R.K. MISRA: Master Mohan and Modi
Politicians and pundits enjoy floating pretentious
bubbles when chasing power and pelf. Once in, the remaining time is spent
either in denial, deceit or demagogy. India’s Prime Minister, Narendra
Modi is no exception.
A political pugilist akin to Mohammed Ali, Modi as chief
minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 had also incorporated
the one time World Champion’s classic slogan ‘float like a butterfly,
sting like a bee’ into his style sheet. His repertoire of verbal aggression
was not confined to probing jabs and rulebook upper-cuts, but
included lethal below-the-belt undercuts as he punched, hooked and even
head-butted his opponents all through his tenure as head of the
west India state until he delivered the knock-out punch in the 2014
general elections.
All along, the soft spoken, two-term UPA Prime Minister,
Manmohan Singh was derisively referred to as a ‘puppet’, deaf and
dumb(gunga-bechara) while Sonia Gandhi would be mocked as a ‘maharani’, the
‘unconstitutional authority’. Speech after speech over a decade and a
quarter Modi, and on cue lesser minions, jeeringly lead a virtual
diatribe, even referring to Sonia and Rahul as the cow-calf
combination (gai-bachchda). This was not mere verbal gymnastics. It
was part of a conscious strategy to portray Singh as weak and Sonia as an
ogre, same as any retaliation to pay back Modi in his own coin was
painted as an assault on Gujarati pride.
In a continuing hangover of his earlier tenure, as recently
as on May 27,2015, he went on record to state that Mrs Gandhi was the
‘unconstitutional authority’ who exercised real power over the PMO during the
UPA rule whereas power was now wielded only by constitutional means. This was
the very day that Prime Minister Modi hurriedly tweeted his picture with
‘puppet’ Singh and wrote”Very happy to meet Dr Manmohan Singh ji and welcome
him back to 7RCR. We had a great meeting”.
How times change. And leaders too. Cut to New Delhi
September 2,2015 where ministers of the Modi government are lining
up,student-like to make presentations of their worksheet before the RSS
leadership. Their chief Mohan Bhagwat with 15 Sangh associates including Vishwa
Hindu Parishad (VHP), Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangathan (BMS) and
Bhartiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) is holding fort. Among the venerable ministers queued
up were Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj and
Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar among others.
According to reports, Swaraj’s
presentation covered the failed NSA level talks with Pakistan and the Boundary
accord with Bangladesh while finance minister Arun Jaitley briefed about
the market crash, failure to get legislation like the goods and service tax
bill (GST) passed. While mention of two big-wig ministers has been
made here but the fact was that numerous other ministers also
meekly lined up to deliver their report card before the Sangh
Parivar top brass and fielded questions including some tough ones.
A ‘samanvay baithik’-co-ordination committee meeting-they called this
exercise which lasted three days and was also attended by the Prime
Minister on the last day(September 4,2015). Union Home minister Rajnath
Singh was at pains to point out that the meet was more akin to ’think tank
talks’ and there was no appraisal of government by the RSS. Was it really
so? The union home minister must think hardened newshounds who have been around
for close to half a century to be nut cases to believe this innocuous
explanation.
The fact is that the three-day meet was a serious
stock-taking exercise where the inner mechanics of issues were discussed
and many within the government had a lot of answering to do. Is it just plain
coincidence that the One Rank one pension (OROP) issue which had
been long pending, was announced within 48 hours of the meeting.
The RSS has had very strong opinion on the subject and the lengthening
stir of ex-servicemen was being watched with dismay by the RSS top
brass which felt that it would rapidly corrode the credibility of the Modi
government. Jaitley was told so in no uncertain terms and the announcement
followed thereafter.
Ditto the decision to allow the Land Acquisition Ordinance
to lapse, this time due to considerations of the Bihar Assembly elections
looming on the horizon. If Togadia’s VHP has a take on the Ram mandir,
the Swadeshi Jagran Manch holds the Genetically Modified Seeds (GMS) issue very
close to it’s heart. There was a lot of anguish spillover and complaints
against ministers with Modi’s developmental agenda hitting a ‘swadeshi’ wall.
While the meet also marked the complete
marginalization of the Margadarshak Mandal with L.K.Advani and Murli Manohar
Joshi conspicuous by their absence, it also demonstrated in full
public view that for all the concentration of power in the hands of Modi,
the Sangh Parivar calls the shots. Modi accepted as much when he
stated after the meeting that he would continue to seek guidance
from the Sangh.
Where does Modi
stand now on his criticism of the Congress led UPA government’s
extra-constitutional authority ? RSS fits the bill of ‘extra-constitutional
authority’ much better. Mrs Sonia Gandhi was the President of the
Congress party which was leading the UPA government besides being an MP
herself. What is the constitutional validity of the RSS that ministers of a
duly elected government violate the oath of office and secrecy which they had
sworn to uphold, to discuss the intricacies of governance with it ?
One can
understand Amit Shah as the President of the BJP having exposure to broad
policy setting of his party government, but under no circumstances, by any
yardstick, can this be justified, not even after taking cognizance
of the fact that the RSS is the mother organization of the BJP. Mothers are
best providing home-bound sustenance to their children, not directing their
office organization. And Modi, as stated, has every right to be proud of his
nurturing Alma Mater but the country’s constitution hardly empowers it to
administer the nation. And in this backdrop his criticism of
the Congress led UPA government merely peters down to a
soot-covered pot calling the kettle black!
