An RSS evening at PM's house

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, AUG. 18. After a gap of 13 months the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief, Mr. K.S. Sudarshan, shared the dais and the limelight, and both of them sang songs of praise to the spirit of the Hindu organisation. In a public display of ideological bonding, the two managed to bury, at least for now, the impression of estrangement between the Prime Minister and the RSS.

The occasion for this synergy-mongering was the release of a book on a RSS leader, the late Lakshmanrao Inamdar, also known as Vakil Saheb. The book is written by Mr. Narendra Modi, BJP general-secretary. Mr. Sudarshan was the chief guest. The place was the Prime Minister's residence. The evening was not without its political messages.

Mr. Vajpayee, for once, was not at all apologetic about identifying with the RSS. Unembarrassed he talked about growing with the RSS `shakha' culture, and how he had felt enriched from knowing so many ``pracharaks'' (preacher/propagandist). He even equated Lakshman Rao with Jawaharlal Nehru; just as Nehru had donned the lawyer's robes to defend the INA heroes, Lakshman Rao had resumed his legal role to defend those RSS cadres who were implicated in the conspiracy of Gandhiji's assassination.

Mr. Vajpayee also endeared himself thoroughly to the RSS crowd by lamenting that the media in general was unappreciative of the activities and sacrifices of the RSS cadres. In particular, he complained that the media virtually blacked out the kidnapping and eventual killing of four RSS swayamsevaks in Tripura. And, then, he chose to go the extra mile. He equated the dedication of the RSS cadres to that of the Christian missionaries who fanned out into distant areas. He disapproved of the missionaries' proselytising activities, though hastened to enter the caveat that they were within their rights to do so.

In his 15-minute speech, Mr. Vajpayee confined himself to eulogising the RSS because, as he pointedly observed, he wanted the limelight and focus on the RSS leaders.

Unfortunately, Mr. Sudarshan had nothing new to say. Expectedly, the RSS chief praised his organisation, its men, its mission, its love for the nation, and its ideology; and, also expectedly, he juxtaposed the Indian way of life and its unselfishness with the materialistic, unfeeling, insensitive western society. And, he had a word of advice to the cadres: `do not worry about criticism, carry on the good work.'

It was a remarkable gathering. In the front-row were old Sangh Parivar hands such as Mr. Nanaji Deshmukh, the VHP leaders, Mr. Vishnu Hari Dalmia and Acharya Giriraj Kishore; then, there were new converts like Mr. Vinod Khanna and Mr. I.D.Swamy; but, the oddest of new convert, Syed Shah Nawaz Hussain, chose to be right at the back.

For a discerning observer, the evening offered a few insights into the changing world of the RSS. The majority of 300 or so crowd belonged to prosperous-looking, safari-donning ``sympathisers'' while the RSS ``pracharaks'' were rather conspicuous in their hand-washed kurtas.

The women too were fashionably dressed; if not exactly the India fashion week crowd, they certainly did Karol Bagh proud. And, the shiny cars of the swayamsevaks told a tale of new-found prosperity.

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