Between the lines of a speech by chief of ‘apolitical’ RSS lies an overtly political pitch

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat addresses the Vijay Dashmi function in Nagpur | PTI

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat pushes for construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya by bringing in a law, a direct pitch to BJP’s core voter ahead of elections.

New Delhi: Much like his painstaking efforts during his lecture series in the capital last month, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat Thursday re-iterated how the Sangh has stayed away from politics, and yet, made some overtly political statements.

Delivering the annual Vijaya Dashami speech, Bhagwat raised the pitch on the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya and suggested that a law should be brought in by the government to this effect.

The overt political undertone of his statement, given the RSS is the ideological parent of the ruling BJP, is more than evident, especially because the BJP faces a tough challenge as incumbent in three of the five states where assembly elections are due next month, and the Lok Sabha polls next year.

“Since its inception, the RSS has refrained from politics. But swayamsevaks across the country should fulfill their duty as citizens and stand in favour of putting their strength behind the overall national good,” Bhagwat said.

“This is an essential task in the national interest,” he added.

This effort to portray the RSS as apolitical was a near-repeat of his three-day lecture series in Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan last month, where he said RSS’ role was “limited to society building” and it aimed to “make good individuals and society, and nothing else”.

However, enabling the BJP’s election pitch, the RSS sarsanghchalak said the construction of the Ram temple was in the interest of the nation’s self esteem, and an appropriate law should be brought in to enable it. He was also quick to add that it was politics that was delaying the temple’s construction.

Construction of Ram temple

“The place of janmabhoomi is yet to be allocated for the construction of the temple although all kinds of evidence have affirmed that there was a temple at that place,” Bhagwat said.

“This matter of national interest is being obstructed by some fundamentalist elements and forces that play communal politics for selfish gains. Politics is delaying the construction of Ram temple,” he said.

Bhagwat also stressed that the government should clear the path for the construction of the “grand temple through an appropriate and requisite law”.

The court hearings in the Ram Janmabhoomi case will begin at the end of this month and the BJP hopes this could be the one trump card to consolidate Hindus and beat even a grand opposition alliance, especially in the electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh.

“The construction of the temple is necessary from the self-esteem point of view, it will also pave the way for an atmosphere of goodwill and oneness in the country,” he said.

During last month’s lecture series, Bhagwat claimed the construction of the temple would help remove “one major reason for the tension between Hindus and Muslims”.

RSS bid to redefine Hindutva?

The RSS has been attempting to put forth a more inclusive, nuanced version of itself. Bhagwat’s lecture series in mid-September was a unique, nearly unprecedented effort, and attempted to present a finely-combed interpretation of the Sangh’s worldview, in which he claimed Hindutva included Muslims.

RSS’ attempts to portray the construction of the Ram temple at the disputed site as not a Hindu versus Muslim issue, but as one that would help unite both and eliminate causes of schisms, is part of that very strategy.

The BJP’s steep rise in national politics in the 1990s is directly attributable to its Hindutva politics, highlighted best by its movement to construct the Ram temple in Ayodhya. As the party prepares to go to polls now, the promise of building the temple continues to be a carrot it dangles before its core vote bank and the RSS hammering in that point is expected to be an electorally enabling factor for the BJP.

Don’t exercise NOTA option, says RSS

In yet another subtle, but barely-lost-on-anyone political point, Bhagwat discouraged voters from exercising the NOTA (none of the above) option. Once again, a repetition of what he said last month.

“The characteristic of democratic politics is such that no one can be considered as completely right or wrong. In such a situation, non-voting or using the provision of NOTA goes in favour of the one who is most ineffective,” Bhagwat said.

This statement is telling of the BJP’s current nervousness about some of its traditional voters being tempted to use the NOTA option. The party has been worried about rising upper caste ire against it, with several savarna groups having emerged on social media, urging people to opt for NOTA instead.

In addition, this is also crucial given the perception ahead of 2019 of the lack of a credible alternative to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bhagwat’s statements indicate people opting for NOTA may end up benefiting the “ineffective” opposition.

In 2013, Bhagwat had spoken of the need to vote. He reiterated Thursday that voting should be 100 per cent. In the RSS lexicon, urging voters to come out in large numbers to vote means asking them to vote for the BJP.

On Sabarimala

The RSS chief also weighed in on the contentious political issues of the day, including the current Sabarimala temple row.

“The premise of the tradition (women not entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala) that has been accepted by society and continuously followed for years together was not taken into consideration,” he said.

“The version of heads of religious denominations and faith of crores of devotees was not taken into account,” Bhagwat said.

Kerala is in the midst of a flaming controversy after the Supreme Court lifted the ban on the entry of women into Sabarimala temple, with conservative sections of the state agitating against it.

By fanning passions and joining the agitations, the state unit of the Kerala BJP hopes to pander to the Hindu majoritarian sentiment, corner the ruling Left and make meaningful inroads in a state where it has been traditionally a non-entity. Bhagwat’s comments, therefore, could further enable the BJP’s strategy.

Bhagwat also indirectly took on the Congress as he spoke against “urban Naxals” whose aim, he claimed, was to establish an “anti-national leadership”.

The BJP, led by party president Amit Shah, has been consistently attacking the Congress for its “silence” on the issue of “urban Naxals”, referring to activists who were arrested in connection with the violence in Bhima Koregaon and who the BJP has accused of trying to divide the country.