Hasn’t RSS always dictated how the top brass of BJP should function or who should head the party? That the BJP took over a year to publicly show its extra-constitutional reverence for its parent organization, claimed to be a social organization, can be explained by its dilemma of trying to maintain a balance between the RSS and the corporate, which is believed to have financially supported BJP election campaign on the hope that Modi as prime minister would clear the pitch for their recklessly planned expansionist projects in the country
ANURADHA BHASIN JAMWAL | Special to Caravan Daily
[dropcap]A[/dropcap] Joey takes a long time to leave Mother Kangaroo’s pocket, even after it is mature enough to be on its own. In its grown-up stage, the Joey often leaps out of the pocket, frolics about and discovers the world and then after it has had its bit of fun jumps back to the safety of the pouch. Only once the Joey gets much bigger does it leave the Kangaroo’s pouch. However, it seems the BJP’s Joey period is still far from getting over. Despite holding the reins of power of a large country like India, it must, as a natural instinct rush to cuddle up back to its parent for its own sense of safety and guidance.
Shocking as it may sound, democratically elected head of the state, prime minister Narendra Modi whose media projected and propagandized image became larger than himself in 2014 elections proclaimed earlier this week after attending BJP-RSS coordination committee meet, “I am proud of being a swayamsevak. The government is working on the guidelines received from RSS.” No qualms. No fuss as the Joey jumped back into the kangaroo pouch as if it were an act of great pride. Modi led BJP to victory in 2014 elections because he was elected by the electorate of the country. As elected representatives of the country, Modi and his ministers, as well as all the parliamentarians, cutting across party lines, are accountable to the public who elected them. Their only guide in their path to serve the nation is the Constitution of the country, no godfathers or rulers by proxy.
It is the public who must know with a fair degree of transparency about the performance of the government in various fields, what the government’s policies entail, what is it that they have been or not been able to achieve and what future agenda is on the anvil. But the BJP, ideologically driven by its inherited saffronized DNA, is genetically inspired to believe that power does not flow from the people but from its own parent organization, to whom alone they feel they are accountable. A duly elected government willingly switching itself into robotic mode and creating an extra-constitutional authority, with ministers obediently making presentations about the government’s performance in the last over a year for getting the approval and guidance of the RSS bigwigs at the co-ordination meeting, is brazenly undemocratic and makes a mockery of the constitution.
Finally, at the end of the meeting, when the RSS gave a pat to the Modi government after the meeting, it was clear who was the boss. There should never have been a doubt. It was expected that when Modi took over the reins of power, the remote would be in Mohan Bhagwat’s hand. Hasn’t RSS always dictated how the top brass of BJP should function or who should head the party? That the BJP took over a year to publicly show its extra-constitutional reverence for its parent organization, claimed to be a social organization, can be explained by its dilemma of trying to maintain a balance between the RSS and the corporate, which is believed to have financially supported BJP election campaign on the hope that Modi as prime minister would clear the pitch for their recklessly planned expansionist projects in the country. That has not happened owing to many factors. The tall visionary promises that Modi made of development and growth are unachievable. The obvious fallout of such a failure would have been a recourse to BJP’s more venomous Hindutva agenda inspired by the RSS.
The signs were visible all along. Rabid Hindutva ideologues had, through this tenure of over a year, been given a free unchecked leash for rabble rousing, physically assaulting their prey and crushing all forms of dissent, even shocking murders of rationalists including the most recent one of Kalburgi. And, while all this happens, the government turns a blind eye and focuses not on course correction or reining in the saffron terror but in ensuring legitimacy to the saffron agenda by re-writing history and text books. The three day BJP-RSS conclave and its outcome, therefore, should not have evoked surprise though it is shocking nonetheless for it reflects the brazen ways in which democracy and constitutional authority is being subverted.
All this coming from a man, who reaped the harvest of the remote controlled politics of his predecessor Manmohan Singh, taunted for being a puppet in the hands of Sonia Gandhi betrays a great deal of hypocrisy. Not to forget the pun spun by Modi describing Manmohan as ‘Maun Maun Singh’ for his silence to massive allegations of corruption against Congress. The same Modi as prime minister is mute as a mouse when it comes to charges of corruption, communalism and other wrong doings faced by his government and party.
He makes no public clarifications on issues of vital importance, nor is accessible to media, showing scant regard for accountability. To top it up, RSS, despite its illegitimate interference in governance is still being eulogized as a social and cultural organization. What the coming days entail can only be predicted with a huge amount of dread. The mask is off. The daggers are out of the camouflage. The real face has begun to reveal itself, openly so. This is just the beginning. To borrow from Mark Twain, let’s just say: ‘Cheer up, old friend, there’s more a coming’.
