The battle between Bhagwat and Narendra Modi has wider implications and will redefine the character of rightist politics | Arun Srivastava

by Arun Srivastava

The battle for the Hindutva crown between RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Narendra Modi has gone beyond the realm of a scuffle for supremacy and has acquired the dynamics of assertion of caste authority. In this multi-dimensional battle, while Modi has been targeting Rahul Gandhi to consolidate his grip on the saffron ecosystem, the backward castes and Dalits are drifting away from RSS who only six months back were its trump card. Nonetheless, this battle will redefine the character of the rightist politics and redraw the political ideology of the rightist forces.

The facade of political decency has been thrown into the winds and the crude form of realpolitik has replaced it. n insight into the battle would make it explicit that it is precisely between RSS and Gujarat Lobey of the BJP led by Modi and Amit Shah. It is an open secret that Modi, ever since he was the chief minister of Gujarat, has been persistently striving to project himself as the Hindu Hridaya Samrat. He exploited the Gujarat pogrom to achieve his mission. After becoming prime minister he continued to play this game.

He accentuated his efforts after the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Though Modi’s BJP had won the election, it is a bare fact that he had come to realise that he was losing ground and to continue to rule he has to adopt a more aggressive posture and escalate the politics of hatred towards the Muslims. The last five years of Modi’s rule are testimony to the increase in violence against Muslims and attempt to marginalise Indian social and economic life. In fact he got personally involved in this nasty game.

Rejection of Modi’s Guarantees by the people in the Lok Sabha election and BJP meeting its waterlook, made both RSS and Modi, sharpen the battle and get hold of the crown at the earliest. Notwithstanding feeling aggrieved for quite long, RSS fired the first salvo a fortnight back at a joint meeting of 60 senior RSS and BJP leaders, also attended by Modi, in Delhi. Amidst a heated exchange a senior RSS leader in a very curt manner to mend his ways. Enough is enough. He on Modi’s face accused him of weakening the BJP. He told Modi that RSS has given him a strong BJP with a clean image. “But you smeared its face, gave it a bad name, by bringing in tainted politicians from other parties.â€

He sought to know what was the compulsion of doing this. He also pointed out that you on many occasions in the past had accused these people of being involved in corruption and other wrongdoings. He reminded Modi “You have not inherited. Thousands of committed saffron workers have built this party. The dedicated cadres and cadres went around and begged to strengthen the party. But now they are pushed back. They are feeling alienated. This will not continue.†He also said that turncoats are getting preference. The old and original cadres are angry and feeling aggrieved.

It was after this homily the RSS issued its final Fatwa that in the future Modi being the prime minister would be free to make decisions about the Power, and functioning of the government, but he must keep away from Party and Policy. He keeps away from the policy formation mechanism and should not interfere in the activities of the BJP. These two are the exclusive domain of RSS. Modi has no right to decide about Party and Policy. Hints were also dropped that he should be ready to move to Margdarshak Mandal.

The meeting was also important for the reason that the RSS leaders made it clear in no uncertain words that Amit Shah could not be the replacement for Modi. His name must not be pushed by Modi. The most critical rebuff for the Gujarat lobby was the RSS openly throwing its weight behind UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath. The Gujarat lobby was for some time contemplating replacing him through Keshav Maurya.

Since Maurya belonged to the Gujarat camp, RSS distanced from him, But the fact is Maurya is the most feasible face of the backwards and EBC in UP. It was his efforts that had helped the BJP to win the 2017 UP assembly election. But RSS’s craving to promote Hinduta made it possible for Yogi to deny Maurya the opportunity. Now in the prevailing political situation, Modi has been presenting Maurya as the backward face. RSS had denied him the office of CM in 2017 and once again in 2024 when it did not allow him to replace Yogi. Maurya is quite angry with RSS and sources maintain, a message has already gone down amongst the backwards and Dalits that RSS was an organisation of upper castes.

Before RSS swung into action, Modi has kicked off. A couple of days after the said meeting Anurag Thakur, a member of Modi cabinet, made an obnoxious jibe against Rahul Gandhi. Known for using disparaging words and stoking political row, Thakur participating in the budget debate said "Those whose caste is not known, talk about the caste census.†He even labelled Gandhi as an “accidental Hindu†.

Demonstrating exemplary generosity Rahul did not seek Thakur’s apology on the floor of parliament, but the Congress party put Narendra Modi in a disconcerting situation; for the first time in his ten-year autocratic rule. Congress moved a Privilege Motion against him for posting on social media “a portion of remarks which were expunged from the proceedings of the House by the Chair†. Shockingly Modi tweeted the expunged portions of Thakur’s speech.

This was not enough, Modi shared Thakur’s remark against Rahul. He wrote, “This speech by my young and energetic colleague, Shri @ianuragthakur is a must hear. A perfect mix of facts and humour, exposing the dirty politics of the INDIA Alliance.†It was certainly not an impulsive reaction. It was a deliberate act of Modi. It is beyond comprehension how a person who has been in power for nearly 20 years, first as the chief minister of Gujarat and then as the prime minister, does not know about the Constitutional implication of expunging.

