Skip to main content

Nitish providing legitimacy to Sangh-BJP like Chimanbhai Patel did: But why forget JP?

Scanning through a “Quint” article recently, I got somewhat curious. The headline was enough attract me: “Will Nitish Kumar ‘Legitimise’ BJP in Bihar Like Chimanbhai Did?” Authored by Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, it said, as Bihar prepares for India’s first elections in the post-Covid-19 era (is it?), it was necessary to examine “a few slices of history”. Thus, it refers to how, between the summer of 1989 and the autumn of 1990, the BJP cozied up to Patel, propped him up as Gujarat chief minister, “and thereafter, pulled the rug from beneath his feet.” 
Banking heavily on an interview Mukhopadhyay had with Narendra Modi, the article suggests that Modi played a crucial role in the whole political game being being played out during those crucial days, leading to a situation where his (Modi’s) stock within BJP having “shot up”. While Patel “secured support from the Congress”, what was clear was: BJP and Modi were “the ascendant forces.” A decade later, Modi became Gujarat chief minister.
While the article apprehends a similar scenario may now be repeated in Bihar, I felt it was just one small “slice” of political history of India in which BJP – previously Jana Sangh – and the RSS were legitimised successively in India. Counterview.in has just published an open letter by Major MG Devasahayam IAS (Retd), chairman, NGO People-First, to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of Jayprakash Narain’s (JP’s) death, telling him that JP wanted RSS to be disbanded, and “give up the concept of Hindu Rashtra.”
JP may not be wedded to the Sangh ideology, but can anyone say, he didn’t provide legitimacy to Jana Sangh and RSS. I recall how, talking to us informally, late Mohit Sen, former CPI leader, would tell us students in the Delhi University in 1974, when the JP movement was on the ascendancy, “CPM and RSS both are holding left and right hands of JP, and both say they don’t have anything to do with each other. But there is indeed a common link: JP.”
No doubt, Indira Gandhi-imposed emergency pushed both Sangh Parivar (RSS and Jana Sangh, which later turned into BJP) people and JP-ites to further cozy up to each other in jail, pushing them to form Janata Party post-emergency. The Janata Party consisted an odd conglomerate of Left-of-centre to extreme right wingers, something RSS-Sangh Paviar, “untouchables” in politics then, used for its full advantage to gain legitimacy.
Not without reason, while I have personally found most JP-ites have been critical of RSS and Sangh Parivar, yet in deep corner of their heart, there is some soft feeling for RSS even today – at least this is what I learn from the JP-ites of Gujarat, with whom I have interacted during my journalistic career in the state since 1993. Let me recall an incident: Six years ago, one of them came up with book, a “compilation” of civil rights activities in Gujarat between 1974 and 2014.
Scanning through the book, which had a photograph of JP on the front page (Counterview took a story on the article), I found there were some very good words on an RSS ideologue, who edited an RSS mouthpiece – praising him for his “fearless” journalism. There was considerable flutter around the book following this story, at least among the state activists. Many wondered what was the reason justify an RSS man close to Modi following the victory of BJP in the Lok Sabha elections.

Comments

TRENDING

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.