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NEW DELHI: A ginger group of sorts has come together within the Modi government, comprising senior Ministers who derive their clout not from their proximity to the Prime Minister but to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The group is said to consist of senior Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Ananth Kumar and Venkaiah Naidu who will not cross swords with PM Narendra Modi, but are in place to ensure that he does not develop into a ‘larger than life’ reality for the RSS.
Informed sources told The Citizen that the Prime Minister was not having his run on all issues, and certain decisions were taken for him at one level. The case of Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj is a case in point where PM Modi and the government had to stand behind her because of the pressure from the RSS. It might be recalled that Swaraj was amongst those seen to have opposed the candidature of PM Modi till the very end, despite that she got an influential portfolio although she was cut to size by the Prime Ministers Office insofar as decisions were concerned. The media had started lampooning her as a Minister without a portfolio with foreign policy being driven directly by PM Modi and his office.
While that still remains the case, Swaraj has survived the Lalit Modi controversy largely because of support from the ginger group and the RSS. Ministers Rajnath Singh and RSS functionary Indresh Kumar were amongst the first to support her on the issue. Just as Minister Nitin Gadkari and again Indresh Kumar came out in support of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on again the Lalit Modi affair, with both having survived the Opposition pressure through Parliament. PM Modi has broken his silence after weeks to support the two BJP leaders during a speech in Bihar.
The RSS has virtually taken over the BJP campaign in Bihar, working closely with BJP president Amit Shah. The local BJP is divided at levels, according to reports from the state, with Sushil Modi currently in favour in Delhi. Janata Dal(U) leader Pavan Varma spoke of a communal campaign by Shah and the RSS in the state, saying that both were working to polarise Bihar for a consolidation of the majority vote.
The ginger group is not official, the sources took care to confirm, but clearly visible insofar as political decisions were concerned. The RSS, right from the time PM Modi came to power, has not been very comfortable with his authoritarian style of functioning and has never lost an opportunity to cut into it, even though both are in tandem on most issues of import. Lalitgate was an exception. As might have also been the appointment of Amit Shah as the BJP president, with reports at the time suggesting visible reluctance by the RSS to give a nod to this appointment. Shah who was earlier seen as a Modi acolyte, has opened channels of direct communication with Nagpur taking out time to attend meetings and visit the headquarters on a fairly regular basis.
Significantly, the Bihar elections will determine the course for PM Modi and his government at the centre with his clout being seriously affected if the BJP loses the state. He is again the star campaigner for the ruling party, drawing mammoth crowds and definitely upper caste consolidation. The effort is to cut into the Dalit vote substantially by propping up former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi. The Yadavs too are being wooed by Shah and the RSS, but till date in the opposition assessment Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Laloo Prasad Yadav’s hold remains fairly substantial.
