Quickening pace of saffronisation?
As the BJP's ideologue, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has begun to spread its wings by assuming the political leadership in the states. It started with Haryana and now has its chief ministers firmly ensconced in Uttarakhand and crucial Uttar Pradesh.
A landslide victory in the most populous state in the country makes the BJP the frontrunner in the next general elections two years later in 2019. This has been possible in great measure to the RSS workers chipping away tirelessly on the ground facilitating the Lotus party in winning elections and particularly in UP after a gap of 14 years.
It all began with the installation of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister in aMay 2014. The RSS has since fine-tuned and consolidated its strategy after a setback in the assembly elections in Bihar in 2015. This has paid the BJP rich dividends in the recent assembly elections in UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur. In Punjab the Congress won comfortably.
The trend of RSS men taking over the political leadership in the states is in pursuit of a Hindu Rashtra. The hardliner from Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath, being made the chief minister in Lucknow and sought to be softened by two moderates as his deputy chief ministers is not the least surprising.
The Yogi has made the right noises so far. Development has been his theme in keeping with the Prime Minister's slogan of ‘sab ka saath, sab
ka vikas’. At the same time, ordering shutting down of unlicensed abattoirs has led to a meat crisis all over UP with meat sellers going on strike since Monday last. There is tension in certain parts with at least one death being reported.
While the Prime Minister says India is now a nation that meets the dreams of its youth, Adityanath has invariably undermined the choices, freedoms and rights that the young are entitled to in a civilised society.
It appears the RSS wants to quicken the pace of saffronisation now that the BJP has a majority of its own in the Lok Sabha. During the Prime Ministership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, from 1999 to 2004, the RSS was helpless as the BJP-led NDA government was a 26-party disparate coalition.
An agreement was reached in the NDA that the Vajpayee government will steer clear of implementing the three-point agenda of the RSS. This pertained to building the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution according special status to Jammu and Kashmir and implementing a Uniform Civil Code.
Therefore, the keenness of the RSS to bash on regardless in the prevailing circumstances with Modi as the Prime Minister is only to be expected. Its leadership does not want to lose this opportunity of a landslide win in UP.
What is becoming apparent is that it will not be easy to brush aside the RSS as evidenced in Gujarat when Modi was the chief minister. Under these circumstances Modi might be compelled to contest the 2019 general elections for a second term as Head of Government on the Hindu card. He has been known to be a fighter and has not thrown in the towel in the past. The Prime Minister has consistently said that he will abide by the provisions of the Constitution. What cannot be lost sight of is that this country has the second largest Muslim population after Indonesia. It is not easy to get rid of them.
The RSS is clearly working to a plan and has already ensured installation of its key men in historical and research organisations to rewrite history in keeping with its perspective. The development agenda being pursued by Modi has to be dovetailed with Hindutva along with programmes for uplifting the poor. Efforts will be made to improve the lot of the minority community without appeasement. In all this the RSS as the BJP's mentor cannot be undermined. A close watch needs to be kept on the functioning of the Modi government till the 2019 general elections.
Development is bound to be the dominant theme coupled with Hindutva and pro-poor programmes with variations in the schemes connected with the "garibi hatao" slogan of the late Indira Gandhi during her Prime Ministership.
Once again Modi has sent the opposition to the dog house in UP as evidenced in the 2014 general elections. Be that as it may, the Congress or regional parties like the SP and BSP will have to rework their strategy.
Having spent more than a week in office, Adityanath has shown he means business. The state government will have to make alternate arrangements to overcome the shortfall in meat. Jharkhand, another BJP ruled state, has also decided to shut down illegal abattoirs. It has become necessary for the Lotus party to assure the people that their focus is on development rather than whipping up anti-Muslim hysteria.
The SP is in a shambles because of the conflict in the Yadav family. With Patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son and erstwhile chief minister of UP Akhilesh Yadav calling separate meetings, a split appears inevitable.
There is mounting clamour in the Congress to restructure and overhaul the party. The leadership of Congress Vice President and heir apparent Rahul Gandhi has failed to enthuse the party. On the contrary it is going from bad to worse as evidenced in UP.