The Asian Age – Efforts in RSS to sideline Advani

Sanjay Basak, Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 27 January 2013. Efforts are on to sideline senior BJP leader and NDA working chairman L.K. Advani once and for all. A majority in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh wants Mr Advani to quit active politics and not contest the forthcoming general elections.

This section of top RSS leaders feel that “it’s time Advaniji plays the role of a mentor instead of indulging in day-to-day politics”. The RSS is apparently “upset” with Mr Advani for “masterminding” the exit of former BJP president Nitin Gadkari. After the income-tax authorities launched field enquiries against Mr Gadkari’s group of companies, Mr Advani, during his meeting with a senior RSS leader, cautioned the Sangh “not to push the BJP to accept a second term for Gadkari”, sources said.

Making it clear that he was against any “meddling” by the Sangh in the BJP’s internal affairs, he told this particular RSS leader that there should be someone in the BJP “who must have the last word as far as organisational matters were concerned”. Mr Advani gave the example of former party president Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, who was the last word as far as the BJP was concerned.

Without, however, referring to himself, Mr Advani made it amply clear to the Sangh that “someone along the lines of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya should emerge in the organisation”. He also cautioned RSS not to “blindly back Gadkari for he could become a liability for the party”. Mr Advani’s “feelings and observations” were then conveyed to the RSS top brass, which had thrown its weight behind Mr Gadkari.

Sensing that the BJP was planning to oppose a second term as party president for Mr Gadkari, the RSS pitched for Mr Rajnath Singh. The RSS also strongly opposed Mr Advani’s attempts to push Ms Sushma Swaraj for the top post.

Describing the BJP’s move to oppose Mr Gadkari as a “paranoid reaction”, some RSS functionaries said if Mr Gadkari “came out clean, efforts would be made to restore him as party president”.

Following his role in “ousting” Mr Gadkari, some in the RSS were of the opinion that 86-year-old Mr Advani, who “continues to nurture prime ministerial ambitions, should be asked not to contest the general elections”, sources said. An attempt was being made to create a consensus on the issue in the BJP. Feelers were also being sent to top BJP leaders “not to give Mr Advani a Lok Sabha ticket from Gandhinagar in Gujarat”, sources said.

A senior BJP leader, meanwhile, claimed that Mr Advani, who was determined to contest the Lok Sabha polls, could possibly “create hurdles” for Mr Narendra Modi if the BJP managed to get a majority on its own in the LS polls.

http://www.asianage.com/india/efforts-rss-sideline-advani-398

The Asian Age – RSS, Modi, Mamata: Lines start to blur

Sanjay Basak, Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 16 December 2012. Political equations seem to be changing with the RSS’ mouthpiece, Organiser, recently praising Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, who on Saturday returned the compliment by describing the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat as a state that has been “nurtured and it is progressing”.

While Ms Banerjee attacked the Left parties for lack of industrialisation in West Bengal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the government’s FDI decision, Ms Banerjee praised the Modi government, saying: “Gujarat has been nurtured and it is progressing”.

Ms Banerjee, who was part of the Atal Behari Vajpayee-led NDA, countered Prime Minister Singh’s criticism of those opposing FDI in retail, saying she was with the common man who was “outdated”. Ms Banerjee, who is visiting New Delhi for the first time after quitting UPA-II, will be meeting some leaders who voted against the government on FDI in multi-brand retail. She will also be meeting BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday.

The RSS mouthpiece in its editorial described Ms Banerjee as a “rare breed of politicians, who have not made money-making their raison d’être in politics”. The Organiser added that the “country needs dozens like her”. As for lack of development in Bengal, the Organiser backed her, stating that “Mamata Banerjee has never claimed to have a magic potion that would transform West Bengal into a wonderland overnight. It is an arduous task.”

Speaking at the 85th AGM of FICCI, she blamed the lack of industrialisation in Bengal on the “35 years of Left rule”.

In a two-pronged attack, she demanded to know how the Centre allowed the previous government to incur such massive debts. “Bengal is one of the most debt-ridden states in India,” she said.

Taking on the PM on FDI in multi-brand retail, she said, “What can we do? We are grassroots-level people, we are the representatives of the people. And the common man is outdated. I am proud to say we are with the people.”

http://www.asianage.com/india/rss-modi-mamata-lines-start-blur-591

The Asian Age – Nitish belittles attack by RSS, is firm on stance

Anand S T DAS, Asian  Age Correspondent

Patna, 3 July 2012. After RSS mouthpiece Organiser criticised his views about “secular prime ministerial candidate” as “Muslim-centric thinking,” Bihar chief minister and JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar on Monday made it clear that his party had nothing to do with the RSS and what it thinks.

In statements that would cause further heartburn in the BJP, with which the JD(U) has been running a seven-year-old alliance government in Bihar, Mr Kumar reaffirmed his unwavering stand that the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 general elections must have secular credentials.

