The Hindu, January 02, 2009
Post-Assembly elections, the RSS influence over BJP could increase
Neena Vyas
It is believed that victory in M.P. and Chhattisgarh is due to better coordination
Top BJP leaders are scheduled to meet RSS general secretary
There is some talk of RSS strengthening its direct presence in BJP
NEW DELHI: With the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party in two out of 6 Assembly elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is set to increase its influence over the party.
The issue is not settled as yet, but an influential section of the party leadership believes that the BJP was able to perform well in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, thanks to the synergy between the BJP and the cadre of various RSS front organisations. The Chief Ministers — Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh of Chhattisgarh — who led the party campaign paid far more attention to maintaining the link with RSS volunteers than projecting their own personalities. This, a section of the party believes, was not the case in Rajasthan and Delhi. And in Jammu and Kashmir, the party did extremely well only in comparison with the 2002 election results, but not as well as it expected to do, despite the weeks-long Amarnath land agitation. And in Mizoram, the Congress simply swept the election.
There is another section in the party that believes that given the anti-incumbency and the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan, the BJP performed not too badly, thanks to the leadership of Vasundhara Raje. And in Delhi, this section would like to believe that the party’s third consecutive defeat in the Assembly election was the result of projecting the wrong man with age not on his side as its chief ministerial candidate. There is, as yet, unwillingness to concede that the BJP failed in its attempt to electorally cash in on the Mumbai terror strike or to make a dent in Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s image despite an aggressive campaign.
Against the backdrop of the emergence of these two contradictory views, top party leaders — possibly L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and a few others — are scheduled to meet RSS general secretary Mohan Bhagwat at the RSS Jhandewalan headquarters on Friday. While there is no fixed agenda — officially the meeting was described as routine — it is expected that this issue would be discussed.
A meeting of the party’s Parliamentary Board is also scheduled on Friday morning. While some issues related to the States where Assembly elections took place will be discussed, the curious case of the missing currency notes from the safes in the party office may also be brought up by some members.
There is some talk in the party of the RSS strengthening its direct presence in the party by “loaning” more full-time RSS volunteers to the BJP. But this has not yet materialised. However, it appears certain that the former Swadeshi Jagaran Manch chief, Muralidhar Rao, is to be inducted as an aide to party president Rajnath Singh to strengthen the direct link with the RSS (the SJM is a front organisation of the RSS and had clashed with the Vajpayee government disagreeing with the continued liberalisation of the economy). Already the key position of general secretary (organisation) in each State and the central party is held by RSS men who are the point men for BJP-RSS coordination at the ground level.
Meetings postponed
A senior leader indicated that the decision to hold the next National Council and National Executive Committee meeting in Nagpur was also a pointer to the strengthening relationship and the increasing RSS influence. That meeting, earlier fixed for January 23 to 25, has been changed to February 6 to 8.
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