Cong loan waiver promise effective: RSS

WHILE THE RSS HAD THROWN ITS WEIGHT BEHIND BJP IN ALL THREE STATES, IT HAS BEEN MOST SURPRISED BY THE PARTY’S PERFORMANCE IN CHHATTISGARH

NEWDELHI: The Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh (RSS), which seems to have been blindsided by the performance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh after three terms in power, and its defeat in Rajasthan, is attributing the Congress’s impressive showing to the promises made by the grand old party to waive farm loans in the face of an agrarian crisis, and to the “dilution of the core Hindutva agenda” by the BJP.

Senior functionaries of the Sangh have decided to take stock of their own cadre and that of the party to analyse the results.

While the RSS had thrown its weight behind the party in all three states, it has been most surprised by the party’s performance in Chhattisgarh, Sangh functionaries said on condition of anonymity. As of 10.50 pm on Tuesday, according to the Election Commission, the Congress had won or was ahead in 68 of the 90 seats in Chhattisgarh, 99 of the 199 seats in Rajasthan and 114 of the 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

Senior functionaries of the Sangh said the BJP’s loss to the Congress in Chhattisgarh, which has as many as 10 districts where left-wing extremists are active, did not bode well for the state. “The Congress has more or less borrowed the ideology of the Left. They are getting influenced by the ideology that fosters Naxalism and this is a worrying trend,” a functionary said.

The RSS, through its affiliate, the Vanvasi Kalayan Ashram, has been working extensively with tribespeople in Chhattisgarh, and helping the BJP consolidate its base in the state. While Sangh functionaries were anticipating a dip in the number of seats owing to the anti-incumbency against the Raman Singh government that ruled the state for 15 years, a near-rout is not what their internal assessment had suggested. In Madhya Pradesh, too, RSS functionaries were expecting the party to do much better. During discussions with the party prior to candidate selection, the Sangh had suggested changing at least 40% of the incumbent MLAs with fresh faces as the feedback from its footsoldiers had indicated voter dissatisfaction predominantly in the rural areas, said another functionary. “So far it seems that the farm loan waiver has been a tipping point in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, where the farmers’ unrest was evident but there will be other reasons that will come to fore (too),” said the functionary quoted above.

Prabhakar Kelkar, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, an offshoot of the Sangh that works with the farmers, however, was cautious not to pin the loss on the promised loan waiver alone. He said successive governments had offered sops to farmers, but these have limited reach. “A large number of farmers are either those with small holdings or landless workers; they don’t benefit from schemes such as loan waivers or soil health card. Small farmers are generally left out of the ambit of the schemes,” he said. The party’s loss will have to “be examined” he added.

In Rajasthan, where the RSS put aside its differences with chief minister Vasundhara Raje to lend its cadre for the party’s campaign, the prognosis from the Sangh’s internal assessment was not good.

“The state has traditionally not voted (for) the same government twice and there were some issues with the Raje government. Still, despite losing seats, the vote share has not been severely affected,” said a functionary from the state.

On whether the RSS believes that the BJP erred by not bringing a bill in Parliament to construct the Ram Temple at Ayodhya, one of the functionaries quoted above said, “The BJP’s development agenda alone cannot win elections, they have a constituency that wants a Ram temple and this result is a message that the core issues cannot be discarded.”

Political analyst Hari Desai said the BJP cannot distance itself from the Hindutva issue as it comes in handy to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. “They use the Ram Temple issue to mobilise people. On the issue of Hindutva the RSS and the BJP are not divided, it’s just that the RSS deputes its affiliates to make certain statements, and the focus is now on the Ram Temple for the benefit of the BJP,” he said.