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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.

Cousin Clutch

Uddhav Thackeray’s politics, cloaked more in his pride than in ideological rigidity, has now descended into unvarnished desperation. The spectacle on the 59th Foundation Day of the two Shiv Sena factions laid bare not only the erosion of Uddhav’s authority but also the hollowness of his leadership. With his outfit – the Shiv Sena (UBT) – facing fragmentation, his corporators deserting him and his base steadily crumbling, Uddhav made a public and almost plaintive appeal to his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).


With the BMC polls looming, Uddhav’s overture smacks of survival instinct. Raj, the very man who was forced out of Shiv Sena in late 2005 due to Uddhav’s opaque ascent within the party hierarchy, now finds himself being courted as a potential saviour. But unlike 2006, the roles are reversed. Uddhav is no longer the reluctant prince crowned by Balasaheb, but a beleaguered warlord without a kingdom, saddled with strange, ideologically opposed bedfellows like the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and the Congress. The symbolism could not be more ironic as a man once dismissive of Raj’s charisma is now grovelling for a tie-up with him, hoping that Marathi votes can be reunited to salvage his political ruin.


Uddhav’s choice in 2019 to ally with Sharad Pawar’s NCP (then undivided) and the Congress was seen as a clear betrayal of the mandate he fought for alongside the BJP. The optics of that ideological somersault were never convincing.


Uddhav cast aside Hindutva for secularism, only to be punished for it by his own rank and file when Eknath Shinde, along with most of the Sena MLAs, split the Shiv Sena in 2022 in a clear referendum on Uddhav’s stewardship. Today, bereft of the original party’s name, symbol, and most of its legislators, Uddhav clings to borrowed moral legitimacy and inherited nostalgia.


But if Uddhav’s outreach to Raj is reflects his helplessness, it is no less ironic. For Raj Thackeray too is a diminished figure.


Once styled as Balasaheb’s ideological and oratorical heir, he now wanders Maharashtra’s political wastelands in a desperate bid to remain relevant. His MNS, forged in the fires of nativism, rode briefly on a wave of anti-north Indian sentiment in the late 2000s, gaining notoriety for assaults on migrants. Since then, Raj’s fortunes have waned. The MNS was routed in the 2014 and 2019 elections to be reduced to a fringe player.


Uddhav hopes that Raj’s appeal in municipal wards of Mumbai might plug his leaking vote bank. In the unlikely event the alliance does happen, it will not be borne of conviction but of exhaustion.


What remains of the once-mighty Shiv Sena is a tale of two men trapped in the myths of legacy, reduced to scavenging relevance in the alleyways of municipal politics. Marathi voters, long courted with emotional blackmail and street-level theatrics, deserve better than recycled bloodline politics. Raj may or may not extend his hand. But no union of weakness can produce strength.


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