Veteran RSS leader MG Vaidya tells Ajit Sahi that the RSS wants to organise every section of Indian society along Hindu values
Photo: Nirmal Soni
So the RSS has moved in because the BJP was imploding.
Kati patang.
Well, yes, that’s what Arun Shourie says. What do you think?
Not true. Stuff happens. These aren’t big things. They will pass.
Shourie says the RSS should take over the BJP.
What he means is that the RSS should intervene, pay greater attention to the BJP. So, yes, it should.
Just what is the relationship between the RSS and the BJP?
Why don’t you ever ask what’s the relationship between the RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad? RSS and the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh? RSS and Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram? The relationship between the RSS and the BJP is the same as between the RSS and all its other offshoots. We don’t write their constitutions, or oversee their day-to-day functioning and projects, but yes, we have sent our people into them to help them run themselves.
LK Advani and Rajnath Singh have deferred to Mohan Bhagwat and will step down from their positions. This reminds us of what Sonia Gandhi said during the Lok Sabha elections: Advani is a slave of the RSS.
We’d like to make even Soniaji a slave. What does a slave mean? If Advani was a slave how could he have spoken favourably of Jinnah? There is total freedom in the RSS. If even I am not a slave of the RSS, how can Advani be its slave? In its 84-year existence, the RSS has not once had reason to bring disciplinary action against anyone in its ranks. We believe in persuasion, not force.
Commentators such as Swapan Dasgupta have been suggesting that the BJP should move away from Hindutva and evolve a new paradigm to win elections.
Unki marzi [It’s up to them]. Sudheendra Kulkarni said the same, so I said, ok, go ahead. Break off from Hindutva, if that’s what the BJP wants.
But Rajnath Singh said the BJP is committed to Hindutva.
Doesn’t this tell you something about the BJP? Rajnath said the BJP must continue to espouse Hindutva. So that ends the debate, right?
What is the role of the RSS appointees who work inside the BJP as Organising Secretaries?
Isliye ki party theek dhung se chaley [So that the party is run properly]. The first in this role was Deendayal Upadhayay with the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. We have sent people like Sunder Singh Bhandari and Kushabhau Thakre to the BJP in this role. The last person was Sanjay Joshi. Now it is Ramlal. They work very closely with the RSS.
