Opinion | The enigma that is Mohan Bhagwat

Last update:December 27, 2024, 2:32 PM IST

Bhagwat’s public statements are far from random; rather, they are the result of carefully calibrated thought and planning

Mohan Bhagwat is fast becoming one of the enigmas of Indian politics. (Image: PTI/File)

Sarsanghchalak or RSS supreme leader Mohan Bhagwat speaks little, but when he does, people listen and take note, especially in the ruling party, the BJP and the government. Normally, his annual Dussehra address is similar to the RSS’s State of the Union message. This speech allows people to interpret the thinking of one of the most closed and secretive organizations in India and is analyzed for days. These days, however, Bhagwat has been vocal on several occasions and each time what he has said has created a stir.

What exactly is the agenda of one of the most powerful people in the current dispensation, and is there a consistent pattern to his statements?

Bhagwat is fast becoming one of the enigmas of Indian politics. To be sure, his public statements are far from random; rather, they are the result of carefully calibrated thought and planning. In the ten years of Modi’s first two governments, and particularly in his second five-year term, there were repeated rumors that the prime minister and the RSS chief were not on the same page on several issues and occasionally took diametrically opposed positions different on key issues.

Rumors gained momentum when in August 2022, Bhagwat met five prominent Muslim opinion leaders, including former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najib Jung. After meeting them, he visited a masjid and a madrassa in New Delhi. Within a month, he met the chief cleric of the All-India-Imam Organization, Umer Ahmed Ilyasi.

Both the meetings, which were interpreted as a deliberate intervention towards the Muslim community, were seen as a direct response to the transparent attempts by some members of the ruling party and the government to promote the Hindu majoritarian agenda, denigrate the Muslim minority and create – based on hatred and division in society for short-term political dividends. In fact – and this is significant – Bhagwat was controlled by many members of his own organization and other far-right Hindu outfits affiliated with it.

The next time Bhagwat made a clear message was at the inauguration of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024. His speech on that occasion, which was broadcast live nationally, seemed to target Modi as much , the person who presides over the inauguration, as far as the general public is concerned. We must “respect diversity, live together and respect others,” Bhagwat proclaimed. He advised Indians to “embrace benevolence towards all” and work for sehmati consensus. In the specific context of religion, he said: “We must reflect on the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ. Distortions have appeared over time. We must forget these distortions and treat the sons of our country as brothers.” Even from Tulsidas Ramcharitmanashe quoted, in the context of Ram Rajya, the line against division: “Sab nara karahin paraspar priti”—everyone will have mutual respect for each other.

After the relatively disappointing results for the BJP in the 2024 national elections, Bhagwat spoke again. This time, he commented quite eloquently about ahankaar or the arrogance that besets leaders. The following month he expressed anger at the ongoing acrimony and mistrust between the government and the Opposition: “How is the country going to work like this? The opposition is not an adversary.” This month, he created new waves by saying the campaign to convert mosques into temples should stop. He added that it was delusional for anyone to think he could become the leader of Hindus by stoking communal divisions. The Indians, he said, had lived in harmony for centuries, that harmony should not be disturbed and that everyone had a right to worship in his own way.

His statement drew bitter and hostile criticism from a cabal of so-called Hindu seers. They openly rejected his plea and rejected any suggestion that he was the leader of the Hindus. What seems to be the case is that the BJP-RSS has unleashed, on the way to power, and especially in the last decade, a Frankenstein monster, which they cannot control on their own.

When Bhagwat, who was interestingly instrumental in founding the BJP’s Rashtriya Muslim Manch, tries to douse somewhat the growing communal cauldron, it is rekindled by his own followers. Then he tries to appease them, as he did in the same month of December, by raising the dog whistle of supporting a three-child policy to increase the number of Hindus against the (false) propaganda that they will soon be covered by a policy fast. growing Muslim population. But increasingly, this is no ice against the growing hostility of his own flock to his perceived policy of – ironically enough – Muslim appeasement.

So what will Mohan Bhagwat do next? Will he back down or push forward his apparent agenda of greater religious harmony? Or, given the ideological background of the RSS, is there such an agenda and is it all just a deliberate good cop bad cop game?

Who has the answer? Perhaps only Bhagwat, the enigma himself.

The author is a former diplomat, author and politician. The opinions expressed in the piece above are personal and solely the author’s. They do not necessarily reflect the views of News18.