Kerala   

`Rupture of dialogue' cause for RSS-BJP rift: Govindacharya

Special Correspondent

"Mismatch between Sangh's expectations and BJP's performance"

KOCHI: F ormer Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary and Hindutva ideologue K.N. Govindacharya has said that ``distrust and the rupture of dialogue'' between the ``political leadership'' (BJP) and the ``mass base'' (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) have led to the current conflict between the two.

Mr. Govindacharya, who left active politics and went on a sabbatical after he was allegedly sidelined by the BJP top brass some years ago, was answering a question on the crisis in the relationship between the RSS and BJP leaders, at a news conference here on Monday.

He said there was a mismatch between the ``expectations'' (of the RSS) and the ``performance'' (of the BJP). Hinting at his displeasure at the alleged clout of ambitious professionals and upper-middle class youths in the BJP, Mr. Govindacharya referred to them as `Syuppies' (saffronised upwardly mobile young people).

Asked for his comments on the `remote control' of the BJP by the RSS, he said each of the Sangh Parivar affiliates should be ``self-sufficient and self-dependant,'' but at the same time they should be ``attitudinally cooperative.''

Mr. Govindacharya, known for his criticism of economic liberalisation and globalisation, said liberalisation had increased rural poverty and unemployment.

He conceded that it had reduced urban poverty a bit, but at the cost of increasing crime and pollution. He said globalisation was ``anti-nature and anti-human'' and was destroying society. Even in the West, mega-multinationals, which promoted globalisation, worked against the interests of the people. They made profits by outsourcing work and denying jobs to the locals.

Non-sectarian

He said his concept of Hindutva was non-sectarian; but, asked how he viewed the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 when he was a general secretary of the BJP, Mr. Govindacharya said: "It was neither political nor religious; it was a civilisational issue."

He added: "I neither condemn it, nor condone it nor eulogise it." To him it was not a `saurya diwas' (day of bravery) nor was it a `kalank diwas' (stained day). He claimed that `minorityism' was the main cause for the Masjid issue.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

`Rupture of dialogue' cause for RSS-BJP rift: Govindacharya
Briefly

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu