All We Hear Is Monologue

The government suffers from trust deficit, dia­logue deficit and team deficit. The prime minister should realise that India is not Gujarat multiplied by 29. Any attempt to imprint homogeneity on India’s immense variegation in polity, economics, cultures and ways of life will be disastrous.

The BJP government as envisioned by the RSS rests on a tripod: governance, transparency and Hindutva. Not much has happened on any count. They are making compromises based on half-truths or convenient truths. The PDP-BJP coalition in Jammu and Kashmir, the land acquisition bill—these are the glaring examples.

The government and the party both still seem to be in election mode. If Modi cannot run the government, he should serve as an apprentice to someone senior. He shouldn’t act in undue haste. Chawal ko jaldi utaar den to kaccha rah jata hai, aur dubara pakayen to jal jata hai (If you take the pot off the fire too early, the rice remains uncooked; and if you try to reheat it, the rice will get burnt).

Unfortunately, everybody has been made insignificant in this set-up—ministers, MPs, party functionaries. All we hear are monologues. Or ‘Mann Ki Baat’. Is your ‘Talk from the Heart’ what the farmers are thinking?

The RSS is with the government and is also not with the government. It cannot have the cake and eat it too. “If there’s some good work, it’s because of us; if there’s something bad, it’s the government’s failure.” This dualism is not sustainable: there’s need for more clarity. The RSS’s principle is that the man on the spot is the best judge. There should ideally be no intervention or interference. But that’s hardly the case. They cannot enjoy the best of both worlds. There cannot be authority without accountability. They have subconsciously started enjoying the trappings of power.

This hide-and-seek relationship is immoral. The unnecessary politicisation of the RSS cadre is also, to my mind, undesirable. Satta se nahin, sarkaron se nirman karein (Build the nation through good governance, and not by wielding authority like a laathi.)

As told to Mihir Srivastava

Former RSS pracharak and BJP ideologue Govindacharya once shared a room with Narendra Modi; E-mail your columnist: letters [AT] outlookindia [DOT] com