Changing RSS, BJP relations in Lok Sabha elections
Image credit X #RSSOrg
Dissecting RSS, BJP relations in Lok Sabha elections
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, May 2: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is known to be a political offshoot of the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS). There are subtle hints emerging out from ground to suggest an adjustment in relations of the RSS and the BJP.
The saffron functionaries have long described relations between the RSS and the BJP with the mother-son parallel. “The BJP is now on its own feet. The BJP doesn’t need the support of the RSS to win elections,” said a third generation RSS functionary.
The marginal dips in the voter’s turnouts have put the BJP workers in the spotlight. The BJP candidates are now announcing rewards in villages for higher voters’ turnouts. They are also resorting to other incentives to pull the people out of their homes on polling days.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi helmed BJP-led governments at the Centre for 10 years. The RSS functionaries are discussing pitfalls of ‘power’. They are also discussing that the RSS is particularly watchful of its core identity and averse to possible dilution.
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“Corruption of power is concerning. The RSS will be very concerned to see its workers losing their core characters to charms of power. There are subtle hints from within the organisation. The RSS wants to insulate its workers from wrong influences of power,” added the RSS functionary.
The RSS supremo, Mohan Bhagwat, gave a clarification in a speech at an academic institution in Hyderabad last month on the issue of reservation. “Fake videos are doing the rounds on the social media platforms. They have been created with the help of artificial intelligence. The RSS supports reservation for the weaker sections in the society as enshrined in the Constitution,” Bhagwat said in Hyderabad.
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The RSS observers know that the organisational workers and heads in regions in the past elections had been used to micro-managing polls. They even managed the polling booths in the past, obliterating the differences with the BJP workers.
“The RSS workers are now confining to voters’ awareness activities. They at the maximum are sharing pamphlets that the voters should cast on issues of nationalism,” said an RSS functionary.
They are staying away from the active management of elections at the polling booths, he said. “They are not taking part in usual last two-day before polling activities done in parliamentary constituencies,” added the RSS functionary.
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The post of the BJP national general secretary (organisation) is also known as a loan of the resource from the RSS. The incumbent, B L Santhosh, is an RSS functionary. He had succeeded Ram Lal, who is now back in the RSS.
The RSS functionaries are also argued that they are not alarmed at the likely outcome of the Lok Sabha elections. “There is no assessment of the BJP losing power at the Centre. Since there is no threat of the political offshoot losing power at the Centre, the RSS is giving a layer of protection to its own cadres against the bad influences to ensure that the basic character is not diluted,” added the RSS functionary.
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