Have Togadia, some other Sangh leaders fallen ‘out of favour’ with RSS?

Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 20

Earlier this week in Gujarat, Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s tallest leader Pravin Togadia alleged being targeted by agencies from Rajasthan and Gujarat and the Centre — incidentally all manned by its sister organisation BJP.

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Sangh sources, who claim it to be “aimed at diverting attention from the larger issue”, say Togadia has “fallen out of favour with the RSS” — the parent organisation of both the BJP and the VHP — because of his “blatant anti-Narendra Modi and anti-BJP stance”.

It is not just Togadia. Apparently Vrijesh Upadhyay, general secretary of RSS-backed labour organisation Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, is also “in disfavour” because of continuous criticism of the Modi government’s policies.

Togadia’s “role” in the run-up to the Gujarat elections and BMS’ questioning of the government policies had not gone down well with the RSS, especially in mind the BJP’s tough ride in the state.

There may be others on the line for publicly going against the BJP-led Centre or its policies, say the sources. Time and again, these leaders were asked “to not propagate thoughts contrary to the interests of the government, the party and the nation outside the requisite forum and also streamline activities as per the overall interests of the saffron organisation” they say.

“He (Togadia) may have just been trying to preempt the inevitable. What is playing out in the public could be the last scene of the ongoing turf war,” they say.

Also, as per Sangh sources, the RSS is “completely in sync with the Modi government on policy issues and believes the vast network of its various arms should be used for overall benefit of the organisation and the nation”. 

On how a well-known and popular leader like Togadia, a know baiter of Modi but the face of the VHP, could be sidelined, they quote the example of veteran BJP leader LK Advani. “Was Advaniji not an important leader of the party,” they counter-question, adding that “leaders are created by the organisation, not the other way around”.

Meanwhile, Sangh leaders say the RSS is “completely aligned” with the government on all matters and any “attempts at realignment will not be taken lightly” and that “internal matters should be resolved internally and not in the public”.

“Now is the time to streamline all our energies for the 2019 elections,” they say.

In fact, the RSS would prefer if Togadia and others like VHP president Raghav Reddy and BMS’ Upadhyay “step down on their own”, they add. This apart while many in the VHP central leadership are maintaining a distance from Togadia’s allegations against the central government, many VHP leaders are also standing by him. Though Togadia has been asked by the RSS to step down, sources say he remains firm on continuing.