The Covid crisis has made the RSS modify its line on the BJP. After the RSS sarkaryava (general secretary), Dattatreya Hosabale, put his own spin on the critical situation by saying that "anti-Indian forces" could take advantage of the government’s problems, the sarsanghchalak (chief) of the influential “cultural” organization, Mohan Bhagwat, has jointly blamed the people, the bureaucrats and the government for lowering their guards and allowing the virus to proliferate.

While Hosabale intended to turn the spotlight away from the Modi government’s failures to the saffron camp’s customary conspiracy theories involving the evil machinations of the BJP’s opponents who are routinely dubbed as anti-nationals, Bhagwat has tried to be more conciliatory by acknowledging the possibility of the government making mistakes.  

However, he has also tried to be even-handed by spreading the blame equally between the ruling politicians, the people and the officials. He calculates that if all three are guilty, then the government’s culpability is automatically reduced. Significantly, he has not referred to the opposition unless he has included them among the “people”.  

Whether this explanation will pass muster among those who matter, viz. the voters, remains to be seen. But the change of stance on the crisis between the secretary and his more mature boss shows that the RSS has begun to take the BJP’s predicament more seriously, because of the realization that facile attempts to pass the buck to the “anti-nationals” will not do.

RSS concern 

Perhaps even more than the BJP, the RSS must be deeply concerned about the present calamity since it can delay the implementation of its Hindutva project yet again. Such a possibility must be all the more upsetting for the RSS because it must have assumed after the 2019 general election that the nation was advancing surely and steadily towards the goal of a "Hindu Rashtra" (Hindu nation) with the scrapping of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and the enactment of a new citizenship law with its focus on non-Muslims along with the projected compilation of a National Register of Citizens. Now all such hopes will have to be put on hold.

Ever since the RSS anticipated the fulfillment of its dreams with the beginning of the Ramjanmabhoomi (birthplace of Lord Ram, a revered Hindu divinity) movement in the 1990s, it has been frustrated by the reluctance of BJP leaders like former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to push ahead with greater speed towards the cherished goal of a nation of, by and for Hindus. The relations, therefore, between Vajpayee and then RSS chief K S Sudarshan were less than cordial.

It’s different with present prime minister Narendra Modi. Unlike the other hardliner, L K Advani, who mellowed under Vajpayee’s influence, Modi has remained as ideologically hawkish as he was reputed to be. The RSS must have also been beguiled into believing along with many others that Modi was a capable administrator.

His penchant for running the government mostly by himself was seen as an example of confidence in his own ability and not a sign of hubris. Moreover, Modi’s choice of other hardliners like Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh chief minister) for leadership roles must have assured the RSS that the nation was going in the right direction. Not surprisingly, one of Hosabale’s first statements on becoming the sarkaryava was in favor of the 'love jihad' legislations.

But all that has gone up in smoke. The government’s bungling, especially in the matter of exporting vaccines without realizing how much they would be needed at home, has damaged the BJP’s reputation as never before.

BJP on backfoot 

Instead of being seen as a party that will rule from panchayats (rural self-governing bodies) to parliament for half a century, as Home Minister Amit Shah once boasted, the BJP may struggle to retain its position of power in Uttar Pradesh - the country's most populous and politically consequential state - in next year’s assembly elections if the outcome of the recent panchayat polls in the state is taken into consideration. That the seemingly somnolent Samajwadi Party, a regional party, emerged as a frontrunner in these elections could not but have shocked the BJP.

It will be a mortal blow to the RSS if it again experiences under Modi the disappointment which it suffered when the BJP was under Vajpayee and Advani. Because of India’s diversity, it is not easy to find a hardliner who will be able to traverse the minefield of pluralism without losing his footing. Modi had succeeded in doing so with his promise of "achhey din" (good days) and "sabka saath, sabka vikas" (with all, development for all). Most people had believed in these promises of impending good days and development for all till the pandemic exposed their hollowness.

The BJP may yet succeed in retrieving its position as it did in 2014 after a decade in the wilderness when the party was described as a "kati patang" (floating kite) by former editor and BJP minister Arun Shourie. But the concern of the RSS will be whether the ambitious Hindutva agenda can be revived in all its glory.

(The author is a writer on current affairs. The views are personal)