Why berate the opposition if it refuses to play to the gallery?
The Congress and leaders of many other opposition parties are “boycotting” the three-day Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) event in New Delhi.
Several TV channels as well as Right-wing voices have been critical of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and others for having “missed the bus” by refusing to attend the event, ‘Bharat of Future: An RSS Perspective’.
But was Rahul even invited by the RSS? And, more importantly, why should the RSS expect Rahul, or CPM leader Sitaram Yechury and others to attend what is clearly a political event?
The RSS event is as political as Rahul’s Monday roadshow in Bhopal or Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah’s rallies and speeches.
The timing of the event is significant too – BJP governments in Hindi heartland states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are going to polls in less than three months, and the next Lok Sabha elections are around the corner.
Also read: RSS’ vision of Hindutva is not meant to oppose anyone, says chief Mohan Bhagwat
If the opposition views the event as an opportunity for the RSS to set a fresh agenda for itself and possibly the BJP ahead of the crucial elections, can it be faulted for that?
The RSS of today, notwithstanding its claims of being a social organisation, is a political force with a clear agenda to help the BJP retain power for as long as possible so that its own agenda of “Akhand Bharat” can be somehow fulfilled.
Why berate the opposition if it refuses to play to the gallery?
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, who should be credited for turning the organisation into a smarter, fighting-fit unit that will stop at nothing to achieve its stated (and unstated) goals, said Monday that the organisation’s vision of Hindutva was not meant to oppose anyone and that its role was limited to society building.
Unfortunately for the RSS, the opposition isn’t buying any of that. When Bhagwat praised the Congress for having “played a big role in the freedom movement” and giving “India many great personalities”, he was not countering the narrative of Modi-Shah.
If he wanted to do that, he would have taken the names of some of those “great personalities” who are otherwise often criticised by the BJP leaders. Or, he would have asked some of those BJP loudmouths to shut up in the first place.
Also read: Should opposition skip RSS meet or try to understand Mohan Bhagwat’s vision for India?
What he was doing was smart politics: Heads I win, tails you lose. In praising the Congress, the RSS chief was taking the high moral ground. He was possibly suggesting that look we invited the Congress but they chose to boycott it, but we are still large-hearted and can praise them. One can trust the RSS and the BJP to play the victim card to the hilt, and with more vengeance.
But if a senior Congress leader attended the event – there are still two days before it ends – that would have blunted the repeated attacks by the Congress and other opposition leaders on the RSS-like ideology for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.
The opposition knows that 2019 fight is as much against the BJP as it is against the well-oiled machinery of the RSS swayamsevaks. While the number of BJP karyakartas remains fuzzy in the run-up to the elections, as this report by my colleague D.K. Singh shows, one can trust the RSS swayamsevaks to fill in the gap and work towards defeating the opposition.
The opposition is well aware of the challenge and has taken the right decision in not attending the RSS event.
Also read: Rahul Gandhi is right: India’s RSS is a lot like the Muslim Brotherhood