Vyapam scam troubles loom for RSS as the probe threatens to drag in Sangh Parivar elders

On the defensive for sometime now after a fierce attack from the Congress over the Vyapam scam, the Sangh Parivar has decided to launch a strong response, more so as the scandal threatens to cast a shadow on the sangh itself. The RSS hierarchy led by Mohan Bhagwat camped in Bhopal for three days before the BJP president Amit Shah landed in town to boost the morale of party men. Mohan Bhagwat held a couple of sessions with Chouhan and senior RSS leaders, even as a hard-hitting letter from Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee’s chief spokesperson KK Mishra to him during his Bhopal sojourn kicked up another row. [caption id=“attachment_2345402” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Protests against BJP leaders in connection with Vyapam scam. PTI[/caption] “My letter asks Bhagwat why he was protecting people involved in Vyapam scam. RSS talks about high moral values, it is the time for him to act against the corrupt BJP government in Madhya Pradesh,” said Mishra. Mishra’s letter took a jibe at the Sangh Parivar saying, “Sangh and BJP have always spoken of probity in politics and raised issues of corruption, degradation of politics, terrorism, black money stashed abroad. But in the country, especially in MP, the government presents a picture totally opposite of what the saffron family preaches. Why and for what are these things occurring, I ask you as a citizen?” With CBI coming into the picture the RSS might be worried as some of its important officials will need to explain their position, Sangh Parivar sources said. Names of Bhagwat’s predecessor KS Sudarashan and RSS Sah-sarkaryavah Suresh Soni have cropped up during the STF inquiry. Vyapam accused Mihir Kumar, a former sewadar (assistant) to the late Sudarshan, in a written statement before the STF admitted having got job with the state weights and measures department in 2012 fraudulently. “After filling the application forms, I gave photocopies of them to the late Sudarshanji, who was the former RSS chief. I was Sudarshanji’s sewadar. I requested him to help me clear the test so that I could get a job. Sudarshanji asked Laxmikant Sharma (former state minister now in jail in connection with the scam) to make sure that I cleared the test. Sharma assured Sudarshanji that the work would be done. Sudarshanji told me that I should attempt questions that I could and leave the rest blank. I answered some 50-60 questions correctly and left the others blank as instructed. When the results came out on October 18, 2012, I was seventh on the merit list,” Mihir Kumar had told STF. Former MPPEB examination controller Pankaj Trivedi, who is in jail on charges of complicity in the recruitments in the weights and measures department, also reportedly told investigators that Laxmikant, told him that “Mihir is a very important candidate and Soniji’s man”. In the face of looming trouble, the message emerging from the Parivar huddles is loud and clear: drown the Congress campaign on Vyapam with aggression on the streets. A strategy being embraced across the parivar, including the BJP. Shah, who was in MP to boost party membership, offered simple but pragmatic advice. He told party workers not to criticise the party in public and to take every opportunity to highlight the failures of other parties. The BJP has kept up the damage control in Madhya Pradesh by asking senior leaders to criss-cross the state and defend Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The refrain is: “We have done no wrong and don’t need to be apologetic.” All leaders have been maintaining that there is no need for Chouhan to resign. Two Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prakash Javdekar ; vice-presidents Prabhat Jha, Shyam Jaju, former Union minister VikramVerma, state chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan and state Energy minister Rajendra Shukla have already addressed the press at Gwalior, Ujjain, Jabalpur, Sagar and Rewa. The Congress, on the other hand, seems to have partially squandered the advantage it gained by forcing a CBI enquiry into the matter. It held a street protest at Bhopal against Amit Shah and was dealt with firmly by the state police. At least 40 persons who were arrested failed to secure bail as they were charged with rioting. With the district president PC Sharma in custody, the party has decided to ahead with the bandh call for Thursday. Coming on the eve of Eid the call is bound to backfire as traders have refused to shut shops during festive season. In trying to show its strength the party has exposed its weakness in planning a crucial move. There is resentment in party over a lost opportunity. The party would have better off by leaving the matters to be decided by the CBI and Supreme Court.