The much-awaited contest for the control of the Delhi Assembly and the government has pitted the Bharatiya Janata Party against the Aam Aadmi Party, with the Congress struggling to remain in the race. However, the election has created a dilemma for the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), since its primary objective would be to ensure that the Congress does not make a comeback at any cost. It is a well-known fact that the BJP is virtually the political arm of the Sangh though its president, J.P.Nadda, had during the Parliamentary polls, stated in a controversial interview, that his party was self-sufficient to take on its political opponents. The Lok Sabha election saw the RSS volunteers keeping away from the contest in many parts of the country resulting in a verdict which brought down the BJP’s numbers from 303 to 240.
However, the Sangh backed the BJP fully in both the Haryana and Maharashtra Assembly elections thus leading to the Congress rout in both places. The relations between the Sangh and the BJP have since then improved considerably. However, the RSS is also known to have played a major role in the India Against Corruption movement which led to the fall of the Congress dispensation at the Centre in the 2014 elections. It was a part of a well-thought through strategy that the RSS was able to dislodge the Manmohan Singh government and used multiple people including Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal to achieve the objective. After suffering successive defeats in the past two Assembly polls and also being impacted by the presence of AAP nominees in states like Haryana, Goa and Gujarat, the Congress has described AAP as the “B’’ team of the RSS. The Sangh as well as the AAP have in the past strived for a “Congress-Mukt’’ Bharat and this exercise commenced from the National Capital in 2013. The issue which has arisen is that what would the RSS do in the ongoing Delhi polls. If the Congress charge is presumed to be correct, would the “B’’ team get its backing when the “A’’ team is on the threshold of victory. A difficult choice if at all it has to be made. Ground reports suggest that the RSS volunteers are working in 50 out of 70 Assembly segments for the BJP. While the authenticity of such information is in the realm of speculation, it needs to be ascertained why would the RSS not work in all the 70 and only in select areas. This logic defies all logic and can easily be dismissed as propaganda by opponents of the BJP.
There is also source-based information which indicates that the RSS wants the BJP to come to power but would want AAP to be around so that the Congress does not make a comeback. It amounts to having your cake and eating it as well. It is another matter that the Congress faces internal challenges, the poor organizational network being its biggest hurdle. There are certain similarities in the BJP campaign for the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. Political observers had pointed out that during the Parliamentary elections, the BJP tables in many areas had the Ram Mandir flags flying and not those of the party. In the current scenario, the sight of Ram Mandir flags being sold along with National flags at various intersections do provide a food for thought. While at one level, the BJP narrative of linking Nationalism with Ram Mandir is apparent, at another level it is a subtle way of introducing the Ram temple sentiments into the campaign. It should come as no surprise if the Ram Temple flags are flaunted at the BJP tables on the polling day as well. The RSS has in the past always pursued what it considers to be appropriate at different times. In 1980 and 1984, the Sangh backed the Congress, since in its perception, the grand old party was the only entity which could keep the country united. It backed the BJP in every election thereafter except in 2024, when it probably wanted to drive home the point of its supremacy. The choice in Delhi was never as hard as it is now, since in the last two Assembly polls, the contest was one sided with the AAP getting more than 50 percent of the votes that had been cast, a record of sorts. However, this time around, the BJP is hoping to wrest control of the government to end its string of defeats since the 1993 elections when it came to power on the strength of an aggressive campaign spearheaded by Madan Lal Khurana. There are multiple ironies that have emerged in the ensuing elections and the BJP and the Congress, both, seem to be working to diminish AAP and Arvind Kejriwal. However, the BJP realizes that it would be ideal if it comes to power, and AAP is relegated to a situation where its seats are down by at least one third.
The Congress wishes to reclaim its footprint by winning a few seats, thus heralding its revival. There are certain issues which also need to be understood and realized. The biggest question is the spoiler role played by AAP in Haryana, Goa and Gujarat, the three states where it had no chance of winning. The question is whether it fielded candidates in these places at the instance of the Sangh to thwart the Congress and reduce its chances. There is also this common objective which the BJP and the Congress nurture secretly. That is to reduce the role of regional parties and thus pave the way for a two-party system. In current context, it is the RSS which needs to be put under scrutiny to ascertain what its role would be in the Delhi Assembly polls, since this is a key element to the final outcome.
