RSS Meeting: Do Modi & Shah Still ‘Rely’ on Sangh Parivar?

When internal relations are ticking, RSS’s decision to play ‘coordinator’ indicates greater autonomy for affiliates.

The three-day coordination meeting attended by 36 major affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), including the showpiece — Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — which concluded on Monday, is an annual feature. It is rarely newsworthy for it does not pass either a single resolution, or take any formal decision. Delegates attending these meets usually use these occasions as a sounding board, to check how a particular idea resonates within the Parivar.

These sessions are an important feature of the annual calendar of the Sangh Parivar and on most years, not much is read into these deliberations. The meeting is tracked chiefly by either insiders, or those keeping a hawk's eye on the monolith, for this enables one to decipher developments within the country's largest socio-political network.

This year's meeting however, was important, as it was scheduled barely four months after the parliamentary elections which solidified the BJP's position as the 'first among equals' in the phalanx of organisations wedded to Hindutva or Hindu nationalism.

The Import of RSS’s Meeting

This three-day session was crucial for decoding if there has been major reworking of relations between one-time ‘Big Brother’, the Nagpur-headquartered RSS, and the BJP. Relations between the two organisations has certainly undergone transformation from 2013, when the Nagpur leadership, after dragging its feet for months, finally gave the green signal for Narendra Modi to be designated BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

The meeting in Pushkar, Rajasthan was expected to provide an indicator as to whether the RSS still retained its post-2014 position as a 'twin' to the BJP leadership, or there had been further devaluation in its stature within the fraternity.

These decisions indicate that Nagpur still has a decisive say on matters related to the BJP’s organisational issues, and also that Modi-Shah remain dependent on both the RSS network and its steel frame.

The Pushkar meeting's importance was compounded by key decisions at the three-day ‘Prantha Pracharak Baithak’ of the RSS in Vijaywada. In the Andhra Pradesh city, the major decision in July was to shunt Ram Lal, then General Secretary (Organisation) back from BJP to the RSS, and in his place appoint BL Santhosh. Additionally, the RSS okayed the request of the BJP (read: Modi and Amit Shah) to depute a dozen pracharaks additionally to the political affiliate.

Does BJP Have Higher Stature than Other RSS Affiliates?

These decisions indicate that Nagpur still has a decisive say on matters related to the BJP's organisational issues, and also that Modi-Shah remain dependent on both the RSS network and its steel frame. The question is if at the coordination meet, the BJP would be publicly accorded a place, higher in hierarchy than other affiliates. Additionally, what role would the Nagpur leadership assign to itself — a mentor, just coordinator, or master of ceremonies?

Dattatreya Hosabale, one of the Joint General Secretaries of the RSS, who in March 2018, narrowly missed out on becoming the second most powerful leader in the organisation after the sarsanghchalak, Mohan Bhagwat, addressed the media at the end of the Pushkar session. But neither was it decided that the Parivar would jointly work towards environmental protection as the official website of the RSS made it out, nor was there a renewed affirmation that ‘reservation should continue till beneficiaries need it’, as several in the media highlighted.

What is important is the RSS’s emphasis — before the meeting as well as after — that its primary role is that of coordination, and not of guiding.

In fact, most reports that emanated from the meeting, stuck — almost verbatim — to Hosabale's statement: ‘there are errors in the NRC, and the Centre must rectify these before proceeding to its next step; the government needs to be commended for action on Articles 370 and 35A; and that the RSS has lent support to the recent Modi initiative against single-use plastics’.

Hosabale also backed the clampdown in Kashmir, including the arrest of political leaders. He said the step was "in national interest" and certainly unlike the detention of Opposition leaders during the Emergency, when several leaders were locked up for “selfish interests” (of Indira Gandhi).

Compared to the Vajpayee era, when affiliates — more often than not — worked at cross purposes, there has been greater cohesion within the Parivar since 2014.

RSS Meeting: Things that Can & Cannot be Said

Meetings of the RSS fraternity however, hold significance not just for what is officially stated, but also for what is discussed within the confines of closed rooms. What remains unstated is equally important. Certainly, what was deliberated within the closed room in Pushkar is unlikely to be known in great detail, although some of these details shall filter out in the near future slowly.

But what is more important is the RSS’s emphasis — before the meeting as well as after — that its primary role is that of coordination, and not of guiding. At the briefing prior to the meeting, the All India Prachar Pramukh, Arun Kumar, was at pains to stress that every affiliate of the RSS was autonomous, and that each one had their individual decision-making system and institutions. The coordination meet was thereby, essentially a platform to share ideas and make the other aware of one's specific constraints.

Compared to the Vajpayee era, when affiliates — more often than not — worked at cross purposes, there has been greater cohesion within the Parivar since 2014. During the first tenure, the RSS leadership played a major role in quelling steps which some affiliates were inclined to opt for, because government policies were at odds with their sectoral interest .

The coordination meet deliberated on problems specific to women, and a report has been readied, which takes stock of women’s concern areas from the RSS’s perspective. 

These were chiefly those organisations that were engaged in the economic sector — Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bharatiya Kisan Sangh etc,. Not just these, but the RSS also reined in the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. Most significantly, it played the central role in marginalising Praveen Togadia, Modi's long time bête noire.

Nagpur is Now Focusing on it Role as ‘Coordinator’

The indication from careful reading of the stated and the unstated from Pushkar, is that Nagpur is now laying emphasis on its role as coordinator rather than on giving directions to affiliates on crucial matters. This is suggestive of the realisation that Modi's hegemonic presence has not left the Parivar untouched, and it is best to make optimum use of opportunities provided by Modi to leverage the BJP — for instance, the request for more pracharaks.

Questions On Women’s Participation in RSS

An important issue is the concern related to the limited nature of women's participation within the Sangh. The RSS certainly realises that it is necessary to secure greater participation of women in the Parivar's activities, but there are structural impediments as women ‘cannot’ be members of the RSS and attend shakhas or participate in such ‘all-male’ activities. As a result, the Rashtriya Sevika Samiti and Bharatiya Stree Shakti have remained chief fora for women to participate, although efforts are now being made to increase women’s presence in other affiliated sectors.

The coordination meet deliberated on problems specific to women, and a report has been readied, which takes stock of women's concern areas from the RSS’s perspective. It is likely to be formally released shortly by Bhagwat.

In this period, when internal relations are pulsating, the RSS’s decision to play ‘coordinator’ is also indicative of greater autonomy for affiliates.

RSS Plays ‘Coordinator’: More Autonomy for Affiliates?

The fact that RSS spokespersons reiterated equal status for all 36 affiliates which were represented at Pushkar, underscored the unstated discomfort with the BJP's dominance. But because the political affiliate continues to require the organisational network and cadre strength of the entire Parivar, the onus is on the BJP to ensure that it does not alienate the fraternity as during the Vajpayee era.

In this period, when internal relations are pulsating, the RSS’s decision to play ‘coordinator’ is also indicative of greater autonomy for affiliates. It remains the responsibility of the government to ensure that none of its steps compels present-day supporters to turn into critics. Policy priorities of the government in the first 100 days in office, indicates that the BJP is being true to ideology. Its consistency in this direction holds the key to harmony within.

(The writer is an author and journalist based in Delhi. His most recent book is ‘The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right’. He can be reached at @NilanjanUdwin. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)