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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

‘Bharat Ratna to Savarkar will increase its prestige’

Mumbai: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday threw his full weight behind the long-standing demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, asserting that the Hindutva ideologue’s inclusion would enhance the dignity of the country’s highest civilian honour. Bhagwat, who explained the genesis and growth of the RSS over past 100 years in two lectures at the Nehru Centre here on Saturday and Sunday, replied to several...

‘Bharat Ratna to Savarkar will increase its prestige’

Mumbai: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarsanghachalak Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday threw his full weight behind the long-standing demand to confer the Bharat Ratna on Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, asserting that the Hindutva ideologue’s inclusion would enhance the dignity of the country’s highest civilian honour. Bhagwat, who explained the genesis and growth of the RSS over past 100 years in two lectures at the Nehru Centre here on Saturday and Sunday, replied to several questions. While replying to one of the questions, he remarked, “If Swatantraveer Savarkar is given the Bharat Ratna, the prestige of the Bharat Ratna itself will increase.” He was asked, why there has been a delay in conferring the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar, in reply to which, Bhagwat said, “I am not part of that committee. But if I meet someone, I will ask. Even without that honour, he rules the hearts of millions of people.” he added. Social Divisions Bhagwat replied to questions that were clubbed in 14 different groups ranging from national security to environment, social harmony, youth, arts and sports. Whenever the questions suggested or expressed expectations that the RSS should do certain things, Bhagwat stressed on the involvement of the society and initiative from the society in resolving the problems. While addressing the critical issue of Uniform Civil Code, Bhagwat stated that the UCC should be framed by taking everyone into confidence and must not lead to social divisions. In the same way while replying to the question related to illegal migrants in the country, Bhagwat urged people to “detect and report” the “illegal infiltrators” to the police. He also urged people not to give them any employment and to be more “vigilant.” Backing SIR He highlighted that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise has already revealed the “foreigners” living in the country. “The government has a lot to do regarding infiltration. They have to detect and deport. This wasn’t happening until now, but it has started little by little, and it will gradually increase. When the census or the SIR is conducted, many people come to light who are not citizens of this country; they are automatically excluded from the process,” he said. “But we can do one thing: we can work on detection. Their language gives them away. We should detect them and report them to the appropriate authorities. We should inform the police that we suspect these people are foreigners, and they should investigate and keep an eye on them, and we will also keep an eye on them. We will not give employment to any foreigner. If someone is from our country, we will give them employment, but not to foreigners. You should be a little more vigilant and aware,” he added. SC Chief Emphasising the inclusivity of the Sangh, he said that anyone can become ‘Sarsanghchalak’ (RSS chief), including the SC and STs, as the decision is solely dependent on the work that any individual put for the organisation. “Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra or Brahmin does not qualify for the Sarsanghchalak position (RSS Chief), a Hindu will become the one who works and is best available. A Hindu will become, and that can also be an SC or ST. Anyone can become it depends on the work. Today, if you see, all classes have representation in the Sangh. The decision is taken on the basis of one who works and is best available,” he said. He pointed out that when the RSS was founded, its work began in a Brahmin-dominated community and hence, most of its founders were Brahmins, which led to the organisation being labelled as a Brahmin outfit at the time. People always look for an organisation that has representatives from their community, he said. “If I were to choose a chief, I would go by the ‘best available candidate’ criterion. When I was appointed RSS chief, there were many best candidates, but they were not available. I was the one who could be relieved from duties and appointed,” he said. He said that to belong to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities is not a disqualification, and neither is being a Brahmin a qualification to become the RSS chief. Ready to step down if Sangh asks for Dr. Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said the Sangh had asked him to continue working despite his age, while stressing that he would step down from the post whenever the organisation directs him to do so. “There is no election to the post of RSS chief. Regional and divisional heads appoint the chief. Generally, it is said that after turning 75, one should work without holding any post,” Bhagwat said. “I have completed 75 years and informed the RSS, but the organisation asked me to continue working. Whenever the RSS asks me to step down, I will do so, but retirement from work will never happen,” he said.

A Loss Well Played

The BJP’s bypoll defeat in Visavadar may look like a setback, but is in fact a cunning move in a longer game to fracture the opposition ahead of the 2027 Gujarat Assembly polls.

GUJARAT
GUJARAT

In India’s most saffron-saturated state, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) defeat in a by-election normally signals seismic political tremors. That the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) won Visavadar, a Patidar stronghold in Gujarat’s Junagadh district, with a margin of over 17,500 votes has thus sparked no shortage of commentary about the BJP’s supposed vulnerability. But seasoned watchers of Gujarat politics would do well to read between the electoral lines. Far from being a sign of weakness, the BJP’s ‘loss’ may well be a calculated concession - a Trojan horse designed to induce a premature alliance between two uneasy opposition parties, the Congress and AAP, and in the process, bleed them both.


On the surface, the AAP’s win is significant. Gopal Italia, its controversial former state president, has clawed back a seat his party originally won in 2022, only to see the victorious MLA, Bhupendra Bhayani, defect to the BJP. Italia’s win also marks the party’s first flicker of resurgence since its drubbing in the Delhi Assembly elections earlier this year. Yet the BJP’s loss was not unexpected. Bhayani, the original defector, was not fielded. The BJP instead ran Kirit Patel, a relatively low-profile candidate in a region where local loyalties run deep. Against him, AAP fielded a polarising but high-visibility leader in Italia.


Italia’s candidacy was a gift in disguise. A known firebrand with little cross-community appeal, his victory, while headline-worthy, brings with it a curious political arithmetic. By handing a seat back to a leader best known for viral videos and agitation politics (but not effective governance), the BJP has ensured that the AAP remains just relevant enough to be a nuisance, but not formidable enough to truly threaten its grip over Gujarat. In fact, the win may compel AAP and Congress to enter into a seat-sharing arrangement for the 2027 assembly elections - an arrangement almost certainly destined to be fraught.


The two parties, after all, are natural rivals masquerading as reluctant partners. Since its Gujarat debut, the AAP has grown at Congress’s expense, not the BJP’s. In 2022, the AAP’s vote share was drawn largely from constituencies where Congress once held sway, especially among SC-ST blocs and sections of the Patidar community. By entering Gujarat as an ‘alternative,’ the AAP undermined the Congress’s claim to be the sole national opposition.


The Congress, for its part, remains in disarray. Despite launching a statewide ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’ to revive its grassroots apparatus, factionalism continues to hobble the party. A prospective alliance with AAP, especially after the latter’s posturing in 2022, could demoralise loyalists and further erode its social base.


Beneath the electoral theatre lies the BJP’s longer stratagem, say observers. The saffron party, which has ruled Gujarat uninterrupted since 1995, knows that its biggest strength lies not merely in winning votes, but in shaping the terrain of contest. It has long specialised in forcing opposition parties into reactive positions: engineering defections, exploiting rival egos and amplifying internal contradictions. The Visavadar bypoll fits neatly into this playbook. It allows the BJP to temporarily cede space to a lesser adversary while ensuring that the broader anti-BJP front remains divided and incoherent.


There is also the matter of optics. AAP’s hyperbolic claims that “only it can defeat the BJP in Gujarat” following this single-seat win will not escape the ruling party’s notice. Such overreach only adds to internal Congress frustrations, thereby accelerating the very fragmentation the BJP thrives on. So, while Visavadar may seem like a crack in the BJP’s Gujarat edifice, it is in reality a pressure valve that is calculated, timed and deliberately opened to destabilise its opponents. The real battle, as always, is not the seat at hand, but the narrative that follows after. On that front, the BJP remains leagues ahead.

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