BackBJP and RSS renew ties
After three-day meeting, the BJP and its ideological parent RSS pledge to improve coordination
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New Delhi: At a low-key meeting in Udaipur, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the largest constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), renewed their commitment to working closely together.
The meeting, which spanned three days, ended on Saturday. It took place around the halfway mark of the NDA government’s tenure. The government’s relationship with the RSS is the subject of much speculation—one theory has it that the two are at loggerheads over various issues, including economic reforms; another has it that the government toes the RSS line in areas such as culture and education.
Given that, the meeting, which ended with the promise of even closer coordination, is as much an indication that all is well between the two as it is an endorsement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership and policies.
The Samanvaya, or coordination meeting, is the first after the NDA government completed two years in May. “The idea of the meeting is to bring a consensus (between the two) on policies. There has been a concerted effort (to ensure) that there should be a good working relationship between the RSS and the BJP because it is the first time that the BJP is in power on its own and not dependent on alliance partners," a senior BJP leader said on condition of anonymity. Since the formation of the first NDA government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998, the RSS has sought to increase its influence culturally and in economic spheres, leading to a recalibration of its relationship with the BJP, he added.
It helps that many of the government’s ministers, including Modi, have been affiliated with the RSS. “Since senior ministers are known to RSS leaders, they can be approached whenever there is a need to discuss a decision taken by the government," a second BJP leader said, who declined to be identified, citing the instance of government formation in Kashmir, where the views of the RSS were taken into consideration.
The RSS and the BJP differed significantly over economic policy during the tenure of the Vajpayee government. Both do not want to repeat those mistakes, the BJP leader said. “The biggest problem in NDA-I was that the top leaders didn’t get along well with the RSS leadership. But Modi wants to listen to the concerns of the RSS leaders and its different affiliates and also to not make differences public," said Jai Mrug, a Mumbai-based political analyst.
Perhaps as a result of this, the RSS has backed the government even when affiliates have done something that could potentially embarrass it—for instance, it backed Modi when he warned gau rakshaks (literally, cow protectors) indulging in violence against Dalits and Muslims.
According to the two BJP people cited above, the party’s coordination with the RSS happens at various levels and includes discussions with some of the Sangh’s affiliates, especially the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM).
They added that the government had accommodated crucial ideological positions taken by the RSS. “A major area of friction (previously) was the idea of Swadeshi (or local manufacturing). But the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Stand Up India’ campaigns, and easy loans to financially weaker sections to start their own business, has redefined the idea of Swadeshi," said the first BJP leader cited earlier.
The fact that Modi led the BJP to a spectacular win in the 2014 general election has also influenced the relationship. One reason for the victory of the BJP in 1998 was the “Ram Janambhoomi" movement, in which the Vishwa Hindu Parishad played a part, but in 2014, the BJP won on Modi’s anti-corruption and pro-development platform, the BJP leader said.
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