The RSS leadership is happy that its electoral strategy has paid rich dividend in three states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in just concluded assembly elections Now the RSS chief is concentrating on Bihar, Bengal and Odisha taking in view the coming Lok Sabha polls. Apart it is the threat perception of Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra that will traverse through 110 districts, about 100 Lok Sabha seats and 337 assembly segments, starting on January 14, that has compelled RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to knock at the doors of prominent personalities, intellectuals and academics in the three states..
The importance of the exercise could be underscored from the fact that this time Bhagwat did not come alone. He was accompanied by his second man, Dattatreya Hosabale. Of all the states, Bengal has been at the top of the priority. During his two day visit last week, Bhagwat discussed the state’s affair with these people and tried to find out what could be done to salvage the situation.
His close door meeting with the former joint director of CBI and former TMC minister Upen Biswas has drawn wide attention. Biswas has been a Matua and Namasudra figure. He has been a supporter of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the register containing names of Indian citizens. The only time that a National Register of Citizens (NRC) was prepared was in 1951 when after conduct of the Census of 1951, the NRC was prepared by recording particulars of all the persons enumerated during that Census.
Though he is not a political heavy weight, he has his own support base in the areas of Sunderban, areas adjoining the Bangladesh border, from where he got elected in 2011 as the TMC candidate. Bhagwat’s interaction with Biswas and other prominent faces has sent a clear message that RSS would prepare the ground work for the B JP in Bengal..
During their two day stay in Calcutta Bhagwat and Hosabale tried to gauge the mood of the Bengali people over the Ayodhya Ram temple issue and also whether it would be feasible to intensify the “Sabka Ram” (Ram is for everyone) campaign in the state. Bengali population has not been quite enthusiastic to the Jai Sri Ram slogan of BJP and it instead of identifying the Bengali psyche with Ram was alienating it from BJP. One thing that emerged out of these of Bengal meetings and interactions was the RSS was not averse to changing its slogan.
Bhagwat held a closed-door meeting with All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey at his residence. Chaubey had contested the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and the assembly elections in 2021 and lost both times. Bhagwat met actor Victor Banerjee. He had contested in the Lok Sabha election in 1991 on a BJP ticket.
For quite some time the RSS leaders had strained relations with the state BJP leaders, specially the turn coats, who migrated from TMC. The situation has taken such a nasty turn that RSS of Bengal are in no mood to help the new entrants to BJP. Bhagwat who has been aware of this development had a long close door session with the state RSS leaders and cadres at the state headquarters, Keshab Bhavan. At the meeting, the issue of better coordination between the BJP and RSS was discussed. And the RSS state leaders were told to work unitedly till the Lok Sabha elections
While Bhagwat and Hosabale are busy evolving separate electoral strategy for Bengal nevertheless they emphasized the unity of India and the need for society to come together to solve its problems will be the key issues. During his meeting Bhagwat highlighted the inclusive tradition of Bharat and stressed the eternal nature of ‘Sanatana’ and the purifying aspect of all ‘sampradayas’ in Bharatiya traditions. Both the RSS leaders emphasised on strengthening Hindutva rhetoric and asked the state RSS and BJP leaders to ensure its reflection in the Lok Sabha elections in March/April this year.
The RSS leadership is absolutely clear that Modi magic would not do any miracle for the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP state units in almost all the eastern states are in a fragile condition. If the INDIA bloc succeeds in closing its ranks and launch a combined campaign, in that situation it would be a tough proposition for BJP, specially for Narendra Modi to turn the peoples’ mood in his favour. RSS leadership also nurses the belief that Modi’s caste perception and arithmetic has also failed to yield result. This is reason that Bhagwat and Hosabale had met Biswas and other leaders to firm up the policy towards caste combination in the eastern states.
RSS leaders are scared of the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai Nyay Yatra as Rahul would use it to mix with the local people, especially the poor and labourers and it will prove to be as “transformative” as his earlier cross-country march.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party is inviting all leaders of the Indian National Inclusive Developmental Alliance (INDIA) bloc to join the yatra anywhere along its route. The RSS is also apprehensive of TMC and Congress firming up the alliance. Though the Congress is hostile to TMC, RSS leaders feel once the INDIA negotiations proceed fast, they will agree to contest together. The Yatra will raise three issues liberty, equality and fraternity and all these are inter-related principles. The Bharat Jodo Yatra had raised the issues of rising inequality, growing social polarisation and increasing political tyranny and authoritarianism.
The desperation to win the Lok Sabha seats in Bengal has been so acute that before landing in Kolkata, Bhagwat and Hosabale had met Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, chief Imam of All India Imam Organisation in Delhi for soliciting his support in the election. The meeting held in mosque in Delhi was part of the Sangh’s efforts to connect with people from a cross section of society.
Sources maintain that as the campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections begins, the BJP will reinforce its narrative on J&K that has been bolstered by the recent Supreme Court judgment on Article 370. RSS sources also point out that the leadership is quite elated at the recent verdicts of Supreme Court and feel that the verdicts have made it easier for the RSS to reach out to Hindu voters.
Nonetheless the cold response of the Christian clergies to Modi’s invite on the occasion of Christmas has unnerved the RSS leadership. This according to them would have bad impact on the Christians across the country, especially on the Christian population in north eastern states.
In a letter to Modi the Christians said that since May 2023, Christians of Manipur have been subject to constant attacks that continue with apparent approval from the BJP governments in the state and at the Centre. Over 3,000 Christians from across the country have come together to say “not in our name”, registering protest against community leaders’ “culpable silence” on minority rights and other “grim realities” while participating in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Christmas celebrations last week.
“While it is certainly within his right as Prime Minister to host a reception for whomsoever he wishes, one naturally would question the intention of this reception when he has not condemned a single attack on the Christians under his Prime Ministership,” the signatories have said in the letter. The Christians feel that clergies attending the celebration should have asked him about the reasons for his apathy towards them.
A Bishop said; “We forget to bravely point fingers at atrocities. When allegations and counter-allegations were heard in Kerala over the (Prime Minister’s) feast in Delhi, what needs to be understood is that we must be able to say what needs to be said before those who matter. The community is now asking why they (the bishops invited to Modi’s event) couldn’t speak up. When our tongues are tied even when an entire community is getting wiped out in Manipur, we are conveniently compromising and staying clear of the issue itself.”
“When these Christian representatives spoke at the reception, they were giving a tacit approval to the omission and commission of this government,” the letter says. “Through their culpable silence, they failed to uphold the values enshrined in the Constitution of India.” The letter emphasises that since 2014, in particular, Christians in India have been victims of continued attacks and vilification from members of the ruling establishment across the country. “Christians and Christian schools and institutions have been hounded and harassed, their places of worship destroyed, they have been denied their ordinary rights as citizens and been subject to denigration and demonisation,” it says. (IPA Service)
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