Mohan Bhagwat’s relatively inclusive ideas can frame BJP’s election campaign for 2019; it will rub off on the Opposition too

In a long speech in New Delhi yesterday, RSS supremo Mohan Bhagwat has struck a relatively inclusive position given his organisation’s past legacy. Interestingly, Bhagwat’s attempts at building bridges with the opposition is at variance with the aggressive tone and tenor of BJP’s electoral slogans since 2014.

BJP president Amit Shah’s “Congress mukt Bharat” dream has largely framed BJP’s pursuit of power since 2014 in the states. This has led, sometimes, to taking power right from under Congress’s nose forcing the main opposition party to also up the stakes, as happened after the Karnataka results. BJP leaders have also espoused an aggressive nationalism that tells dissenters to go to Pakistan or ascribed anti-national motives to their actions.

Bhagwat articulates a different vision of claiming to carry the opposition along. This can be a guiding vision for the ruling party as it prepares for the 2019 elections. Even the Opposition can respond by engaging more often with RSS leaders just as it does with BJP lawmakers in Parliament, assemblies and governments. Such attempts to strike the common ground at the political centre can cool tempers, avoid acrimony and focus on developmental issues that matter to people in a crucial election year.

RSS is today India’s most powerful socio-cultural organisation with BJP’s dominance in politics further enhancing the Sangh Parivar’s heft. History is replete with instances of those in commanding positions squandering the advantage through seeking to exclude large sections of the population and sowing the seeds of conflict. Bhagwat suggests that RSS and BJP will not take that course. This is helpful and should be followed up on.