussions to the party forum," he says. However, Rajendra Sharma, owner of Bhopal's RSS mouthpiece Swadeshi is sceptical. "There is now fear of organisations like the Students Islamic Movement of India becoming more powerful," he says.

In Karnataka, the despondency in the RSS camp is unmistakeable. Says A. Narayana, a worker: "We feel the BJP is moving away from hardcore Sangh ideals. The Vajpayee Government isn't reflecting our stand on several issues." In Bihar, the RSS rank and file is reeling from what it perceives as a series of humiliations the country has suffered under Vajpayee. But in true RSS style, the dissent is smothered. Says Shatrughan Prasad, the Bihar prantsanchalak: "We are not a political outfit that we react to every issue. As we are involved in social work we keep away from politics." Significantly, he doesn't defend the Vajpayee Government.

For a silent dissent in the making, the rumbles within the 75-year-old RSS are decidedly becoming shrill. But it may still be a while before the roar creates an uproar.

-With Farzand Ahmed, Stephen David and Neeraj Mishra

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