Imagine a love spat in a family, where the husband is 75 and the wife 49. All this while, the patriarch has been in charge. All of a sudden the wife, in a new incarnation, secures a position of authority, changing the family fortunes dramatically. She now controls the purse strings, dictates the agenda, and is busy being courted by various friends and lovers. What do you imagine is the husband going through? He undergoes pangs of jealousy, a sense of abandonment and feels left alone. He makes strident noises, hits out and privately even threatens divorce. On his birthday, he invites all and sundry, but most of them politely refuse. He frets and fumes, but alas, he is left with no choices. She is the one with both power and moolah. This is the story of India's number one political family, the Sangh Parivar, and the husband's dilemma is that of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Conceived on the Vijaya Dashmi day by Dr K.B. Hedgewar, the RSS celebrated its 75th birth anniversary recently amidst much fanfare and a massive display of khaki shorts and saffron flags in Agra. After all, its ardhangini (better half), the Bharatiya Janata Party, with which it has shared five decades of political companionship is firmly ensconced in power. And yet the tone was strident, not one after victory but one after defeat. Consider the recent public speeches of the RSS Sarsanghchalak, K.S. Sudershan, first made in Nagpur on Dussehra day, and subsequently repeated in Agra, during the shivir. Born into Sanatan Dharma, the eternal quality of religion should have been obvious to him. He is also aware that Dussehra signifies festivities and cultural pluralism for the Hindus. They celebrate it with gaiety but in different forms: either Durga Puja for the Maithils and Bengalis or as the end of Ram Lila for those from the North. Yet in the most non-festive, non pluralistic fashion, Sudershan let out a virulent diatribe against the Christians: they must construct a "Swadeshi church". Religion, despite its changeless quality must, according to Sudershanji, suddenly bend to the dictates of a nation, a notion that is as recent as the 18th century. Little did Sudershanji realise the irony involved even as he failed to foresee its logical outcome: Yankee style mandirs for the NRI Hindus. And all this while Prime Minister Vajpayee calls for communal harmony even from the confines of his Breach Candy hospital. The RSS chief's behaviour signals an organisational crisis. Prime Minister Vajpayee's, much criticised, New York admission that he is essentially a `swayamsevak' and Home Minister Advani's controversial presence at the RSS shivir, in Agra, did little to comfort the RSS leadership. Nor will Advaniji's "the RSS exercises a moral influence on the government," help. The RSS leaders still appeared peeved. Why? All throughout its tumultuous history, the RSS, patiently but steadily, worked towards an alternative vision, that of the Hindu Rashtra. The aim of the Sangh, according to its constitution, is "to weld together the diverse groups within the Hindu Samaj and to revitalise and rejuvenate the same on the basis of its dharma and Sanskriti." This alternative vision appears diluted. Under the influence of over two dozen NDA partners, the BJP has begun developing its own agenda. Because of the compulsions of vote politics, the BJP is defining its own brand image. Its newly chosen Dalit president Bangaru Laxman, under direct instructions from the prime minister, has begun courting all minorities. The ideological conflict is as much on the economic front as in culture. Faced with the onslaught of globalisation, while the RSS has given a new twist to Mahatma Gandhi's old slogan of swadeshi, the BJP economic policy, dictated as it is by the Bretton Woods institutions, is surrendering to videshi nitis. Witness: liberalisation, de-regulation, privatisation and now open entry to MNCs. If politics is the art of setting agendas, then the pragmatic BJP leadership with its centrist platform is turning to be the hegemon, not the RSS. The latter feels threatened of losing its USP. The RSS with its corporatist structure (essentially hierarchical, without majority based elections) also feels rather uncomfortable with the BJP's democratic structure. In the case of the BJP, the pull from below is too much for the RSS bosses' push from above. With party tickets during elections and ministerships at the time of cabinet expansions being distributed on political considerations other than loyalty, the RSS feels dumped, indeed frustrated. Some analysts have argued that this conflict is deep enough to help the RSS occupy the opposition space in Indian politics. Notwithstanding the bankrupt Congress leadership's abdication of that role, the RSS is not in a position to fill the vacuum. For starters, the RSS is not a political party, it is more of a pressure group (although gigantic) but with a limited agenda. Even on the economic front, the RSS leadership admits that it needs at least two years to lay out a comprehensive plan of Swadeshi for which Govindacharya seems to have been deputed full time. It has never contested elections directly although it has campaigned for political parties. Others argue that the conflict is merely on the surface, with the moderate and the extremist wings of the Sangh Parivar only meant for outsiders. Admittedly, a swadeshi plank helps political mobilisation, while a videshi one helps to govern. The consequences of the conflict may be beneficial to the Sangh Parivar. But individuals are not always aware of the consequences of their actions: Most social process is a result of unintended consequence. If the right ward shift by Tony Blair in England led to conflict with left `loony' trade-unions and the equally centrist posturing by Bill Clinton, brought about a rift with old style Democrats, a moderate positioning under political compulsions by BJP leaders would obviously cause ideological cleavage with the more extreme RSS. Is this crisis going to blow over? Will the marriage stay intact? Or will it lead to divorce? Ever since the Bharatiya Jan Sangh was formed in 1951, the two organisations have cohabited through thick and thin. The RSS needs the BJP and vice versa. But the absence of choices, certainly in the case of the RSS, is likely to keep this marriage intact. It is already facing a crisis of recruitment with more and more youngsters finding the RSS shakhas unappealing with their traditional training in lathis and surya namaskars. The early campaign in adult literacy and the mushrooming of shishu mandirs along the lines of Christian missionary schools is already degenerating into an anti-Christian rhetoric. Although a divorce with the BJP is unlikely, unless a new leadership does not completely revamp the organisation, inject fresh ideas and a new vision, the present crisis might blow out of proportion and end up threatening the Parivar's numero uno position.While a swadeshi plank helps political mobilisation, a videshi one helps to govern. The consequences of the conflict may be beneficial to the Sangh Parivar
