How RSS helped BJP in Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya

NEW DELHI: IF RANI GAIDINLIU WAS THE PEG TO HANG THE BJP’S NORTHEASTERN ASPIRATION ON, LACK OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE REGION BECAME THE FOCAL POINT FOR THE RSS’S WORK ON THE GROUND

In 2014, the year that saw BJP come to power at the Centre after a landslide victory, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) raised a demand for conferring the country’s highest civilian award, the Bharat Ratna to Rani Gaidinliu, the legendary Naga freedom fighter.

The ostensible reason was to seek honour for the “forgotten” icon from the northeastern region, but the underlying message, was apparent. The Sangh was laying the ground for its political protégé, the BJP which aspired to gain a foothold in the region. The BJP picked the cue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi presiding over the commemorative birth centenary celebrations of Rani Gaidinliu.

If Rani Gaidinliu was the peg to hang the BJP’s northeastern aspiration on, lack of development in the region became the focal point for the RSS’s work on the ground. It reached out to various tribes through the adroitly run network of affiliates such as the Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram and Seva projects.

The results were visible after the BJP won Assam and followed it up with another win in Manipur. Work began soon after in the Christian dominated Nagaland and Meghalaya, where BJP has gained and could well be a part of the government; and in the Left turf of Tripura, where the BJP looks set to form the government.

Though the RSS maintains it is apolitical, there was convergence between its cadre and the BJP on how to breach the bastions and reach out to people. While Modi and his cabinet ministers frequented the region to announce tailored policies for the people, in December last RSS chief Mohan Bhawat visited Tripura to take stock of the organisation, he followed it by addressing one of the biggest congregations at Guwahati in January. RSS functionaries claim over 5,000 cadre in uniform attended the congregation, which signalled the rise of the Sangh.

RSS functionaries from the region, who HT spoke to, said the Sangh’s work is pivoted around making amends to address the “neglect” of the people by previous governments at the Centre.

“The Sangh has been active in the region, providing education to the children of tribes that have been neglected. Our work is not political, but the issues that we address are also raised by the BJP, so there is convergence of thought,” said a senior functionary of the Sangh requesting anonymity. Sanjib Baruah, a professor of political studies, Bard College, New York said the Sangh sees itself as a “collective Raj guru” that doles out advice and see itself as a force against de-stabilisation in the region

“The RSS sees itself as above politics; it sees itself advising not only the BJP but the whole nation. In the North East it sees the proselytisation by the church — and converting tribal people— as de-stabilising the nation and therefore, it sees a legitimate reason for it to be there to prevent that,” he said. The Sangh puts a distance between their work and the electoral politics of the BJP, but has had to battle political opposition in the region, and fight perceptions about its plan to impose ‘Hindutva’.

As a consequence, it has had to alter its stand on various issues to assimilate; for instance while it advocates a complete ban on cow slaughter in the rest of the country, it maintains a conspicuous silence on the issue of beef consumption in these parts.

In Meghalaya where the Sangh is vocal about the alleged proselytisation by Christian missionaries, its foot soldiers had to constantly fend accusation of imposing “food choices” and trying to create a homogeneity of culture.

“The Sangh was presented as anti-minority, against the Church and some tribal groups were misinformed that the Sangh wants them to forgo their traditions; all of these accusations have been proved wrong,” said an RSS functionary from Meghalaya, where the Sangh has been wooing the Garo, Jaintia and Khasi tribes.

The build-up in the communist bastion of Tripura was also not easy. Violent clashes often took place between the Sangh workers and the Communist cadres.

Sunil Deodhar, a former RSS pracharak and now the in-charge of the BJP unit in the state said the despite the “negative campaign” against the RSS by the communists, the Sangh highlighted the inadequacies of the administration. The Sangh’s expansion in the state, he said has helped the BJP to the extent that people were willing to consider it as an option. “Earlier people were scared to stand up against the CPI-M, the Congress was missing as an opposition, people saw BJP as an alternative,” he said.