Is the Bharatiya Janata Party’s move to raise its own army of karyakartas a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s strategy to end the party’s electoral dependence on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh cadres? The BJP has maintained silence on this question but among the RSS brass it has stoked anxiety. They are closely watching the BJP exercise, which is slated to be completed before party president Amit Shah’s term comes up for renewal next January.
“The idea is to train 15 lakh workers in four months,” BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe told Scroll.in. “These new recruits will be party’s dedicated karyakartas, fully trained in its culture and ideology and who will help strengthen the organisation.”
Sahasrabuddhe is a part of the core team formed by Amit Shah, Modi’s closest aide, to oversee the new karyakartas’ training. BJP leaders Ram Madhav, CR Patil and Murlidhar Rao are the other members of the team. Early this month, the party had organised a three-day training workshop in Delhi for the party leaders who would in turn help impart instructions to the 15 lakh karyakartas in different parts of the country.
“The training is likely to begin sometime in September,” said Sahasrabuddhe. “It will be completed in four months.”
Deep dependence
On the face of it, the exercise may seem innocuous. But given the complex bond between the BJP and the RSS, in which the former overwhelmingly depends on the latter for ideology and cadre, the initiative has sent alarm bells ringing in Nagpur, the headquarters of the Sangh.
According to a senior RSS office-bearer, the issue of how the new recruits would impact the BJP’s ties with the RSS will come up for discussion in the three-day conclave of the Sangh’s prant pracharaks. The conclave will be held at Nainital in Uttarakhand from July 22.
From the beginning, the BJP has relied on cadres provided by the RSS, a dependence that has perennially left it under the sway of the Sangh. At present, more than two-thirds of the party executive has RSS roots. Creating another seamless bridge, the Sangh laterally transfers leaders to occupy significant positions in the saffron party, one of whom always acts as general secretary in-charge of the BJP organisation (currently this post is held by Ram Lal).
Though BJP leaders insist this relation is merely ideological and that they consult with the RSS instead of taking directives, Nagpur’s word on every key issue is always seen as final.
It is this arrangement that has come under threat with the BJP deciding to look beyond its mentor’s cadres and develop its own dedicated cadre base. It harks back to Modi’s style of functioning in Gujarat. For, soon after he became the chief minister, the BJP in the state became the party of Modi supporters and the Sangh’s role became attenuated to an adjunct of the BJP.
Changes at basic level
According to officials in the BJP, the party will borrow heavily from the cadre base of Baba Ramdev and Shri Shri Ravishankar to build its army of 15 lakh karyakartas. The two godmen, perceived to be close to the BJP, will be called upon to train the new karyakartas, sources said.
“Initially, the new recruits will be larger in number at mandal [block] level,” said Sahasrabuddhe. “But as you go up, their proportion will decrease vis-à-vis the established leaders.”
It is at the polling booth – the basic core of electoral politics – where the change will reflect first. So far the RSS cadres have manned the booth-level operations for the BJP.
Political observers feel that a shift at the base level, if achieved successfully, will have a significant bearing on the practice of laterally transferring leaders from the RSS to the BJP at higher levels. Together, this would weaken the big brother’s grip over the BJP, something that Modi had achieved in Gujarat but is yet to accomplish at the national level.
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“The idea is to train 15 lakh workers in four months,” BJP vice president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe told Scroll.in. “These new recruits will be party’s dedicated karyakartas, fully trained in its culture and ideology and who will help strengthen the organisation.”
Sahasrabuddhe is a part of the core team formed by Amit Shah, Modi’s closest aide, to oversee the new karyakartas’ training. BJP leaders Ram Madhav, CR Patil and Murlidhar Rao are the other members of the team. Early this month, the party had organised a three-day training workshop in Delhi for the party leaders who would in turn help impart instructions to the 15 lakh karyakartas in different parts of the country.
“The training is likely to begin sometime in September,” said Sahasrabuddhe. “It will be completed in four months.”
Deep dependence
On the face of it, the exercise may seem innocuous. But given the complex bond between the BJP and the RSS, in which the former overwhelmingly depends on the latter for ideology and cadre, the initiative has sent alarm bells ringing in Nagpur, the headquarters of the Sangh.
According to a senior RSS office-bearer, the issue of how the new recruits would impact the BJP’s ties with the RSS will come up for discussion in the three-day conclave of the Sangh’s prant pracharaks. The conclave will be held at Nainital in Uttarakhand from July 22.
From the beginning, the BJP has relied on cadres provided by the RSS, a dependence that has perennially left it under the sway of the Sangh. At present, more than two-thirds of the party executive has RSS roots. Creating another seamless bridge, the Sangh laterally transfers leaders to occupy significant positions in the saffron party, one of whom always acts as general secretary in-charge of the BJP organisation (currently this post is held by Ram Lal).
Though BJP leaders insist this relation is merely ideological and that they consult with the RSS instead of taking directives, Nagpur’s word on every key issue is always seen as final.
It is this arrangement that has come under threat with the BJP deciding to look beyond its mentor’s cadres and develop its own dedicated cadre base. It harks back to Modi’s style of functioning in Gujarat. For, soon after he became the chief minister, the BJP in the state became the party of Modi supporters and the Sangh’s role became attenuated to an adjunct of the BJP.
Changes at basic level
According to officials in the BJP, the party will borrow heavily from the cadre base of Baba Ramdev and Shri Shri Ravishankar to build its army of 15 lakh karyakartas. The two godmen, perceived to be close to the BJP, will be called upon to train the new karyakartas, sources said.
“Initially, the new recruits will be larger in number at mandal [block] level,” said Sahasrabuddhe. “But as you go up, their proportion will decrease vis-à-vis the established leaders.”
It is at the polling booth – the basic core of electoral politics – where the change will reflect first. So far the RSS cadres have manned the booth-level operations for the BJP.
Political observers feel that a shift at the base level, if achieved successfully, will have a significant bearing on the practice of laterally transferring leaders from the RSS to the BJP at higher levels. Together, this would weaken the big brother’s grip over the BJP, something that Modi had achieved in Gujarat but is yet to accomplish at the national level.