Does Mohan Bhagwat's Dussehra Speech Indicate a BJP-RSS 'Truce'?

On ‘practical’ matters, he was all praise for the government during his address on Saturday.

Often, the key point of an event is not drawn from any particular happening or utterance. Instead, the noteworthy detail is a missing element that has, at times, been an essential feature of the entire programme.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak’s annual speech in Nagpur on the morning of Vijaya Dashami or Dussehra has become an unmissable event of the political and media calendars in recent decades. In the pre-2014 period, public interest in his address waxed and waned, depending on the organisation’s proximity to political power, or its capacity to influence major narratives of the year.

Mohan Bhagwat has the advantage of being comparatively more media-savvy than his predecessors, besides having assumed office with technological connectivity, gradually taking the address into the ‘hands’ of more interested listeners or viewers; on mobile phones, first by text, and thereafter on video.

Since 2014, the RSS did not have to depend solely on its social media platforms, because Doordarshan, and numerous other private news channels, telecasted the speech live.

In recent years, there were occasions when Bhagwat’s address was followed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s, who too at times delivered, significantly like last year, his own rhetoric-infused speeches after shooting an arrow into the heart of Ravan’s effigy, an act that symbolises Lord Ram, the folklore hero turned deity, eliminating the primary force of evil.

Modi has not always delivered a public speech on Dussehra since 2014, even though he has been present at public functions in Delhi or elsewhere, like in Lucknow in 2016, when he addressed an audience in the run-up to the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in February-March 2017.

There is no randomness to any event in which Modi participates or does not; the decision is always based on certain considerations.

In the absence of any formal statement explaining the reasons behind Modi not delivering a public speech on this occasion (last year, he and Bhagwat individually shared their common fear of ‘divisive forces’ using caste and regional faultlines to the detriment of the BJP and others in the Sangh Parivar during this year’s Lok Sabha elections), only conjectures can be drawn on why the prime minister gave this opportunity the go.

Bhagwat’s not-so-veiled critical potshots at Modi (although without naming him) post the Lok Sabha verdict have been widely shared and analysed. Much of the Sarsanghchalak’s ‘criticism’ pertained to Modi’s larger-than-life personality and authoritarian style of working, especially his penchant for inflating his public persona, which gets a boost every time he makes public utterances. These are amplified by the army of social media soldiers.

In contrast, in his Dussehra address on Saturday, Bhagwat walked a tightrope. In the course of almost one hour, he used a vocabulary that indicated which could, on the one hand, be interpreted as a ‘truce’ of sorts, although solely with the government, not the prime minister personally and his approach to working. On the other hand, however, he also sent direct messages to the fraternity’s rank and file along with its leadership, to stay within the realms of the Constitution and the rule of law.

This contrasting and curious tone and tenor in Bhagwat’s almost hour-long address was understandable given the somber occasion, and that the Sarsanghchalak was delivering a prepared speech. Furthermore, the Vijaya Dashami ceremony is the most sanctimonious of all RSS events.

The speech on this occasion is primarily directed at one’s own – the Sangh Parivar, and is supposed to act like a beacon or ‘party line’ for the cadre. This year, the event was also the 100th Foundation Day of the RSS, when it stepped into its centenary year. Over the next 12 crucial months, till the organisation marks its centennial, the RSS brass would like to ensure ideological and moral spotlessness among all its affiliates.

At the same time, it would draw itself back from any situation that jeopardises the stability of a government that has ‘delivered’ hugely on ideological issues (blemishes apart over personal behaviour and how the decision-making process in government and party is conducted).

BJP leaders holding government offices may not have been gladdened by Bhagwat emphasising the Constitution’s Preamble and its ‘guiding principles’, but they would balance this out with him listing citizens’ duties as essential. Prioritising duties over faith has been an article of faith for everyone, from Modi to Bhagwat.

There, however, was a certain logic in Bhagwat’s pick-and-choose approach. On conceptual matters, he repeatedly drew the proverbial Laxman Rekha and frowned on rising instances of hero worship, social and economic inequity, and the consistent erosion of constitutional sanctity.

But on ‘practical’ matters, he was all praise for the government and did not list out a litany of challenges "because the pace that the country has gained towards the fulfilment of hopes and aspirations will continue. Everyone feels that Bharat as a nation has become stronger and more respected in the world with an enhanced credibility..."

Bhagwat’s address carries the burden of using the populist vocabulary used by the BJP, the government, and its leaders while trying to attain electoral objectives. This has resulted in him using absolutely social media-ish jargon – phrases like 'Deep State', 'Wokeism', and 'Cultural Marxist', even though he had used the latter two popular coinages in his Vijaya Dashami address last year as well.

Raising the fear of an imaginary ‘other’ is an old Sangh Parivar ploy; even Modi played this to the hilt from his chief ministerial years. But, Bhagwat clearly suffers from a lack of clarity on some of these word combinations – 'Deep State' for instance. The RSS chief says that this entity is one of the “declared enemies of all cultural traditions. Complete destruction of values, traditions and whatever is considered virtuous and auspicious is a part of the modus operandi of this group. The first step of this modus operandi is to bring the mind-shaping systems and institutions of the society under one's influence…“

But, the 'Deep State' typically comprises those very forces that are firmly in the control of the government, of Modi specifically, and have come under attack in the course of their operations outside, for instance in Canada and the United States.

In recent weeks, especially since the dramatic ouster of Sheikh Hasina from power in Bangladesh, the Sangh Parivar’s obsession with Hindu protectionism has been taken to a new level. From the time the Citizenship Amendment Act was proposed and legislated, the Sangh Parivar has given voice to legislatively protecting Hindus in other countries within the Indian subcontinent. The events in Bangladesh, especially attacks on religious minorities, particularly Hindus, provided Modi (backed by Bhagwat) and the rest of the fraternity the opportunity to become the self-proclaimed leaders of Hindus outside the country as part of the Hindu Rashtra.

But Bhagwat trod lightly on this perilous territory by appreciatively endorsing how “the Hindu community there got organised and came out of their homes to defend themselves, hence some defence could be ensured.” There is a grave risk to India or organisations like the RSS calling upon Hindus in Bangladesh or other countries to unite and collectively face threats.

The Indian government and the RSS, including all its affiliates, should never lose sight of the precarious position of religious minorities in India, especially the Muslims. By endorsing the protest of Hindus in Bangladesh, Bhagwat and even the Indian government have shut avenues for themselves to protest, if similar calls are given for Muslims to unite, whenever they are victims of targeted attacks or when hate speeches are delivered.

The RSS chief correctly asserted that “tolerance and harmony” are core beliefs in the country and that people must remain alert to ensure that “words or deeds do not insult anyone's faith, revered places, great personalities, books, incarnations, saints etc.”

This message is chiefly a message to members of the Sangh Parivar because they are the ones who most frequently commit these violations. As mentioned previously, there are several instances when the tonality of the RSS chief’s speech is markedly contrasting. This merely underscores that there is considerable divergence between what the Sarsanghchalak’s heart considers as ‘correct’ and what his mind processes as the path that ‘must be’ followed.

(The writer is an author and journalist based in Delhi-NCR. His latest book is 'The Demolition, The Verdict and The Temple: The Definitive Book on the Ram Mandir Project, and he's also the author of 'Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times'. His X handle is @NilanjanUdwin. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)