Big Brother’s next move

Through its various other activities, the RSS will now concentrate on its expansion, and will certainly benefit from having its own government — though with the vices andvulnerability of a coalition.

RSS chief Rajendra Singh’s message to the Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), the Sangh’s plenary which concluded on March 22 in Bangalore, was: "Sangh volunteers are expected to exploit such a pro-Hindutva atmosphere towards a durable and permanent growth, specially in areas where they have failed so far."

Yet, the Sangh expects to continue with its undiluted world view with Hindutva as its central theme. Its goals are much beyond a BJP government, or a coalition led by it or getting Jaswant Singh’s name dropped from the list of ministers. A government for the RSS is just a means. That is why the RSS is unlikely to make any compromise on its agenda, leaving it totally to the government. There could be criticism for the government from the parent organisation. After all, Sangh’s prominent ideologue and joint general secretary K.S. Sudershan did not desist from publicly criticising BJP’s soft-pedalling the Hindutva issue on the eve of elections.

Even as the BJP showssign of transformation into a mass base party, Sangh volunteers still form the BJP’s cadre across the country. Also, about 134 full-time pracharaks of the Sangh are loaned to occupy key policy and strategy making bodies of the party. Besides, more than 75 per cent of the party’s national executive members have RSS background.

The Sangh takes the mandate of ’98 as the rejection of the propaganda that "pro-Hinduta forces" are anti-secular, and a clear outcome of quiet, dedicated and selfless efforts by the Hindutva-inspired workers over a decade. That the analysis does match almost word by word with that of BJP president and Home Minister L.K. Advani — himself a former pracharak — is not a mere coincidence. Advani had expressed similar sentiments and views while proposing Vajpayee as leader of the BJP and allies in Parliament two weeks ago. The Sangh’s annual report submitted to the Plenary makes a special mention of Advani as someone to have undertaken a "veritable nationaltapasya".

"It is ironical that our national government and political leaders in general contented themselves with one day-and-night Parliament session, speaking glowingly of the message of the golden jubilee occasion of Independence on the midnight of 14-15th August 1997, and the entire year was wasted in play of power politics."

"The notable exception was L.K Advani, president of the BJP, who traversed almost the entire length and breadth of the country day and night, carrying the real message of the freedom movement to the urban as well as distant rural areas, and all this during the gruelling heat of summer as well as cold rainy climate during the last year," said the report submitted by H.V. Seshadri, Sangh general secretary (chief executive).

Such a tribute to Advani, a key figure in the Cabinet can only be a testament of hope and faith in the government as well its limitations. That is why it readily approved omission of issues such as scrapping Article 370 from the Constitution, ban on cowslaughter and the Ayodhya temple. Yet, the Sangh succeeded in imposing its view on secularism on over a dozen BJP allies. Reiterating that "we are committed to establishing a civilised, humane and just civil order, that which does not discriminate on grounds of caste, religion, class, colour, race or sex, we will truly and genuinely uphold and practise the concept of secularism consistent with the Indian tradition of `equal respect for all faiths’ and on the basis of equality of all," the Sangh has positioned itself against the forces it calls "pseudo secularists", and by extension, the secularism being practised by these parties.

Also with the new government, the Sangh’s missionary activities especially in the field of education, will get official recognition and cooperation. There could be special measures in certain pockets of some north-eastern States like carving out special autonomous district councils to protect "minority Hindus". Also the Sangh’s grievance for several years that Indian missionsabroad "do not cooperate with their representatives abroad" may get redressed. But all these acts will have their own repercussions as well.

There are still areas which can brew trouble between the coalition government and the Sangh. The Swadeshi economy model and a strong view on the World Trade Organisation and the BJP government’s political compulsion of having to take the support of the National Conference — a votary of article 370 with its nationalist credentials under suspicion in the Sangh’s eyes all these years — are few of them.

But for the Sangh — with many ups and downs in its 73-year existence that saw it being banned thrice — the rapid growth in terms of sakhas is a bigger achievement. The report suggests there are about 130,000 regular activities that include 42,000 daily sakhas in addition to weekly gatherings all over the country. They are the real carriers of the Sangh’s message. And the BJP-led government will have a three-way responsibility: delivery, managing thecontradiction among allies and acting as the Sangh’s political machinery to translate its world view. The failure on first two counts will cost the party its government, and the failure on the third count, perhaps its identity itself.

Sangh structure

The RSS is the umbrella organisation of all its affiliate bodies. Its executive is headed by general secretary of the Sangh and has three joint general secretaries and about a dozen senior pracharaks who are in charge of various organisations and activities.

The trio of joint general secretaries, K.S. Sudershan, Madan Das and Suresh Rao Ketkar — the last two in their fifties — coordinate with various Sangh parivar organisations on a more regular basis. Of late, the Sangh has also inducted relatively younger volunteers as the pranta pracharaks — an important organisational assignment in the States for the Sangh activities.

Sudershan, a Kannadiga who spent major part of his life in Madhya Pradesh holds an M.Tech degree in engineeringand has emerged as the formidable ideologue of the Sangh. He is in charge of the central and northern States. Madan Das: A Gujarati who later settled down in Mumbai and got active in the Vidyarthi Parishad, is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He is in charge of the north-east and eastern states.

Suresh Rao Ketkar who holds a masters degree in science is in charge of the southern and western States. His father was a close associate of the Sangh founder K.B. Hedgewar.