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NEW DELHI: While Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels the world and ‘celebrates’ the first anniversary of his victory in the Lok Sabha polls by giving himself accolades at a meeting with Indians in Shanghai, a serious exercise is on at Nagpur with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh summoning senior Union Ministers for an undeclared bout of introspection.
There has been visible worry in the BJP and RSS ranks over the feedback from the ground on the farmers issue, exacerbated by PM Modi’s insistence not to back off from the Land Acquisition Bill. The mobilisation of farmers against the government, has made the kisan unions allied to the BJP--- Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh and Swadeshi Jagran Manch --- join in the protests to simply keep themselves afloat. In the war of perception the BJP is losing fast, with the strong farmer base that had attached itself to the party in the last parliamentary elections moving away rapidly.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has had long one on one meetings with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, followed by BJP president Amit Shah seen as close to the Prime Minister, and more recently Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. The last clearly shows that the meeting is not just about party affairs and campaigns, but about governance as well. Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari is currently camping in Nagpur, his residence being close to the RSS headquarters in the city.
The dip in popularity, that many political experts insist has been rapid and far earlier than expected, has worried the RSS that has not been exactly on the same page as PM Modi on all issues. There has been concern voiced through unnamed sources in the media, about the Prime Minister’s authoritarian style of functioning, where Ministers are relegated to unseen and unheard levels, and governance appears to be managed entirely by the PMO. All files are sent for clearance by nervous officials and Ministers to the Prime Ministers office for clearance, with delays inbuilt into the growing backlog. The strong criticism by senior journalist, close to the BJP, Arun Shourie against the Prime Ministers style of functioning has been taken note of in all political circles, with the RSS according to sources “certainly not being an exception.”
PM Modi on the other hand, does not seem to be worried and while acknowledging the criticism for perhaps the first time at Shanghai more recently, he is dismissive. “People are asking why is Modi travelling to so many countries...If you work less, criticism is normal. If you keep sleeping, criticism is normal. But it is my bad luck that I am being criticised for working more,” he said. He has visited 18 countries in the span of one year, with veiled criticism from within his own party particularly as the foreign visits of his Ministers are tightly controlled by the PMO. “If working more is a crime, I will keep doing it. My commitment is to the people,”the defiant PM said.
He reminded the cheering audience that after winning the elections he had made three commitments :“I will work tirelessly”, “I am inexperienced and will learn” “I will not do any wrong with bad intent”. He claimed to have fulfilled all three. And reminded the audience both at Shanghai and at home, “For the last one year, I have not taken even one day’s leave. I have worked day and night. Did I go on any vacation? Do I take rest? Am I not implementing my promise?”
PM Modi said that he had come in a dark period, and had spent the first year trying to do the work that had not been done for the last 30 years. This period incidentally includes the NDA government under former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Because of this, the world “trusts me more”, he said.
“What I sowed in one year, it needs to be nurtured. Had I done this in fifth year, nobody would take seriously. But world takes us seriously because I did this it in first year itself,” the Prime Minister said.
Reports here suggest that the RSS and sections of the BJP are not buying this and the closed door discussions have been focused on improving the image of the government, preparing for the next elections, and taking the agenda of both the government and the BJP/RSS forward. Lately there has been a contradiction in the last, more so because of the pressure being exerted on PM Modi by countries like the U.S to respect and uphold ‘democratic rights.’ The ghar wapsi program has been specially singled out by President Barack Obama and the US State Department, as has been the targeting of international non government organisations like Greenpeace and Ford Foundation. The US Ambassador to India followed the State Department in criticising the Indian government’s approach to the same.
The current meetings called by Bhagwat with the Union Ministers and Shah, sources claimed, is to clearly work out a common understanding, and see whether the gaps can be bridged from within. Bihar elections remain a concern, although the current infighting between the constituents of the so called Janata parivar have taken some of the edge off but preparations with both the BJP and RSS acting in tandem have been discussed at Nagpur.
Piecing together the not-so-stray comments by RSS functionaries over the past weeks, it becomes clear that while the organisation is not particularly supportive of PM Modi’s style of functioning it wants to use the opportunity to drive its agenda home. On Education, History and Culture that are its areas of priority, the RSS has more space but not so in the political arena where its campaigns are attracting world attention, and hence the restrictions to some extent. As a CPI(M) Politburo statement put it, “The BJP government has sought to systematically implement the RSS agenda. It has infiltrated known RSS men into higher educational institutions; commuanlise curriculum etc. The latest incident is the so-called overhauling of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) where internationally reputed Indian historians have been forced to quit. The government has refused to take action against its ministers and MPS who have through hate speeches sought to incite people and communally polarize them. Growing incidents of communal clashes and riots are being reported from various parts of the country.”
