Mumbai: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is celebrating its centenary year, finally had its way in Maharashtra. It ensured that its candidate Devendra Fadnavis was elected as the 21st chief minister of the politically second most important state next only to Uttar Pradesh.
Even before the assembly poll results were out, the Sangh was clear in its mind that Fadnavis would be the CM. However, the central leadership was toying with the idea of cherry picking a lesser known person for the prime role like what it did in Rajasthan and Haryana.
The FPJ had on December 1 front paged a report that a power struggle between the RSS and the BJP as the reason for the delay in government formation in Maharashtra.
Last Thursday, caretaker CM Eknath Shinde, who was nursing the ambition of being nominated again to the top post, had categorically stated that he would abide by whatever decision was taken by the BJP top brass. That one statement should have cleared the deck for the BJP to go ahead and nominate its candidate.
But apparently till the last moment the party leadership was trying to have its way. There was talk of the leaders in Delhi wanting a Maratha leader and in that context the names of BJP general secretary Vinod Tawde and Union minister Murlidhar Mohol were being mentioned.
But in the face of RSS’ insistence the party asked its observers Vijay Rupani and Nirmala Sitharaman to go to Mumbai and oversee the election of Fadnavis as the CM.
Senior BJP leader Ganesh Naik said 99 percent of the party wanted Fadnavis. In the wake of such a ground swell of support for Fadnavis in Maharashtra and the strong RSS factor the party leadership gave in.
Said a source in the RSS: “There is a limit to over soching (thinking) on the part of the BJP leaders. After the severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, we had worked hard for the success of the Mahayuti led by the BJP during the assembly election and we wanted to ensure that the right candidate is made the CM.” Fadnavis is a long time “karyakarta” of the RSS. In fact, his entire family has a history of deep connection with the saffron outfit.
The selection of Fadnavis also signals the fact that the RSS, henceforth, would play a proactive role in BJP’s affairs at the macro level. The selection of Fadnavis, a Brahmin, also proves that the RSS is unwilling to give into casteist politics.
Certain BJP leaders themselves were stating that the Marathas would resent the pitchforking of a Brahmin as the CM. But the RSS pooh poohed these claims. It was pointed out that earlier Fadnavis himself had a full five-year term as CM and he was accepted by the Marathas then.
In the past, another Brahmin Manohar Joshi was made the CM by the late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray. Also, it is significant that it was Fadnavis, as deputy CM, who played a major role in piloting a bill in the state legislature to provide for reservation to Marathas in matters of education and government jobs. That bill was unanimously supported by all parties in the legislature.
The RSS was upset when during the Lok Sabha poll campaigning BJP president J.P. Nadda made a statement out of the blue that the party was not dependent on the RSS anymore. This statement sent alarm bells ringing in the RSS headquarters in Nagpur.
That statement pointed to a larger gameplan of the BJP leadership to keep the RSS at arms length and emerge as a stand alone organisation. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the original avatar of the BJP, was conceived in 1952 as a political extension of the RSS.
Over the decades workers of the RSS and its front organisations had toiled hard to ensure the political success of the BJP in different states and at the Centre. The Ramjanambhoomi campaign spearheaded by the RSS had the political subtext of securing a majority for the BJP in the Lok Sabha.
Given this background Nadda’s statement came as a shock to the RSS leadership and it decided to respond effectively to ensure that the umbilical cord between the parent body and the party is not severed. The appointment of Fadnavis should be seen in that context.
