RSS supremo sends a subtle message to BJP

“Congress played a big role in freedom movement and gave India many great personalities," the RSS Chief, Mohan Bhagwat said while inaugurating the three-day conclave at New Delhi the other day. Speaking about the holding of the event in the national capital, he said the organisation wanted people to understand its functioning as the work it does is "incomparable".

The main aim of the RSS is reforming the society by riding it of its ills, he said, claiming that an RSS worker considers the entire society as his own. There would be differing voices on the RSS work, but going by the straight talk delivered by Mohan Bhagwat, the message was not meant for those who boycotted or refused to attend the meet from the Opposition.

Was he hinting to the BJP leadership to do some soul searching on real Hindutva as envisioned by the RSS and as being propounded by the secular flock of this country more? Bhagwat's intent was very clear. He was seeking a course correction on part of the BJP leadership too which, of late, has been silent over the divisive talk of some of its leaders. He also revelled in his "Yukt" and not "Mukt" movement when he said the RSS did not believe in 'Congress-Mukt" vision emphasising on the inclusiveness theory.

It would have been better, perhaps, if Mohan Bhagwat were to insist on Amit Shah-Modi duo to sit through the conclave all the three days for some mid-career learning process. People tend to forget what they have learnt very early on in their professions and at the fag end of their education.

Bhagwat was successful in placing the RSS on top of the new agenda once again - the first one was when he invited successfully former President Pranab Mukherjee to Nagpur - and in his attempt to mainstream the organisation he heads. Though he may have winked at the nation when he said the RSS does not ask anyone to support a particular party. That is right to an extent as the RSS had supported other parties in the past but not in the era of religious terrorism taking roots.

The meticulous manner in which the RSS works the grassroots in favour of BJP is an open secret. Despite the Opposition of some leaders and parties who prefer to appease Muslims, the RSS has been successful in forcing them to re-look at their Hindu options too. Proof? A practicing Christian like Rahul Gandhi wearing Tilak and going on a 'Temple Run'.

Whether his 'Jenue-politics' help his party is to be seen, but it was certainly hilarious to see his flexies in Bhopal the other day projecting him as a Shiv Bhakt. For Hindu voters who frown at the pseudo secular parties, Rahul cannot be the first choice even if he wears a tilak and goes to temple twice a day. Who cares whether he embarks on a Mansarovar yatra (which he can afford anyway and you and me cannot) or a Char Dham yatra?

The fact is that he has been forced to adopt a soft-Hindutva approach which tells us that the Congress is desperate to win back its lost vote bank among the Brahmins and the OBCs etc. Hindu votes do matter these days, after all. All those who boycotted the RSS show will be asked some uncomfortable questions in future when they accept any invite from the likes of Shahi Imams'.

The RSS has not changed itself in its quest to be the numero uno among the Hindu organisations. It is the opponents who are forced to make amends to their view of RSS. The latest RSS outreach is just the beginning. It shall aggressively woo all sections inimical to it in future. The attire has changed and so has the language.

The next move, for all we know, could see the RSS going for a course-correction in the BJP with an aim at wooing more sections to strengthen the latter. No one trusts it does not believe in politics. Who are all those who become Chief Ministers and Ministers in the BJP- ruled states then?