RSS may lose its influence over BJP: Farmers' leader writes to RSS chief

The losses that BJP suffered in the Graduates/Teachers constituencies in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh reflects that RSS may lose its influence over BJP, a top farmers’ leader Kishore Tiwari has claimed.

In a letter to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, he referred to the recent elections/results of Graduates/Teachers seats in Varanasi, Allahabad-Jhansi and Gorakhpur-Faizabad in Uttar Pradesh and Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, and Amravati in Maharashtra.

Talking about the polls, Tiwari, the advisor to Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on farmers’ issues, said, “In a way, you must appreciate the fact that it is also a sample survey of sentiments of the most qualified big strata of society, constituting more than 60 lakhs people spanning Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, like a 'mini-referendum'.”

The losses in Varanasi, Allahabad-Jhansi and Gorakhpur with a BJP state government, and Nagpur, the seat of RSS headquarters and also both seats at Pune and Amravati, are huge jolts for the Central and State party units, as these Graduates/Teachers segments were pillars of BJP’s support, said Tiwari, the Chairman of Maharashtra government’s Late Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission.

According to him, this calls for an open debate, since these voters are the cream of Indian society – educated and well aware reformers, plus tax-payers who have always been supporting RSS-BJP.

He said that the BJP lost these seats despite the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath heads the government in Centre and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, and RSS has the strongest network in Nagpur.

Saying that it cannot be termed as a “normal defeat”, Tiwari, the founder of Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti and a veteran farmers’ leader, noted, "Has BJP forfeited the faith and confidence of the cream of Indian society as reflected from this largest sample survey? Is it the repercussions of the failure of the PM’s policies and the big economic crisis that burns educated poor/middle-class sections?”

He also said that a message is going out that Modi is helping corporate and capitalists like “Ambani-Adani”.

"Has the PM’s so-called ‘magic’ failed the nation - especially the silent, nonvocal secular Hindus, who no longer back his extremely communally divisive policies, things like 'love-jihad', targeting sections of the population on caste and communal lines, which RSS never propagated ?” he wanted to know.

Tiwari, who had switched from BJP to Shiv Sena ahead of 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls, said: “These aspects must be assessed and seriously debated in the Sangh Parivar think tank, at least, or the RSS may lose its influence over the BJP.”

Based in Yavatmal, the hotbed of farmer's suicides, Tiwari, while describing the Maharashtra situation, also took a dig at Leader of Opposition and ex-Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his banker-wife Amruta.

“I had even requested you check the undue interference and venom spread through the "Amruta-Vani" which the common people have resented. But no corrective measures are visible and the message being spread is “Lord Indra" and his "Amruta-Vani" are practically owners of the state BJP,” he said without naming them.

Tiwari said that the “power-hungry BJP coterie” in Maharashtra is continuously targeting the Shiv Sena to push it out of the government and grab power.”