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NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has engaged in some quiet but very firm diplomacy with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to rein in aggressive Sangh Parivar members who had launched controversial campaigns like Ghar Wapsi (mass conversion of minority community members to Hinduism).
Several RSS and BJP leaders have told ET that the prime minister has communicated two key messages to the RSS chief. These leaders spoke on the condition they not be identified.
Narendra Modi's first key message is that he will engage with the Sangh only through its top leader, Bhagwat, and not with various other notables. This is a significant break from the practice during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's prime ministership. Vajpayee would meet many second-rung Sangh leaders, for example Madan Dass Devi, and give them a hearing. Often, middle-level Sangh leaders would act as mediators.
In contrast, Modi telling Bhagwat that he will deal only with the RSS' top boss is an indication, a senior BJP leader said, of the PM's firm intention to run his government his own way.
The second message the PM communicated to the RSS chief is that it is the Sangh's responsibility to make sure that the first BJP majority government in New Delhi can work in an atmosphere conducive to delivering its development and growth promises.
A senior RSS leader said while the removal of RSS Pracharak Rajeshwar Singh from his job as the conversion programme coordinator in UP has already been seen as a demonstration of Sangh rethink, equally significant is UP governor Ram Naik's remarks that development must get priority and the Ram Temple is a matter for courts to decide.
A third major indication of this might come later this year, senior BJP and RSS leaders said. Praveen Togadia, VHP's international working president, a known Modi-baiter and a firebrand close to Rajeshwar Singh, may come in for close critical attention at RSS' All India Pratinidhi Sabha, slated for March.
Togadia's ability to create negative publicity for the government will be among a list of topics the meeting will discuss under the broad theme of Sangh help for the Modi regime.
Another BJP leader familiar with these developments said, "Not only has it been made very clear that the PM won't deal with retail elements of the Parivar like VHP but also that Sangh's leadership must ensure something like the winter session Rajya Sabha gridlock doesn't happen again." The Upper House chaos, created by the Opposition after the Ghar Wapsi controversy, led to several crucial bills not getting the parliamentary nod. The government then had to issue a series of ordinances on areas like coal mine auction, insurance FDI and reform of land acquisition norms.
"How will their government succeed if they don't control the fringe," a BJP leader said, referring to RSS and the Ghar Wapsi controversy.
An RSS leader said the same thing with a different take, "Our top leaders know that delivery on development is crucial for creating a better environment for a larger Hindutva agenda." BJP and RSS leaders both insist, however, that the PM's firm message is not an indication of a fundamental ideological rift. As a senior BJP minister said, "No one is abandoning larger Hindutva goals...we are also in favour of an anti-conversion law".
This minister said the recent controversies were an example of low-intensity conflicts between pragmatists and ideologues. "Pragmatism has to win now...and the PM's authority has been firmly established."
How PM Narendra Modi's quiet, firm diplomacy with Mohan Bhagwat is helping him rein in RSS - Economic Times
Several RSS and BJP leaders have told ET that the prime minister has communicated two key messages to the RSS chief. These leaders spoke on the condition they not be identified.
Narendra Modi's first key message is that he will engage with the Sangh only through its top leader, Bhagwat, and not with various other notables. This is a significant break from the practice during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's prime ministership. Vajpayee would meet many second-rung Sangh leaders, for example Madan Dass Devi, and give them a hearing. Often, middle-level Sangh leaders would act as mediators.
In contrast, Modi telling Bhagwat that he will deal only with the RSS' top boss is an indication, a senior BJP leader said, of the PM's firm intention to run his government his own way.
The second message the PM communicated to the RSS chief is that it is the Sangh's responsibility to make sure that the first BJP majority government in New Delhi can work in an atmosphere conducive to delivering its development and growth promises.
A senior RSS leader said while the removal of RSS Pracharak Rajeshwar Singh from his job as the conversion programme coordinator in UP has already been seen as a demonstration of Sangh rethink, equally significant is UP governor Ram Naik's remarks that development must get priority and the Ram Temple is a matter for courts to decide.
A third major indication of this might come later this year, senior BJP and RSS leaders said. Praveen Togadia, VHP's international working president, a known Modi-baiter and a firebrand close to Rajeshwar Singh, may come in for close critical attention at RSS' All India Pratinidhi Sabha, slated for March.
Togadia's ability to create negative publicity for the government will be among a list of topics the meeting will discuss under the broad theme of Sangh help for the Modi regime.
Another BJP leader familiar with these developments said, "Not only has it been made very clear that the PM won't deal with retail elements of the Parivar like VHP but also that Sangh's leadership must ensure something like the winter session Rajya Sabha gridlock doesn't happen again." The Upper House chaos, created by the Opposition after the Ghar Wapsi controversy, led to several crucial bills not getting the parliamentary nod. The government then had to issue a series of ordinances on areas like coal mine auction, insurance FDI and reform of land acquisition norms.
"How will their government succeed if they don't control the fringe," a BJP leader said, referring to RSS and the Ghar Wapsi controversy.
An RSS leader said the same thing with a different take, "Our top leaders know that delivery on development is crucial for creating a better environment for a larger Hindutva agenda." BJP and RSS leaders both insist, however, that the PM's firm message is not an indication of a fundamental ideological rift. As a senior BJP minister said, "No one is abandoning larger Hindutva goals...we are also in favour of an anti-conversion law".
This minister said the recent controversies were an example of low-intensity conflicts between pragmatists and ideologues. "Pragmatism has to win now...and the PM's authority has been firmly established."
How PM Narendra Modi's quiet, firm diplomacy with Mohan Bhagwat is helping him rein in RSS - Economic Times
