BJP reforms slow, its direction under watch, says top RSS man

What mattered was not the ‘‘gati’’ (pace) but the ‘‘disha’’ (direction) of the reforms adopted by the BJP, said Bhagwat , who was addressing the media on the concluding day of the RSS national executive meeting. ‘‘Disha theek hai ki nahin, wahi hamein dekhna hai, (our job is to assess whether they are on the right path or not.)’’

And was the BJP set on the theek disha? Making it clear that the RSS jury was still out on this one, Bhagwat said things had been very ‘‘asthir’’ (unsettled) in the BJP for some time. ‘‘Settle ho jaye, to dekhenge (Let things settle down, then we will see.)’’

While denying that the RSS was angry with Advani, Bhagwat also made it clear that it would insist on a ‘‘collective leadership’’ in the post-Advani era. ‘‘Those of us who belong to the organization have always believed in the concept of collective leadership. We believe team work is best and it is also the guiding principle of democracy,’’ he said.

Bhagwat insisted that no discussions on RSS-BJP ties had taken place over the last three days since the issue had been discussed in detail at their meeting in Hardwar last November. ‘‘There is no need to discuss the same issue over and over again,’’ he said.

His reference to Hardwar was significant because at that meeting, RSS delegates had roundly attacked the BJP for straying away from Hindutva and betraying the organizational and behavioral code expected of a member of the Sangh Parivar. VHP leaders Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, in fact, had boycotted the first day of the two-day meet to protest Advani’s presence there.

At the end of the Hardwar meeting, Bhagwat had told the press that the RSS would ‘‘wait and watch’’ to see whether the BJP reformed itself. The unstated message was that if the BJP failed to do so, the RSS would reconsider its ties with the organization.

Asked whether the RSS was satisfied with the steps taken by the BJP after the Hardwar warning, Bhagwat said, ‘‘Aisa hai ki yeh karne ke liye do kadam aage chalne se pehle hi bahut saari baatein beech mein aa gayi. To speed thodi kam hai, aisa hamein lagta hai (Even before the BJP could take steps in that direction, several things took place. So the pace has been rather slow, we feel).’’

The ‘‘several things’’ were a clear reference to Advani’s controversial remarks on Jinnah in Pakistan and its bitter aftermath as also as the BJP chief’s more recent Chennai speech accusing the RSS of interfering in BJP affairs.

Bhagwat parried a volley of questions on Advani’s Chennai speech as well as Uma Bharati’s letter. Neither issue had come up at the national executive meeting, he said. RSS leaders had been too busy in the past weeks to take up the matter, but would discuss Advani’s ‘‘perception’’ with him at some later date. A decision on Uma’s letter would be taken by the RSS sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan to whom it was addressed.

But that the RSS was far from happy with the public outbursts of Advani and Uma Bharati was evident when Bhagwat recalled the RSS’s July 17 statement which said, among other things, ‘‘ghar ke jhagda ghar mein suljhayein, media ke paas na jaayen (resolve internal problems within, don’t go to the media).’’