He wanted to convey to the people, to the INDIA bloc and especially to RSS leaders that he is the Monarch. He is the same Modi that he was before the Lok Sabha election. Sources maintain that Thakur’s jibe against Rahul was part of the well-defined strategy, that was designed by the BJP think tank. They had perceived that Rahul would fiercely retaliate and this would allow them space to refurbish Modi’s image. But to their utter consternation, he played cool. His reply to Thakur was like pouring icy water on fire. Rahul claimed Thakur abused and insulted him he however reiterated his promise of carrying out a nationwide case census. The pinnacle of his retort was; “Abuse or insult me as hard as you can but don’t forget we will pass the caste census in this Parliament for sure†.

Little doubt Rahul has caused immense embarrassment to Modi during the current session of parliament. He has exposed poitical bankruptcy of Modi. So far in public perception Modi was the only leader. But this session of parliament sent a strong message that a new “young leader†has emerged on the national svcene with a new narrative. In recent times the popularity graph of Modi has substantially declined.

Faced with an aggressive Rahul, Modi was left with no other alternative but to evolve a mechanism to fetter Rahul. Thakur’s jibes against Rahul failed to help Modi. Modi’s chum nursed the view that while this attack would alienate the backwards and Dalits from Rahul, he would go on defensive. But both failed. Modi -Shah duo then came out with the plan to project Maurya as the leadr of backward caste and Dalit. A meeting of these leaders was organised. But it also did not work. The Dalit and backward castes of UP are still with Rahul.

The fact is Thakur’s sneer simply strengthened the fraternal bond amongst the INDIA bloc leaders. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav challenging Thakur to question others about their caste asked: “ How dare you ask his caste†? In a sarcastic mode, he said: “I think Anurag Thakur has been told to get abused 99 times in the House to secure a minister’s post†. Other INDIA bloc leaders also condemned Thakur and even sought his apology. It has evoked a strong protest from the OCs, EBCs, Dalits and tribals. Even a significant number of intellectuals and academics have severely criticised this nature of insinuation. Against this backdrop, the only alternative before Modi and his men was to indulge in the character assassination of Rahul.

It has become imperative for BJP and RSS and more for Modi and Amit Shah as they are scared of the final outcome of the assembly elections in the three states, Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. A win for the INDIA bloc would help RSS leadership to intensify its campaign against them. If BJP manages to win the elections to these states, Modi would emerge as the most powerful leader of the saffron ecosystem. In that scenario, the RSS will find it improbable to remove from power and restrain him. No doubt electoral performance of the BJP in these states would decide the future of Modi and Shah, precisely the Gujarat lobby.

It is travestying that BJP which barely ten years back was perceived as the party with high level of discipline and represented the basic values and qualities that it is intended to represent, is lying shattered. After its formation in 1980, the founder leaders were not tired of claiming that it was a party with diference. Ironically in its prime adulthood, the party is facing intense organisational crisis which is threatening its existence.

The cataclysm is not simply visible on the upper crust of the party. Instead, it has turned the party hollow. It is not that this malaise inflicts the party only in some states. This has entrenched the body of the across the country. And the persons who have been responsible for putting the party in such a despicable condition are Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. These two supreme bosses of BJP with the malicious intention to keep the party under their grip scorned the basic principles of collective leadership and democratic functioning.

In almost all the states, not only in Uttar Pradesh or Bihar, the party is in vertically split and in shambles. The worst is the case that in some states the leaders are not on talking terms. Senior leaders confide that this situation is the gift of the turncoats, those who have come to the party from other parties, especially the Congress. They enjoy the trust of Modi and Shah. In most of the cases, these people were encouraged to cross over to BJP by Amit Shah. This is the primary reason that these turncoats instead of abiding by the party principles and ethics have been taking instructions directly from Modi and Shah.

The party is divided on two lines; one, the original cadres who over the years sweated and sacrificed to build the party and take it to the people, and second, the group of turncoats. What is indeed shocking is while the original cadres and leaders have no say in the party, the turncoats are the decision-makers and guide its functioning. With Modi challenging the authority of the RSS and its chief Mohan Bhagwat, the turncoats leaders who are in power have been ignoring the senior BJP and RSS leaders in their states.

Shah for the last six months has been planning to dethrone Yogi and install Maurya as the chief minister. So far he could not succeed in his mission as RSS was supporting Yogi and plans to project him as the new Hindutva face. The first step of Yogi in this direction was to ravage the house of Samajwadi Party leader Moid Khan from Ayodhya, who runs a bakery in Bhadarsa Nagar of Ayodhya district, and his employee Raju Khan, for allegedly gang-raping and impregnating a 12-year-old girl, who was an employee at Khan’s bakery.

On this sensitive issue, even the SP leaders are playing safe and have not come in support of Modi. But the act of demolishing his house using a bulldozer and projecting it as rare of the rarest cases sends a clear message that Yogi is using this incident to bolster his image of a diehard Hindutva protagonist. The victim’s mother told the media that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and state police officials have promised a thorough probe. But even before carrying out a probe, Yogi ravaged his house. The entire family has to suffer for the guilt of Modi.