“If it were a statement from the BJP, I would be reacting on it. We (JD-U) do not have either any relationship or any alliance with the RSS. We have a political alliance with the BJP and there is a political base for it. Even in Bihar we run an alliance government on a common minimum programme,” said Mr Kumar to journalists after the janata durbar programme at his residence.

Indicating that the JD(U) neither considers the RSS’ views seriously nor does it see any harm to its political base in Bihar from an indifferent RSS in future, Mr Kumar added: “They (RSS) are airing their opinions and we ours. This is all very good. If there is a debate in the country now after just an interview I gave, it is all very good.”

The ruling JD(U), which highly values its Muslim support base in Bihar, has earlier faced frequent criticism from the Opposition parties for facilitating two national-level conventions of the RSS in the state in recent years and for continuing the alliance with the BJP. Outlining the three basic agreements behind its alliance with the BJP — Article 370, Uniform Civil Code and Ayodhya dispute — Mr Kumar said that he would allow no compromise on those issues.

http://www.asianage.com/india/nitish-belittles-attack-rss-firm-stance-393

The Asian Age – Country needs a Hindu PM: Sangh parivar

Sanjay Basak

New Delhi, 21 June 2012. The secularism-Hindutva battle intensified on Wednesday with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat rallying behind Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, saying the country needed a ‘Hindu’ leader.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar had decided to take on Mr Modi when the BJP, at its Mumbai national executive, wanted to name the latter chairman of its campaign and selection committee.

This would have been a clear signal that the party wanted to project Mr Modi as its prime ministerial candidate for 2014.

Mr Nitish Kumar, who has to cater to Bihar’s Muslim votebank, made it clear the NDA needed a secular face, sources said.

However, despite the war of words, sources said Mr Kumar had ‘assured the BJP leadership he will not quit the NDA’.

A BJP leader claimed the move to pick Mr Modi as head of the BJP campaign and selection committee was also ‘conveyed to Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Tamil Nadu CM J. Jayalalithaa’.

It was said that if the BJP managed to get 200 seats in the 2014 general elections on its own, the party will project Mr Modi as Prime Minister.

“Naveen Patnaik and Jayalalithaa had no issues, but Nitish needs to cater to the Muslim votebank in Bihar,” the BJP leader added.

Some BJP leaders were apparently taken unawares by the RSS chief’s anti-Nitish remarks. Lashing out at Mr Kumar for saying that the NDA needed a secular Prime Minister, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said, “Nitish Kumar said NDA’s prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 elections should be secular. He wants to keep his vote bank intact.”

Mr Bhagwat was addressing an RSS meeting at Latur in Maharashtra.

Adhering to the Hindutva card, the RSS chief went on to say, “Hinduism is an all-inclusive religion, Hinduism is the religion of humanism, Hinduism follows a broad philosophy.”

Then came the saffron sting, “To keep Hindutva ideology alive, the Hindu samaj needs to come together and the country should have a Prime Minister who believes in this ideology, Mr Bhagwat said.

RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said that ‘Hindutva is synonym for secularism’. He then quickly added that the RSS chief’s remarks should not be linked to ‘day to day happening in national politics’.

http://www.asianage.com/india/country-needs-hindu-pm-sangh-332

The Asian Age – Team Anna, BJP see major setbacks

Venkatesh Kesari, Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi 16 October 2011. The BJP and Team Anna have received a major setback due to the recent developments, showing that they are neither an alternative to the ruling establishment nor can they cleanse the system.

If former Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa’s arrest in a corruption case has punctured the anti-corruption campaign of the main Opposition, the division in Team Anna on whether to take part in elections against a political party (the Congress) and support to the separatist forces in Kashmir has shown the limitations of Mr Anna Hazare’s team once again.

Besides, the RSS’s reiteration that it has been very much part of Mr Anna Hazare’s movement has also put a question mark on its secular credentials.

The BJP used to give a slogan of change in “chaal, chehra aur charitra” of the party. But its top officials and ministers were found involved in corruption cases when it was in power at the Centre.

On the other hand, Gujarat started losing its socio-political identity ever since the BJP-RSS made it a Hindutva laboratory.

The BJP cannot launch a campaign against corruption as long as its state governments become free from corruption.

If it talks of corruption at the Centre, the Congress will draw attention to the corruption in BJP-ruled Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

The BJP cannot be an alternative to the Congress at the Centre because of its narrow ideological mindset. That is the reason why it always looks for someone like Jayaprakash Narayan and others to lead an anti-Congress campaign, feel Congress insiders, hinting that one should understand why the RSS is backing Mr Anna Hazare. The BJP has never won any election on a positive agenda, they said.

On Mr Hazare’s decision to go on “maun vrat (vow of silence)” from Sunday, a Congress official said: “Why should we talk if they (Anna) are not talking.” “There is no need to comment. But people can ask if it (silence) will also apply to other members of Team Anna,” Mr Abhishek Singhvi said.

http://www.asianage.com/india/team-anna-bjp-see-major-setbacks-894