NEW DELHI, 12 April 2005 — Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief K.S. Sudarshan has fired another broadside at former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee even before the uproar created by his earlier remarks had died down.
There was nothing outstanding about Vajpayee’s performance as prime minister and he failed to communicate with his constituency or do anything to help the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Sudarshan said in the weekly Walk The Talk program of NDTV to be telecast Saturday.
Sudarshan’s remarks in the first part of the program telecast last week — that the aging Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani should make way for younger leaders — had created an uproar in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was forced to reaffirm its faith in the leadership of the two leaders.
RSS spokesman Ram Madhav said Sudarshan had been “quoted out of context” and that there was no need for a change in the BJP’s leadership.
“I have spoken to Sudarshanji and he has clarified the comments he made on a television program have been misinterpreted. The RSS has always respected the leadership of Advaniji and Atalji,” he said.
But Sudarshan’s latest remarks could be more damaging. Attacking Vajpayee, the most saleable face of the BJP, he questioned the former prime minister’s performance during the six years that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was in power.
Sudarshan also criticized Vajpayee’s foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya for trying to interfere in the BJP’s affairs and targeted his former principal secretary Brajesh Mishra for allegedly hobnobbing with the Congress.
When the interviewer remarked he had not mentioned Vajpayee in his list of “best prime ministers”, Sudarshan said: “I don’t think he did such a good job. When he made a decision, he never took people along with him.
“I told him that since he was getting old, there should always be someone to assist him but I also told him that a family member should not be interfering in the day-to-day running of the government and the party.”
“He said that wouldn’t be possible,” Sudarshan said in response to a question about Vajpayee’s foster son-in-law.
Sudarshan accused Mishra of aligning with Congress President Sonia Gandhi while he was “advising our camp”.
Senior BJP leaders met at Vajpayee’s residence yesterday evening to frame a strategy to counter Sudarshan’s allegations. BJP leader Arun Jaitley also read out a statement reaffirming the party’s faith in the leadership.
The RSS later yesterday made it clear that it wanted Advani to remain the BJP president and valued him and Vajpayee, trying to undo the damage caused by Sudarshan’s remarks.
The RSS clarified that its chief’s remarks critical of the party’s leadership were not directed at its two stars: Vajpayee or Advani.
“The RSS has always held the leadership of Vajpayee and Advani in high esteem and maintained that the party needs their guidance and leadership always.”
Stating that the issue should be deemed closed once and for all, it asserted that there was “no discussion” within the RSS over the leadership question of BJP.
Reading out a statement issued by RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat, Madhav said Advani had made yeoman contribution to the party, including as its president.
“In the last few months, the party is trying to reorganize itself under his leadership. Sudarshan himself has commended Advani’s leadership at this crucial hour.”
The remarks, seen in the backdrop of the blow hot-blow cold ties between BJP and its ideological parent RSS, caused a sensation and had leaders of both RSS and BJP rushing to mitigate the damage.
Bhagwat, who coordinates between RSS and BJP, said he spoke to Sudarshan and Advani on Sunday.
“Sudarshan made it clear that his very general observations in a TV interview regarding age factor in politics were taken out of context to create such an erroneous impression,” said Bhagwat.
While the RSS has never been very comfortable with Vajpayee, Sudarshan’s apparent comment on Advani raised the specter of trouble between BJP and RSS.
