Sangh-BJP kinship on a good wicket: Political scientist, author Nalin Mehta

"For its political ground game - with over 180 million members - BJP is structurally much less dependent now on the RSS to mobilise votes," Nalin Mehta said

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s comments this week on the changing social role of the RSS and the role of RSS workers in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have once again generated new debate on the BJP-RSS relationship. Political scientist Nalin Mehta, author of The New BJP: Modi and the Making of the World’s Largest Political Party and Dean, School of Modern Media, UPES, in conversation with Aditi Phadnis, talks about the relationship between the Sangh and BJP and the outlook for 2024. Edited excerpts:

How would you describe the current relationship between the BJP and the RSS?

The current BJP-RSS relationship is fairly positive and on a good wicket. It is unlike what it used to be during the previous BJP government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In contrast to the Narendra Modi era, the Vajpayee years were characterised by a permanent state of tension between the BJP and the RSS. During the Vajpayee regime, the RSS brass would often go public with their critiques of the government and headlines would often be full of such spats.

In March 2000, for instance, the then RSS chief called the then Prime Minister’s Office ‘incompetent’ and lamented that the BJP had become ‘Congress-ised’.

The RSS and the BJP were enmeshed in multiple crises during the Vajpayee years: on the finance ministership of Jaswant Singh, on economic reforms, and criticism of the Insurance Regulatory Authority Bill, among others.

It is important to recall this context when looking at the BJP-RSS relationship today.

Issues are always debated, of course, but we do not see such contentious public arguments and critiques now with the Modi government. The two entities move much more in tandem with the other.

It is pertinent that the BJP government has delivered on many of the core priorities of the Sangh. The Ram temple in Ayodhya is being built and will soon be ready. It was enabled by a Supreme Court judgment, but Modi personally presided over its consecration ceremony and prioritised it. From the Kashi Corridor to Ujjain’s Mahakal temple, the Modi government has focused a great deal on rejuvenating the ancient centres of Hinduism.

The Modi government also revoked Article 370 which gave special status to Kashmir. It has long been a core Sangh priority, from the days of Jan Sangh.

Similarly, education is a core RSS focus area and there has been a fair bit of congruence between the government and the Sangh on the new National Education Policy, which was released in 2020, the first such education reform since 1986.

How do you see this developing in the coming years, especially leading up to the 2024 elections?

The BJP-RSS linkage is organic, ideological, and has political ramifications. RSS cadres, for example, played an important role in voter mobilisation in the Uttar Pradesh (UP) elections of 2022.

There have been two major developments in the last decade. First, the RSS data shows that its daily shakhas have been growing at a fast clip since the Modi government came to power in 2014. This is in sharp contrast to the early 2000s when RSS suffered a consistent decline in numbers.

Simultaneously, the new BJP, after 2014, has built a formidable cadre machinery itself and turned into the world’s largest political party. While the BJP remains conjoined with the RSS in larger ideological terms, for its political ground game - with over 180 million members - it is structurally much less dependent now on the RSS to mobilise votes, in contrast to the past.

What challenge to the relationship do you visualise in the future?

Proximity to power and the challenges it brings are key issues that RSS leaders often highlight. As one RSS leader in UP told me, ‘We are growing fast, but we are also very conscious that some of the new people who come to us may be coming only because they may have an impression that they could somehow get closer to power through the Sangh. Our biggest challenge is to keep estimating who is joining us because of such perceptions and who is genuine. We are only interested in people who genuinely believe in our thinking’. Also, one major growth driver for the new BJP’s expansion after 2014 has been its ready acceptance of imports from other parties, many without prior links with the Sangh Parivar. Adjusting natural tensions that come with such expansion on the ground is a key leadership challenge.

The RSS and its multiple affiliated organisations continue to be a major force multiplier for the BJP. Yet, it is also true that at the ground level, the BJP is now relatively much less dependent than before on the RSS for cadre mobilisation.

Finally, how organisational relationships are managed is also a function of the personality of the leaders who front them. At the moment, in broader historical terms, the BJP-RSS relationship is as robust as it has ever been.