Union Road Transport and Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari, wrote a letter to Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, endorsing the demand of a trade union in the insurance sector to withdraw GST on premiums paid by people while renewing or taking a life and/or medical insurance policies.
It must be read within the context of not-so-nuanced criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi from within the Sangh Parivar, particularly from the Sarsanghchalak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Mohan Bhagwat.
The letter is the latest development in the narrative of divergent views over a growing number of issues between Delhi and Nagpur, a parliamentary constituency that Gadkari represents, besides being the headquarters of the RSS.
Written on 28 July, the letter surfaced in the public domain on Wednesday, 31 July and immediately triggered a political storm. Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh shared the letter on social media and wrote that it was a “sure sign of internal dissent and rumblings against the non-biological PM.”
Hours later, the head of the BJP's National Information and Technology Department, Amit Malviya, responded, “Relax. Don’t imagine things,” he started, and went to claim that Gadkari was “merely forwarding a Memorandum he received from Nagpur Divisional Life Insurance Corporation Employees Union, for Finance Minister’s perusal.”
A smattering of SM responses to Malviya’s post is interesting. "Not a simple forward move," said one X user, while another wrote: "...a valid question which all MP's should raise with the Finance Minister actually if more people take up medical insurance, the burden on government healthcare facilities will be less. Look at the brighter side Mr Malviya."
Gadkari forwarded a memo in which a trade union not just disagreed with a long-standing practice, but also demanded that it be nullified. What was his intent with his first such letter in a decade?
Is there any correlation between this development and the fact that for the first time since 2014, Modi has not just failed to shepherd the BJP’s tally in Lok Sabha beyond the majority mark, but has also witnessed dismay within the party due to its score declining by not so insignificant twenty percent?
To begin with, Gadkari, whose proximity with the RSS brass lies beyond his parliamentary position, was not “merely forwarding” the “memorandum,” as Malviya claimed. Instead, he specifically asked the Finance Minister to “cooperate.” Whatever Gadkari was suggesting, he certainly did not expect the treatment normally meted to routine intra-ministerial forwards.
Gadkari left little doubt that he endorsed the union’s assertion that “GST on life insurance premium amounts to levying tax on the uncertainties of life,” and that eighteen percent of the tax is “proving to be a deterrent for the growth of this segment of business which is socially necessary.”
Furthermore, Gadkari is unambiguous in what he seeks from Sitharaman: “...you are requested to consider the suggestion of withdrawal of GST on Life and Medical Insurance Premium on priority.” Indeed, Gadkari is not making a ‘demand’ or even explicitly stating that this should be done ‘post-haste,’ although he called for prioritising perusing the memorandum.
It cannot be ignored that from 2014 onwards, it has become standard practice that ministers follow Alfred Tennyson’s immortal lines – “Theirs not to make reply, Theirs not to reason why…” Clearly, with his letter, Gadkari has underscored that the previous era of blind subservience to the ‘undisputed’ leader was over.
No banner of revolt was hoisted but Gadkari exercised his right to highlight a different point of view, which is considered normal in a coalition government.
That fortunes had dramatically altered within the Sangh Parivar was clear within a week of the 4 June verdict. On this day, Bhagwat addressed a gathering of RSS leaders and workers after Karyakarta Vikas Varg, previously called Officers' Training Course, a periodic training programme for RSS volunteers at Nagpur.
Coincidentally, this was the day that the new government held its first Cabinet meeting. Bhagwat made several points, but most notably:
A true sevak (one who serves the people) does not have “ahankar” (arrogance) and works without causing any harm or hurt to others.
This year’s Lok Sabha elections were unduly bitter and “decorum” was “not maintained.”
The one who is a true sevak, or can be called so, acts with dignity.
Elections should be treated like competition and not like war.
The adversary should not be seen as virodhi or opponent, but as pratipaksh or counterpart.
The Opposition is not an opponent because they reveal a facet or viewpoint and that must be deliberated upon.
