Dear RSS, focus on winning hearts and minds, not capturing Modi sarkar

Recent events and mindless utterances of the Hindutva ideologues and Sangh Parivar fringe, and the parliamentary opposition’s belligerence over it, have the potential to derail Narendra Modi’s legislative agenda, partly or wholly. Already the winter session of parliament has been largely wasted, and if Modi is not able to separate the Sangh’s agenda from his own he is going to end up like Manmohan Singh in his final years of premiership: friendless and ineffective. Modi was elected largely on a development and governance agenda, but this is an over-simplification. A significant reason for his overwhelming mandate was also due to the Sangh muscle thrown into the fight. The Sangh has a social and cultural agenda, and this certainly cannot be denied its space in public discussion in any democracy. The fact that the opposition is not even willing to discuss religious conversions shows that it is afraid of losing its vote banks. It would like to see conversion as communalism when the traffic is towards Hinduism, and would like to ignore it when conversion is away from Hinduism. However, every politician has a right to wilful blindness, however hypocritical he or she may be. [caption id=“attachment_372224” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Chief Mohan Rao Bhagwat (C) of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. AFP[/caption] The issue here is whether Modi can now proceed with his main agenda or will have to spend his time mollifying the opposition on non-issues? Contrary to what the media believes, Modi’s 282 MPs and the larger group of NDA allies should be seen not only as a strength, but also as a weakness. Whether it is the Shiv Sena or the Akalis or the Telugu Desam or the LJP, none of them would want a more powerful BJP for this weakens them. So it is in their interest to weaken the BJP. Similarly, within the BJP itself, there are agendas that encompass the entire range - from economic liberalisers to Swadeshi exponents to MPs - like Yogi Adityanath, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Sakshi Maharaj, to name just a few – who couldn’t care less about development. They would like to see a weaker Modi as only this can help them move their own agenda forward. In a nutshell, Modi has frenemies to contend with in the party itself, not to speak of his party’s ideological mentor, the RSS. The other mistake is to think that Modi wants to control the fringe fully. The reality is Modi both needs the Sangh (and the Sangh needs Modi) and is hampered by it. He needs the Sangh to reinforce the BJP’s core voter base, but he also needs to neutralise their ability to disrupt his agenda. So calls for Modi to control all his MPs or the Sangh miss the point: he cannot wish away the Sangh or its agenda, just as the Sangh cannot wish away Modi’s own broader agenda. Modi’s governance pitch thus needs him to work out a deal with the Sangh so that each has its own space. Logically, Modi needs to be able to have control of his own MPs and ministers, even while allowing the Sangh to take its priorities to the public directly without involving the government. Problems arise if the Sangh tries to push its agenda through the government. A case in point is Smriti Irani’s efforts to declare 25 December as Good Governance Day as this is Atal Behari Vajpayee’s birthday. But it was foolish of her ministry to issue directives to Navodaya schools to ask children to hold activities on that day when everyone knows what the day means for the Christian minority. It may suit the Sangh to raise communal heat, but it does not suit Modi. Smriti Irani owes her cabinet rank and status to Modi and is certainly not known to have an interest in destabilising him. But if she is also taking note of the parivar’s agenda, Modi needs to make it clear that his cabinet is off bounds for the Sangh. The Sangh should not be meddling with the government even in its own interest. It ought to know that trying to implement its list of priorities using government patronage will ensure its defeat as the next government will junk it. No government is forever. Whether it is challenging the Marxist version of history or something else, the Sangh has got it wrong in assuming that state patronage alone was the reason for biased history-writing. The fact is patronage helped, but the scholarship was entirely that of Marxist historians. Their biases shaped two generations, and correcting that needs the Sangh to promote genuine historical research and scholarship. This, too, is a two-generation project, and trying to get it all done through Smriti Irani is the surest way to defeat it. The only logical way for the Sangh to move its own social agenda is through sustained, private effort. Who stops it from opening a Sanskrit school or investing in a TV channel or trying to gain conversions quietly? Only a movement based on public support can ultimately succeed, and its focus must be on winning hearts and minds, not capturing government. What the Sangh should lobby for are the following: A Freedom of Religion Bill aimed not at banning conversions but at forcing government to stay away from the running of temples and Hindu religious institutions - just as is done in the case of minority institutions under Articles 29 and 30 of the constitution. A Right to Equality Bill that gives so-called majority-run institutions the right to the same autonomy that minority institutions now get under article 30. It is a travesty that a constitutional provision intended to ensure that the majority does not squash minority rights is being used to discriminate against majority-run institutions by undue interference. The Right to Education Act is thus a burden cast unfairly on non-minority institutions and it is a surprise even the Supreme Court has agreed to this perversity. A permanent Truth Commission that establishes what happened in history - whether it is the destruction of temples or state-supported conversions or atrocities by upper caste Hindus against the rest - so that we don’t have to live in a permanent state of victimhood. The Sangh has a right to its agenda, and so does the government elected on behalf of all the people of India. Modi and the Sangh need to be clear which is which and agree to pursue their agendas separately.