In Bhagwat’s utterances after polls, signs of RSS-BJP unease

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, June 11

The RSS does not speak too much or too often. But when it does, everyone sits up and listens. So when RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, in his maiden remarks after the 2024 Lok Sabha election results, stressed the need for “humility, self-effacement, magnanimity and consensus” in a speech in Nagpur on Monday, political circles came alive with whispers of RSS-BJP unease.

Clear message

• Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat calls for consensus, humility and self-effacement
• Bhagwat’s admonishments seen as message to BJP, which sources say seems to be losing ideological path

Bhagwat’s serial admonishments from a public platform were seen as a message to the BJP, which, Sangh sources privately say, is appearing to be losing the ideological path. The sources especially mention induction of leaders of all hues in the party on the Lok Sabha poll eve, including those perceived as tainted and those whose entire lives were spent standing on the opposite side of the ideological spectrum.

“A sense of arrogance has been palpable for a while, workers have complained of being unable to access the powers that be, from MLAs to MPs to functionaries,” a Sangh source says. With RSS’ trademark mobilisation missing from the ground, the BJP found it hard to counter Opposition’s “400 seats are needed to change the Constitution” narrative which had percolated down to the grassroots and has now identified as the single-most important reason behind the SC vote shift away from the BJP.

The BJP’s losses in Maharashtra and UP restricted it below simple majority in the Lok Sabha taking the country back to the coalition era. Bhagwat for his part said the RSS was not concerned with the LS mandate. “There is no point in discussing the mandate. The RSS is not engaged with the mandate. The results have come. What happened, why happened? We do not get into this debate,” Bhagwat said, using a Kabir verse to drive home the message of humility. He said a genuine worker would “self-efface and never claim he did this or that”. “There is a decorum for duty. The one who follows this decorum is not consumed by arrogance. He is not vain to say he did this or that,” said Bhagwat, sending a message to his ideological brothers.

The Sangh chief lamented divisive narratives during canvassing and said, “No decorum was maintained during electioneering, the Sangh was dragged in and lies peddled.”

His reference was to the Congress citing Bhagwat’s remarks on reservation to allege that the BJP wanted to change the Constitution. But Bhagwat’s larger messaging, though veiled, was for the BJP, who he reminded of the challenges ahead, including Manipur unrest. He signalled to the new government the need to take everyone along in Parliament and said, “The opposition and government are two sides of the same coin.”