DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI welcomes the internal criticism going on within the ranks of sangh parivar after the electoral debacle of BJP, and asks it to throw away its burden of intolerance, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.
The Saffron neither learns nor un-learns anything from history. In a row, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political arm of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the chief representative of the Saffron lost the last two general elections. Held only a few months before the Parliamentary polls, the party could not capitalise on the State Assembly elections too. As the terrorist attack on Mumbai coincided with voting in the Assemblies, the party, ever-emphasising the security concerns and charging its contemporaries with being “not sufficiently nationalist” and “not sufficiently patriotic” was expected to reap a rich electoral harvest. But the people did not give much political comfort to the “party with a difference”.
WHY AND WHAT
The question is why? When the ambitious, masquerading as the honest dissenters, frustrated with what they call the “conspiracy of silence” tried to protest against it, they, like the Russians, were virtually gagged by the party president, downplaying the popular resentment by announcing a committee of three, manned by the RSS members, which would probe the debacle.
What added fuel to the fire was promotion of those under whose stewardship, the “party of future” lost its sheen in the election. The reference was directed towards Mr. L.K. Advani, the party leader in the Lok Sabha. Another whistle-blower, Mr. Jaswant Singh lashed at the “rewards” to those who have shown “no results”. The barb was aimed at Mr. Arun Jaitley, who headed the poll campaign.
MANIPULATIVE
As the matters stand, the Saffron fraternity is as manipulative and self-seeking as any other political party.
Mr. Sudhendra Kulkarni, a party strategist was, perhaps the first to come out in public on the inside intrigues: “Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul made an essentially weak Prime-Minister like Dr. Manmohan Singh look strong by backing him solidly. In contrast, the BJP and Sangh Parivar made strong leader like Advani look weak, helpless and not fully in control.”
TUG OF WAR
The struggle for leadership has now begun in the Saffron. Gone with the wind is dedication, sincerity and devotion to the much-touted motherland. And behind the beginning is age rather aging factor. In the existing scenario, Mr. L.K. Advani, who is now 80 plus, is going to relinquish his post as the leader of the Opposition soon. To fill the vacuum, there are Mr. Yashwant Sinha, 75, and Mr. Jaswant Singh, 74, or Mr. Arun Shouri, 67. They are being relentlessly trailed by the youngsters in their 50s like Mr. Rajnath Singh, Mr. Narendra Modi, Ms Sushma Swaraj, Mr. Arun Jaitely, Mr. Anantha Kumar and Mr. Venkaiah Naidu.
According to the usually reliable sources, the RSS has already made up its mind to promote the under or around 50s.
There is, however another dimension, which is rather important. Although the critics have used the electoral defeat to give vent to their pent-up feelings, causes responsible for the defeat have also been referred to. For example, it has been stated clearly by Mr. Kulkarni that the 2002 Gujarat riots were one of the reasons that kept the NDA allies away. The allies thought the company of the BJP would cost them Muslim vote. Mr. Kulkarni bemoans: Between 2004 and 2009 the BJP did nothing to address this factor. The eminent columnist asks in un-ambiguous terms: Why is the acceptability of the RSS and Vishwa Hindu Parishad limited in the Hindu society itself?
SARCASTIC SUGGESTIONS
Look at this question in the light of the sarcastic suggestion advanced by the RSS ideologue, Mr. M. G. Vaidya, who, in his weekly column in the Tarun Bharat said: Quit the Hindutva agenda so that the Trinamool Congress, Biju Janta Dal and Telugu Desam will, once again, happily go with the BJP. Mr. Vaidya wrote: The BJP has not been able to impress on people’s mind the comprehensive purport of Hindutva despite its rule at the Centre and in many States, perhaps because they found it narrow-minded or did not find useful in ascending the throne of power.
UNDERSTANDABLE
That the RSS would never abandon the Hindutva is understandable because its case is pathological. The RSS ideologue, however would have rendered a singular national service of wider magnitude had he cared to inform the nation in clear-cut terms what is, and what is not, Hindutva and its purport?
Even the late lamented Mr. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who enunciated the doctrine, does not enlighten us sufficiently. What in the light of its avid practitioners in the RSS, BJP and VHP, one can deduce is: Intolerance, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, thy name is Hindutva. The Hindutva has two yardsticks, one for our Hindu brethren and the other for Muslims and Christians. The doctrine has nothing to do with open-mindedness, large-heartedness, magnanimity, catholicity, tolerance of dissent and accommodation. The Hindutva equates patriotism with Hindu nationalism. So happens to be the case with nationalism.
The doctrine says only Hindus can be dependable patriots and nationalists. The rest are self-seekers and un-true to the salt of the soil. Only Hindu (read Hindutva) interest is the national interest, so creates the impression the doctrine in the light of thought and action of the parivar.
Not only that, only that person can be a sincere, honest and dedicated Hindu, in the eyes of Hindutva, whose mother and father were born in Bharat. That is why Mr. M.S. Golwalkar asserts that both Muslims and Christians are the guests who have overstayed the hospitality of the country. The Hindutva philosophy stipulates priority for Hindus and the non-Hindus occupy secondary position, so much so that to the Saffron those who cross the international border without valid documents are “refugees” while those Muslims who do so are “infiltrators”. We would love to be publicly corrected if our interpretation of the term “Hindutva” is found slipshod.
The leaders of RSS, BJP and VHP, who could not see beyond their noses, rendered no service to the much-touted motherland or their community by keeping their doctrine under the wraps of ideological confusion. Let their legatees now remove the cobwebs.