New Delhi, April 17
The ties between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party are at the crossroads as the umbilical cord between the two is under strain threatening to be severed.
Sources said the RSS at its three-day annual meeting in Mangalore in March this year served an ultimatum to its political outfit that it would no more send its ‘pracharaks’ to the BJP.
Almost 15 per cent of the RSS ‘pracharaks’ are associated with the BJP in one capacity or the other.
The ties between the RSS and the BJP have been under considerable strain for some time now as pressure has been building up ever since the BJP-led NDA government returned to power in 1999.
Not only did the Vajpayee government not fulfil the sangh agenda, but the non-Congress government at the Centre also treaded on the toes of many senior RSS leaders.
In the assessment of the RSS, the BJP is not going to come to power in the next 10 years and that is why both senior leaders should retire, making way for such a leader who can pursue the RSS agenda relentlessly.
Accordingly, RSS chief K.S. Sudarshan decided to grant an interview to a TV channel which was part of the well-considered strategy.
Mr Sudarshan’s advice to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP President L.K. Advani to retire from active politics and make way for the second generation leaders was given after considerable deliberations within the sangh.
Making a parody of the BJP slogan about Mr Vajpayee and Mr Advani, an RSS leader said the two leaders had been “tried and tested” and they must “retire” since they were now “tired”.
The RSS is worried about the influx of Bangladeshi citizens into India which is not only affecting the demographic balance but is also a security threat.
The BICEP, because of compulsions of the coalition politics, is not in a position to take up issues like the Bangladeshi influx and conversion of tribals by Christian missionaries. “So it would be better for the sangh to allow the BJP to undertake its agenda according to the wisdom of the two senior leaders,” a leader said.
The sources said the RSS had also conveyed to all of its outfits that it would not intervene in future conflicts and spats between the BJP and other saffron organisations.
In the coming months when the BJP celebrates its silver jubilee, some RSS outfits like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch and the Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh are going to attack the economic policies of the saffron party, the sources pointed out.
Caught in the RSS-spun web, Mr Advani is trying to find a way out, but it appears to be an impossible task as his stepping down in the silver jubilee year will send wrong signals to partymen and put a serious question mark on the BJP President’s “credibility”.
