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A direct fight between the RSS and sections in the BJP is forecast
Shiv Sena’s support is a shot in the arm for Nitish, once at the receiving end of their anti-north Indian jabs, writes Rana Ayyub
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Nitish Kumar
Photo: Vijay Pandey |
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A senior RSS member laughed when asked to comment on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s statement on the need for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to have a secular Prime Ministerial candidate. “Don’t worry, read the Organiser. They will come out to defend him.” The statement sounds prophetic now when you hear Mohan Bhagwat coming out in support of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, questioning Nitish’s secular credentials. For those who have been observing the series of meetings in the Parivaar, which have taken place ever since senior RSS leader Sanjay Joshi’s forced exit from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), this will not come as a surprise.
Modi, and his close confidantes, have constantly put pressure on the Sangh Parivaar to support him as the Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014 or risk losing the Gujarat Assembly Elections due in December 2012. Modi, it is learnt, had cautioned Bhagwat that a rift within the rank and file of the BJP and the confusion over its prime ministerial candidate will cost the Sangh one of its most strategic states. The Sangh was in danger of losing its credibility, warned Modi. Those opposed to Modi and the Sangh were aware of these communications and Nitish’s statement needs to be seen in this light.
Nitish Kumar, whose government in Bihar is in a coalition with the BJP, enjoys the support of senior leaders in the BJP, much like the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra which has come out in solidarity with him. Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena MP and editor of Saamna told TEHELKA that there was nothing wrong with what Nitish Kumar had said. “Let us understand that the NDA is not just Narendra Modi or the BJP. The NDA is also about Akali Dal, Naveen Patnaik, JDU and us. Balasaheb is of the opinion that we should have a Prime Ministerial candidate who cuts across party lines, who is acceptable to everyone, who is a mass leader and who has stature like Atalji,” said Raut. According to him this was also a reason why his party chose to support Pranab Mukherjee’s Presidential candidature. “Stature matters and Nitish Kumar is right,” added Raut.
The Shiv Sena’s support has come as a shot in the arm for Nitish who ironically has been at the receiving end of their diatribe on north Indians. However, in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies, and Modi knows this inherent nature of the Indian polity well. The first shocker for Modi has come from his “best friend and mentor”, the man with whom he shared the title “Hindu Hriday Samrat”. Bal Thackeray who has shared the dias with Modi on many occasions, in who Modi saw a friend and an ally who would support him on the Hindutva cause, has already given Modi the indication that barring a few factions in the RSS, he might have few takers. As a senior Shiv Sena leader close to Bal Thackeray says: “We supported Modi in the name of Hindutva, but Balasaheb and the RSS have never seen eye-to-eye. Balasaheb has always opposed their imposing attitude and involvement in politics, Modi is following the same RSS line. If he is so committed to the Hindutva cause then why is he dividing the party which stands for Hindutva? We will not support Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate of the NDA.”
What has further irked the NDA allies, who had until recently not been vocal in their sentiments, is Modi’s moral positioning on caste politics and development. Modi’s stand on caste politics, many believe, reeks of hypocrisy. It was his engineering of caste-based politics which saw him get the Patel and Koli votes in Gujarat. While criticising Nitish, Modi seems to have forgotten that caste-based politics in Karnataka ensured that Yedyurappa managed to hold the party ransom using the caste card. As one of Nitish Kumar’s lieutenant said: “Modi chose to ignore these aspects before criticising Nitish Kumar, this shows his frustration. Nitishji is one of the most secular and development oriented leaders in the country. Modi, in his hunger to attack us forgot that his party is our ally in Bihar.”
Nitish’s statement, besides the argued line of shadow boxing for his own Prime Ministerial ambition for 2014, has takers in the BJP too. It is reliably learnt that Nitish was asked to jump into the foray of announcing the PM candidate after consultation with senior BJP leaders. The senior leadership had been apprised of Modi’s constant appeals to the RSS to put pressure on the party to name him the Prime Ministerial candidate for 2014. Former Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel’s meeting with LK Advani on Tuesday 19 June, is also being seen as an attempt to thwart Modi’s ambitions. Advani possibly senses a revival of his own candidature in the anti-Modi wave in the NDA. Keshubhai Patel’s meeting with Advani comes right after a meeting of anti-Modi factions in Gandhinagar on Monday 18 June, which included leaders such as BJP MP Kashiram Rana, former CM Suresh Mehta and Mahagujarat Janata Party president Gordhan Zadafia at Keshubhai Patel’s residence.
The meeting was supported by a section of the Sangh that was responsible for the write- up in Kamal Sandesh that chided Modi for being a man in a hurry, as well as leaders in the BJP who wanted the NDA factions to come out and speak against Modi. According to a senior BJP Parliamentary Committee member, Nitish Kumar’s statement against Modi and the anti-Modi factions meeting in Delhi is not a mere a coincidence. “There are two factions at work now. One is the pro-Narendra Modi/RSS faction, and the other is the anti-Modi/RSS faction that includes NDA partners and some senior BJP leaders. Nitish and Advani are fighting the battle for the top job together. If Modi is out of the picture then these two leaders will be the only names acceptable to the NDA.”
So what lies ahead? If senior BJP leaders are to be believed then the coming days will see a direct fight between the RSS and sections in the BJP. Party veterans Advani and Sushma Swaraj, who left the Mumbai Party executive mid way, have already expressed their dissent against the patronising attitude of the RSS and its increased interference, which they believe has led to fissures in the NDA. This is precisely what the anti-Modi lobby will use in its favour. Even if it means letting Nitish Kumar and allies such as the Shiv Sena come up with one shocker after the other.
Rana Ayyub is an Assistant Editor with Tehelka.
rana@tehelka.com
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