The Hindu
NEW DELHI, November 2, 2014
RSS having a field day in Delhi
Jatin Gandhi
It plays opinion maker inside and outside government
From clearing the names of first two Chief Ministers from among its cadres after the BJP came to power at the Centre, to dealing directly with Union Ministers to keep the NDA government on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh track and influencing public opinion, the Sangh is now having a field day in New Delhi.
The Sangh’s aim is to directly influence public policy from within through meetings planned at regular intervals with top Ministers while building a consensus outside, sources in the RSS told The Hindu. The role that the Sangh and its affiliates now envisage is similar to, if not larger, than what the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi played in the UPA regimes.
“The RSS has representation in the BJP at the highest level. Their outlook and thinking converges and does not run parallel on many issues,” a BJP leader said. He said the RSS shares concerns with the BJP and not directly with the government. But contrary to his claims, six Ministers of the BJP-led government have held two meetings with leaders of the RSS and Sangh-affiliated organisations earlier this week.
“That was part of an effort to ensure that the Sangh and the government do not work or speak in public at cross-purposes, as was the case in the previous NDA regime,” he said. In the BJP, a coordination committee headed by a general secretary brought in from the Sangh has been formed to see that the party does not stray from the RSS agenda.
The Sangh and its affiliates have also begun an elaborate exercise to shape public opinion on issues that it has been propagating for decades. On October 12, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat met leaders from different fields in New Delhi.
On the list of over 60 attendees were UGC Chairman Ved Prakash, AIIMS Director M.C. Mishra, Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh, retired police chiefs, leading doctors, lawyers and industrialists. An RSS leader said the meeting was an annual affair for the last four years but admitted that attendance was the highest this time.
Starting last month, RSS leaders Suresh Joshi, Datatreya Hosabole, Krishna Gopal and Manmohan Vaidya have had a series of meetings with intellectuals, journalists, industry heads, lawyers and other thought leaders to “share the Sangh’s worldview and build consensus.” The meetings will continue till December.
The Swadeshi Jagran Manch has organised similar meetings on the ‘Make in India’ campaign that it opposes, to garner public support. If the RSS could have its way, it would like the government to amend the Constitution and repeal the Sixth Schedule that grants special privileges and greater autonomy to tribal areas in the Northeast.
It even wants the government to round off and deport Bangladeshi immigrants. “We want a debate on these issues first. Society’s opinion makers should know what we want. In the past too, retired army chiefs and generals have attended our meetings,” a senior RSS leader said.
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