The Rediff Special

'Our relation with the RSS is a source of great strength to us'

BJP president L K Advani on his party's ties with the RSS:

What is the BJP's relationship with the Sangh Parivar and what is the nature of your relationship, as BJP president, with Professor Rajinder Singh, the RSS sarsanghchalak?

The RSS reflects a bias, an attitude, towards the BJP. Studies on the working relationship between the RSS and the BJP have been done, unfortunately, in large measure, by foreigners. In the Indian media, any writing of all this is absurd, evening amusing. It reveals a very shallow understanding of this relationship.

The RSS is a separate organisation. The BJP is a separate organisation. They take their decisions independently. But ideologically, there is a close affinity.

Sometimes, I have compared it with the relationship that most Congressmen had with Gandhi, irrespective of whether he was a primary member of the Congress party or not, or the relationship that we had with Jayaprakash Narayan in the Janata Party. JP had no constitutional authority but we often went to him. He gave advice.

That is the relationship between the BJP and the RSS, with this difference. JP and Gandhiji were individual leaders of stature, whereas, in the case of the RSS, it is not necessarily their leaders whom we hold in esteem. But because of the ideological affinities between the BJP and the RSS, the BJP people at various levels would like to involve swayamsevaks from time to time.

This may be, for instance, at the time of the elections. Consultation and interactions with the RSS at all levels continue all the time. But political decisions have to be taken by the BJP and organisational matters have to be dealt with by the RSS. By and large this separation of functions has worked very well.

There are often reports in the newspapers that the RSS leadership is unhappy with the lifestyle of some BJP leaders.

Not at all. Things happened in Gujarat and in Rajasthan. We are as unhappy with some of these developments. But somehow, that is never noticed and commented upon. The RSS is unhappy: That is the news. Things that would make anyone unhappy make us unhappy too. If any of my colleagues act in a manner to make us unhappy, we would pull them up. The BJP, on the whole, in the matter, has been doing very well. But there are aspects that are fairly disturbing.

The BJP is commonly perceived to be formed of a smallish central core of RSS pracharaks seconded to it, then of a slightly larger number of persons, not of the RSS, but who came to the BJP because of some ideological affinities, and finally, of a large number of persons attracted to it because of its power prospects. There is a view that this last group, which is the largest in number, is infecting the other two groups with its Congress-style culture and methods...

The Jan Sangh was founded by Shyama Prasad Mukherjee who was not a member of the RSS. He did seek the assistance of Golwalkar. Golwalkar told him that the RSS would not formally support any political party, but since he approved the manifesto, he would commend the Jan Sangh to any swayamsevak who wanted to go to it.

In the course of that, some of us did go there. The organisation was small. The organisational secretary did wield considerable influence. As the organisation grew, it attracted many new persons. Shekhawat came. He was not an RSS person. They still joined because they felt an ideological affinity to the Jan Sangh. Most MLAs and most MPs are such persons.

The BJP is open to anyone. It is not a limited party like some of the other parties. You have to undergo a short indoctrination course and all that before you are entitled to a card. We have had problems before. We have dealt with the problems of corruption, indiscipline and such things before. They did not damage the reputations just as an indiscretion by a mandal president does now. This is because the BJP has shot into the limelight so suddenly.

Do you accept such a term as the Sangh Parivar, and if you do, what is your explanation for it?

I have reservations about accepting such a term. Many in the RSS also do not like it. I would rather say that it is an ideological family. Parivar connotes that there is a head of the family. That is not true. The nexus is not organisational, but ideological.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad says that you are curbed by the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act from giving support to it for 'liberating' Kashi and Mathura.

The decision of the BJP not to support the Kashi and Mathura movements was taken before the Places of Worship Act. It is a decision taken on principles. We decided to take up the Ayodhya issue but not the others. A sessions court declared the place a de facto temple by issuing an injunction that the Ram Lalla idols be restored.

So Kashi and Mathura are not on the agenda.

They are not on the agenda. Ayodhya, to begin with, was also not on the agenda.

Would you say that Hindutva has died as a political force?

Hindutva, meaning cultural nationalism, will never die so long as pseudo-secularists are there. It will continue to be a powerful force in Indian politics.

Many big and small movements have corrupted with power. The Congress party, once synonymous with the freedom movement and the ideals of Gandhi, is the worst example of such transformation. What future, then, does the Sangh movement have if your party comes to power?

Every country deals with problems at two levels. First comes the creation of effective institutions, putting safeguards in place, appointing an ombudsman, and establishing a Lok Pal, etc. A vigilance commission, an ethics committee, etc., come under this.

But I believe that this issue of corruption or the following of ethical standards has a lot to do with examples set by those at the helm of affairs. And, in the Congress party, there has been a progressive decline of values. Degeneration and decadence has set in to such an extent that the party is irreparably damaged.

The BJP will have to be concerned about it. Environment pollution affects even healthy people. And, we think that our relations with the RSS, which as a body of thousands of public workers who are not directly in politics, nor being politically ambitious, is a source of great strength for us.

Courtesy: Sunday magazine

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