However, the two sides castigated each other in these elections without caring about social divisions being created.
For no reason the Sangh was dragged into this… untruths were spread with the use of technology.
Although there is never 100% agreement of thoughts and ideas, when society prescribes the mandate to walk together despite differences, then a consensus must be built.
If one looks at Bhagwat’s speeches in the past, even the three he delivered in 2018 at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan as part of intellectual outreach, he always makes points obliquely without even taking names, especially when he is critical. Bhagwat’s speech at Nagpur was delivered in the backdrop of two major developments.
One, even before the first phase of polling on April 19 it was palpable that enthusiasm of swayamsevaks of the RSS was lower than in 2019 and 2014. Two, party President JP Nadda’s eyebrow-raising claim that the BJP was now more capable and no longer dependent on the RSS.
Bhagwat’s statement and assertions and articles of other notable personalities within the Sangh Parivar ecosystem, Indresh Kumar and Ratan Sharda, are all unprecedented responses.
The former’s contention that that arrogant one had been stopped at 241 (240) and the latter’s opinion that admission of the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party’s inclusion in the National Democratic Alliance was ill-advised and responsible for the poor performance in Maharashtra, was small but strident criticism.
In the ongoing dissonance between the BJP, the RSS and its affiliates, the government’s decision to withdraw the 1966 government directive prohibiting its employees from participating in RSS Shakhas and other programmes was considered an effort at pacifying the ideological fountainhead.
However, it did not have an impact. Almost ten days after the issuance of this order, while addressing a village-level workers’ meeting in Jharkhand’s Gumla, Bhagwat made cryptic remarks alluding to Modi’s statements in the course of a media interview that he often felt he was a non-biological being.
Here again, the RSS chief took no names when asserting that men want to become “superman”, then “devta”, “bhagwan” and even aspire for “vishwaroop”. At that time, Jairam Ramesh commented on social media, “I am sure the self-anointed non-biological PM has got news of this latest Agni Missile fired by Nagpur from Jharkhand and aimed at Lok Kalyan Marg.”
Trade unions at the state and divisional levels are usually affiliated with their national unit and through it, a national trade union. The RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is the largest trade union in India but has not raised issues related to the working class as steadily as it did before 2014.
In recent weeks, however, it met Minister of Labour and Employment, Mansukh Mandaviya, and demanded doubling of the ceiling of ESI (Employees' State Insurance) and EPF (Employees' Provident Fund) eligibility. It also asked for early implementation of the Code on Wages – 2019 and Social Security 2020.
Although more than forty-odd affiliates of the RSS are active in every conceivable sector or walk of life, they maintained a low profile since 2014 and rarely raked up issues that were agitating the people.
During the recent NEET imbroglio, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, an RSS affiliate and one of the oldest students’ organisations, was at the forefront of lobbying for swift action from the government. Its leaders met the Education Minister and were quoted saying, "jab praja ke taraf se sawaal hai, to sarkar ke taraf se jawab hona chahiye (when people ask questions, the government must answer)."
Other RSS affiliates in the education sector, the Shiksha Bachao Andolan and the Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas symbiotically connected with the Shiksha Bachao Andolan, were critical of the National Testing Agency and asked for speedy redressal.
Despite multiple portents, it would be naive to expect dramatic developments within the RSS-controlled edifice. Starting in October, the centenary year of the RSS will begin, and the leadership would not like to upset the apple cart before Dusshera in 2025.
However, it appears that the days of Modi’s absolute control are over and missives like the one that Gadkari fired may very well not be the last one.
Undeniably, the political terrain is now strewn with multiple bumps for the government and challenges are being posed not merely from opposition quarters, but also within a fraternity that no longer looks like a typical undivided family.
(The writer’s latest book is The Demolition and the Verdict: Ayodhya and the Project to Reconfigure India. He tweets at @NilanjanUdwin. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
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