Sangh admits storm brewing in the Parivar

In an act of open defiance against the RSS—regarded as the ‘‘mother’’ organisation to which all affiliates pay obeisance—Messrs Singhal and Togadia (and their compatriot Giriraj Kishore) refused to attend the RSS meet to protest the presence of their current bete noire L K Advani.

The VHP trinity remained ensconced in another ashram some distance away, ostensibly occupied with a ‘‘Hindu Jagran’’ ceremony—a symbolic gesture reflecting their desire to float a new party to replace the revisionist BJP as the political wing of the saffron parivar.

The VHP leaders refused to meet the press but sent ‘‘unofficial’’ word that they did not want to share space with the BJP leaders at the RSS meet. RSS spokesman Ram Madhav told the media that Singhal and Togadia had cited ‘‘personal reasons’’ for their absence and ‘‘took permission and were given permission’’ to stay away from the meet.

Clearly, the RSS did not want to add fuel to the fire by either openly attacking or defending the VHP.

But even Madhav could not hide the fact that the Parivar was in crisis. Apart from discussing the BJP, today’s deliberations also commended the relief work done by RSS volunteers during the recent floods that devastated North Bihar and Assam, he said.

But what about the ‘‘baadh’’ facing the Sangh Parivar? a reporter asked. ‘‘Bhitar baadh nahin hota hai; toofan hota hai,’’ (inside, there is no flood, it’s a storm), he replied.

As Advani faced a barrage of criticism from RSS delegates on the BJP’s ‘‘deviation’’ from ‘‘ideology and idealism’’ during its years in power, he soon discovered that the ‘‘toofan’’ within had spread afar.

In Indore, BJP vice-president Sumitra Mahajan and three party MLAs threatened to resign because Uma Bharati has forced her choice of mayor for the town; in Bhopal, several more MLAs are up in arms against Advani’s ‘‘surrender’’ to Uma’s ‘‘tantrums’’, and in Delhi senior leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi described the sanyasin’s outburst against ‘‘power brokers’’ (widely believed to be a reference to Pramod Mahajan) as an act of gross indiscipline.

On his way out from the RSS meeting, Advani briefly met the press but offered only a beaming photo-op to the forest of television cameras that have sprouted in the bylanes of Haridwar this weekend.

The BJP’s future, he admitted, figured in today’s discussions and the party would undertake ‘‘chintan’’ (introspection) and ‘‘corrections’’ wherever needed. Parrying questions on Uma Bharati’s comments against power-brokers, he merely said he had heard ‘‘different versions’’ and would speak to her about it.

Sources in Delhi, however, indicated that Naqvi’s sharp attack on Uma Bharati was made with the knowledge—if not the blessings—of former BJP chief Venkaiah Naidu. And since Naidu and Advani were together all day today, Advani may have concurred with the decision to ‘‘rein in’’ Bharati.

Although the RSS is seeking to project itself as a neutral umpire in the VHP versus BJP as well as the intra-BJP battles, the patriarch of the Sangh Parivar is very much involved at different levels, it is learnt.

Singhal and Togadia could not have carried on their tirade against the BJP for so long if they did not enjoy some measure of support from the RSS, sources said. The RSS does not approve of their intemperate style (attacking Vajpayee and

Advani by name), but large sections of the organisation agree with the substance of the VHP argument—that the BJP turned its back on Hinduva after riding to power on that very plank.

At today’s meeting, for instance, a large number of ‘‘swayamsevaks’’ took the BJP to task for shedding its distinct character over the years.

‘‘It is not about Hindutva as an ideology alone. The main criticism was against the deterioration in character, the entry of corrupt people into the BJP, the neglect of organisation,’’ an RSS insider said.

Advani’s decision to induct Uma Bharati as general secretary on Thursday and give her a say in Madhya Pradesh affairs was also a result of RSS pressure, sources said. Though RSS claims not to interfere in BJP appointments, the fact that the Sangh Parivar as a whole much prefers Uma Bharati to Pramod Mahajan is hardly a secret.

Naqvi’s attack against Bharati, sources said, was one way of BJP asserting its independence against the growing clout of the RSS in the BJP’s post-debacle affairs.

That the BJP’s future has taken centre-stage became clear when the RSS set aside discussions on its pet themes (‘‘infiltration’’, national security, and Muslim population growth) to devote itself to analysing the ills that plague the BJP today.