New Delhi: As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mends its relationship with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), one of the issues that the two sides are now working on is ensuring seamless coordination between the Sangh Parivar and the ministries of the BJP government, ThePrint has learnt.
According to sources in the Sangh, the lack of coordination and consultation between the organisations in the Sangh and the central government had been flagged by several RSS affiliates to BJP president J.P. Nadda during the annual Akhil Bharatiya Samanvay Baithak held in Palakkad, Kerala, last week.
They stressed the fact that better coordination and consultation would ensure policy decisions are taken in the “right manner”.
“Though many issues were not raised in front of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat ji, since, during the baithak, affiliates also get an opportunity to sit separately with others, a number of them told Nadda ji that they are not given appointments in time by the ministries and several key issues end up not getting resolved,” said a senior RSS functionary.
While things had improved over the past few months, the functionary added, there was still room for a lot of improvement.
The three-day meeting (31 August to 2 September) assumed significance as it took place at a time when the BJP has been attempting to fix its ties with its ideological patron after a debacle at the June Lok Sabha elections when the party failed to win a majority.
‘Civil servants also hinder the process’
According to sources in the Sangh, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), among others, who have raised issues that affect their organisations—such as genetically modified crops, the Employee Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS 95), or prices of soybeans—have found it difficult to coordinate with the government.
Many of them stressed the fact that coordination needs to be more effective. Some admitted that a few ministries are very proactive and open to suggestions while others are quite reluctant, they added.
The BMS is likely to carry out a series of demonstrations regarding EPS 95 on 19 September, demanding that the minimum pension be raised to Rs 5,000 from Rs 1,000. It will also press the government to provide medical benefits under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme.
“We are all working for the nation and its betterment. At times it is felt that some of the civil servants also hinder the process of a dialogue between the affiliates and the government. We highlighted how several key policy-related decisions which have a direct impact on people are not able to materialise in the manner it should because of lack of consultation between us,” said a functionary who attended the meeting.
“Mohan Bhagwat ji stressed (at the baithak) the fact that, for us, the nation is supreme and every one of us is working in that direction. He pointed out that we need to work in tandem with each other,” the functionary added.
When asked to comment on the issue, RSS publicity in-charge Sunil Ambekar told ThePrint: “In the Sangh, coordination is an ongoing and a continuous process. New issues keep coming up and the focus is always on resolving issues.”
Talking to reporters Monday, Ambekar had admitted that there were “issues” between the Sangh and the BJP but had termed it as a “family matter”.
“RSS is completing 100 years. It has been a long journey. Functional matters come up in the long journey. We have a mechanism to overcome those functional issues. Our formal and informal meetings go on,” he had said.
A senior BJP functionary who attended the meeting said that the party leadership is aware that it requires greater and better coordination with the Sangh—something that was missing during the campaign for the Lok Sabha polls as a large section of the RSS cadre stayed away from election work, leading to a reduced tally for the ruling party.
“The way things have been happening in the past few weeks and the kind of measures that are being put in place shows that the BJP will coordinate better from now on,” he said.
“Post this meeting, we expect the BJP to be more alert and that the level of consultation between the government and the affiliates will also be strengthened,” the BJP functionary added.
Another party functionary said that with the BJP gearing up for elections in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, where the party is facing tough challenges, “new structures and arrangements” to ensure better coordination in the future will soon become clearer.
