For people who comment here about the similarity of the Governments and Congress Presidents relationship with the BJP and RSS relationship, they miss one essential difference. The Congress President and Vice-President are members of the same party as the government. A Party directing or influencing high policy to an elected government is common, except in countries like the USA which has evolved into being direct democracy system without a party doing very much more than being an election fighting machine. Besides, both, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were elected MPs and had a legitimate function in the power sharing arrangement. That they had a somewhat illegitimate control over the party of which they were part of is another matter. The RSS, firstly claims its a cultural organization. It has no claim to political legitimacy of its own. The Sarsanghchalak is not an elected MP or even a member of the BJP. The RSS and BJP go to great pains to show they exist apart. The BJP has political legitimacy of its own. The President of the BJP has a legitimate function to ensure its government implements its policies. The RSS has none. This is what makes the control of the RSS over the BJP extra-constitutional. When the RSS nominates a BJP President and a BJP PM, then it is not very different from the control 10 Janpath had over the Congress. The perpetuation of the Congress system by other means is what is worrisome. Many of us have fought and written over dynastic control over parties like the Congress, SP, DMK, Akali Dal, NCP etc.. We must now worry about cabal control over the BJP.
Posted on: Tue, 13 May 2014 09:00:16 +0000