HVK Archives: Patriarchal prod
Patriarchal prod - The Week
Debashish Mukerji
()
April 12, 1998
Title: Patriarchal prod
Author: Debashish Mukerji
Publication: The Week
Date: April 12, 1998
Ours is a parivar (family) in the truest sense. There is the
father, the patriach, which is the RSS. And there are the sons,
who are all working in different fields. As in any typical
family, one brother may be a doctor, another a farmer, a third
something else. They may not necessarily agree on every subject.
The farmer will not tell the doctor how to treat his patients,
nor will the doctor tell the farmers what crops to sow. Neither
has the expertise nor the inclination to do so. But if one
brother is short of money, or is facing some other problems,
another brother, or the father will certainly come to his aid.
The father in turn may advise all the brothers, but it is not as
if he is always obeyed. Nor has he any powers to enforce his
will. Ultimately the sons have to take their own decisions, and
bear responsibility for them."
Thus spoke Kishore Kanth, Delhi prachar pramukh of the RSS
explaining the apex organisation's relationship with the BJP and
its numerous other frontal organisations. The BJP's connections
with the RSS have always provided the party's critics and
opponents a convenient issue for attacking it. In 1979 the Janata
Party collapsed over the question of its Jana Sangh component's
'dual membership' of both the Janata Party and the RSS.
With the BJP and its allies forming the Central government, a
fresh storm has arisen following the denial of the' finance
portfolio to Jaswant Singh, who was widely tipped for the
position: it is said that Singh was kept out at the behest of the
RSS.
Jaswant Singh was deputy leader of the opposition in the last Lok
Sabha, but unexpectedly lost his Chhitorgarh seat this time. Yet
with Atal Behari Vaipayee extremely keen on including him in the
cabinet, and industry and stock markets looking forward to his
imminent appointment, Jaswant Singh's name was included in the
list of ministers sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan on the evening of
March 18.
However, when the swearing in was actually held next morning, it
was found that Singh had been omitted. The portfolio subsequently
went to Yashwant Sinha. It was widely alleged that the RSS was
responsible for the change: RSS sah-sarkarayava K.S. Sudarshan
put through two telephone calls to Lal Krishna Advani and Atal
Bihari Vajpayee late on March 18 night demanding Jaswant Singh's
exclusion.
"We can never hope to please our critics," noted Sunder Singh
Bhandari, vice-president of the BJP and a longtime RSS
functionary. "if Jaswant Singh had been made finance minister,
the same people would have attacked us for nominating a defeated
candidate in such a senior position there by departing from
established political convention."
But was it in fact Sudarshan who actually prevented this?
Insiders maintained that Jaswant Singh had never been a favourite
of the RSS, not only due to his well-known stance favouring
increased economic liberalisation and globalisation, but also
because he kept an aristocratic distance from the RSS, rarely
even visiting tie organisation's Delhi headquarters.
In contrast Yashwant Sinha, a former civil servant, though he
joined the BJP only a few years ago and had absolutely no
connection with the RSS before, took pains to ingratiate himself
with the RSS leadership, attending several RSS camps and adopting
the RSS spartan lifestyle there.
>From Bangalore, where the RSS began its annual Akhil Bharatiya
Pratinidhi Sabha from March 20, topmost RSS leaders strongly
denied the allegation. But BJP leaders in contrast continued to
privately acknowledge it was true. Said Kanth: "Vajpayeeji has
been coming here. He has held discussions with Sudar shanji.
What they discussed I do not know. But whatever they discussed,
whatever opinions may or may not have been expressed, the
ultimate decision had to be Vajpayeeji's."
If the father (the RSS) still continues to exercise such
influence over the son (the BJP), what are the expectations of
the former from the latter now that the BJP is heading the
Central government? "The RSS expects us to discharge our
responsibilities to the best of our abilities within our
limitations," maintained Bhandari.
Though, like the BJP, the RSS too would have liked a more
decisive mandate, it is not wholly disappointed. "The outcome of
the elections has some positive features as well," pointed out
sarsangchalak Rajendra Singh at the Bangalore sabha immediately
after the swearing in. "The political untouchability practised
against Hindutva oriented parties has considerably been
neutralised. People have rejected the politically concocted
maligning of Hindutva as communal and anti-secular."
"Given the kind of mandate the present Lok Sabha has thrown up,
no ruling party can do what 'It really wants," said Kanth."It is
not just a question of the BJP, whichever party leads the
government now will have to spend a great deal of its time and
energy in floor management, in both houses of Parliament, in
simply surviving. With every bill that has to be passed, whatever
it may be about, the fate of the government will hang in the
balance. All we hope for is an honest and sincere government."
And there is one thing more: "We hope that the true meaning of
Hindutva will be revealed by this government," declared Kanth.
"Hindutva is not just building a Ram temple at Ayodhya. Hindutva
encompasses much more. Its essence is expressed in the phrase
sarve bhantu sukhinda (happiness for all). To keep everyone
happy, you have to think about everyone. That is true Hindutva:
carrying all sections of society with us."
Clearly the RSS too is keen that the BJP acquire a greater
acceptability among the Muslims. Said Rajju Bhaiyya: "There are
unmistakeable signs of a welcome change in the attitude of the
Muslim intelligentsia towards the wholesome philosophy of
Hindutva. It is hoped that they realise that Hindutva upholds
equally the genuine interests of all sections of the people,
including theirs." Kanth went further, noting: "Throughout our
history, even the most 'Hindu' of our leaders never made the
manner of worship an issue. Ashoka propagated Buddhism after he
converted to that religion, but him apart, no Hindu ruler sought
to force his subjects to his own religion. Rulers like Shivaji
may have been staunch Hindus, but they never sought to establish
a theocratic state. There is no question of a theocratic state:
even if India had a 99.9 per cent Hindu population, we would not
have insisted on it."
The RSS has thus reconciled itself to the BJP temporarily
abandoning the issues closest to its heart-the Ayodhya temple,
the uniform civil code and abrogation of Kashmiri autonomy. But
precisely because it has compromised on these in its bid to hold
its diverse alliance together, it has decided that it will hold
fast to swadeshi.
Despite the initial placating noises made by the newly incumbent
Yashwant Sinha, the RSS expects considerable shifts in economic
policies. While the resolutions passed at the Pratinidhi Sabha
were silent about political aims, economic concerns were strongly
spelt out.
Pointing to the collapse of markets throughout much of southeast
Asia, the resolution declared this was, the direct result of
excessive kowtowing to the IMF, the World Bank and multinational
companies. "Bharat may not be in such a bad condition today, but
some signals of it happening are beginning to show up," said the
resolution, dwelling at length on the Basmati patent controversy
and the adverse effects of multinationals' activity on small and
medium indigenous industry, agro-based industries and Indian
agriculture itself.
"We neither need foreign direct investment (FDI), nor are we
getting much of it," said Kanth. "Then why are we falling over
ourselves trying hard to attract it? Swadeshi does not mean
cutting ourselves off from the rest of the world, but it does
mean making the most of our resources too. Why do we only take
technology from the west? Why can't we develop some things
ourselves which the west will be glad to seek from us?"
Back
Top
|
