To decode Bhagwat's comments, one has to understand the Sangathan and the Karyakarta

The RSS chief perhaps worries that the tag of "party with a difference" will be lost for the BJP.

Post the unexpected election mandate, sundry commentators have gone on to posit their pet peeves as reasons for the BJP's reduced numbers. This author has seen tweets that have claimed that ignoring climate change and LGBTQ issues were among the reasons that affected the BJP negatively! It is as if supporters of the opposition are seeking personal catharsis, that too with a result that has not exactly gone favourably to them!

But, a few days ago, the RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat made a few remarks that have created a flutter. Coming from the Sarsanghchalak of the RSS, the comments were taken with all the gravitas. The commentariat, especially those that are antagonistic to the BJP, have been quick to label the remarks as a denouncement of the BJP.

But, to make real sense of the comments we need to clearly understand the sangathan and the karyakarta. The election results add only a temporal dimension to the context in which the comments were made.

The Sangathan

It is easy to explain the significance of the Sangathan with an analogy. Think of Apple as a company. We all know it makes iPhone, iPads and other cool computing gadgets. But, how is it organised internally? What drives middle-management and freshers? How is the company designed to maximise shareholder value? These aspects - of competence and culture - are the ones that enables Apple to make mind-boggling profits.

In another example, after buying Twitter, Elon Musk fired 90% of its employees and still managed to better productivity. Such a brutal, but shrewd assessment of the organisation.

The BJP is also an organisation, a very large one. In fact, it is the largest political party in the world. And, it is a non-profit organisation, run through volunteers. The health of the organisation has a bearing on the well-being of country. One has to just look at the opposition party, the Congress, to witness the organisational decay. It does not project the confidence to control the affairs of the state and perhaps, that why it has been unable to get winning mandates.

The BJP is the political arm of the RSS, which has multiple social services organisations under its gambit. Though the RSS claims that it is not into politics, it plays an important role in the affairs of the BJP. It does it through the mechanism of "Sangathan Mantri" or General Secretary (Organisation), who is the representative of the Sangh in the BJP. It is the second-most powerful post after the President of the party.

The RSS is also the "moral regulator" of BJP. The RSS cadres work tirelessly during elections for the BJP. Therefore, the RSS as a huge stake in the success of the BJP. This is exactly the context in which we should analyse the comments of the RSS chief. A organisationally healthy and morally sound Sangathan is necessary to extract shareholder value- which RSS measures in terms of holistic wellbeing or yogakshema of the society.

Brand names matter more in politics. They are hard to build and easy to lose (Exhibit A: Aam Admi Party). The RSS chief perhaps worries that the tag of "party with a difference" will be lost for the BJP.

Also, after any lower-than-expected performance, it is natural for critical voices to become louder. In the way power dynamics are structured, the internal feedback mechanisms have been unable to present a clear diagnosis of setbacks in a few states. So, it has become a moral imperative for a leader from the larger parivar to offer suggestions.

The Karyakarta

Think of yourself working in a company that produces what you believe are world-changing products. Will you still work for free?

All of the work that happens in a political party is through voluntary workers. Without party workers, there will be no party and hence there will be no effective democracy. What drives a karyakarta to devote his life to organisation and thereby to the country, is a deep question that needs to be introspected by readers. One cannot claim to understand politics without a clear understanding of the motives, desires and aspirations of a karyakarta.

The virtues of a political worker are not just confined to intellectual acuity. Loyalty, consistency and persistence are among the admirable and desirable traits. If these virtues are not acknowledged, leave alone rewarded, the organisation goes astray. When political opponents that do not share the value system are inducted into the party, it decays a bit.

If a karyakarta has to be politically successful, they have to navigate through the rungs of the organisation. It is like moving up the ladder in a company, but the political set-up is ginormous and the path, more treacherous. Once you reach the top, you control the destiny of many people. In fact, Prime Minister Modi had started as a grassroots organiser with the RSS, moved to the Gujarat unit of the BJP, then became the General Secretary of the BJP national office in Delhi and later won the mandate to be the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The political success that followed later were underwritten by the growth in the organisation in his formative years.

(In India, since we do not have primaries like in the US, working one's way up in the Sangathan is the main path to success. Some people like Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Admi Party created his own organisation. Some enter parties laterally.)

Cutting to the chase, as much as the Sangathan is at the centre of a democratic polity, the karyakarta is at the heart of the Sangathan. There is a compact, however nebulous it may be, that the karyakarta displaying political virtues has a shot a political success. The compact is threatened by the ingress of opposition leaders into the party.

When the BJP inducted opponents into its fold, especially in Maharashtra, in the run up to the elections, it caused more than a bit of consternation among the karyakartas. These leaders faced protests. The reason cited was - it is all a part of growing up and becoming a big-tent party – but that did not soothe the hearts. The justification that accumulating as much political power as possible under an incorruptible and unabashedly Hindu leadership, will help not only to enact ambitious policies that will benefit the people and but also take forward the ideals of the party, did not cut the ice as well.

The "true sevaks" remark of the RSS chief should be seen as assuaging the karyakarta, who may have felt short-changed by the rough and tumble of the elections.

Saha-chitta

The RSS chief comment on "saha-chitta" or a "collective mind" needs to be studied deeply. Bhagwat quoted a phrase from a shloka in the Rig Veda that inspirits a society to be united in prayers, acquirements, and purpose: [roughly translated to English]

“Common be the prayer of these (assembled worshippers), common be the acquisition, common the purpose, associated be the desire. I repeat for you a common prayer, I offer for you with a common oblation.”

To pursue aspirational national goals all citizens need to work as a hive-mind. The "opposition as pratipaksh and not as enemy" comment by the RSS chief, fits this saha-chitta idea.

In fact, the "One Nation One Election" concept has been mooted to reduce the rancour caused by continuous campaigns that feeds the social media doom-spiral, thus corroding public morality. Cost savings are only secondary.

The "atma chintan" sessions have started informally. Roger Federer had once said that good players learn from losses, while champions learn from victories. The BJP is of the latter kind. They would have already started to pace their minds about 2029.

The immediate impact will be seen in the appointment of the President and General Secretary (Organisation) of the BJP later this month. The party will fine-tune its middle-bureaucracy so that it acts effectively as the communicator/implementer, saddling between the top-leadership and the karyakartas. Party workers too will be assured that that their blood and sweat will not go waste and they are invaluable members of the organisation.

Every result has a silver lining. Maybe the Lok Sabha poll results will goad the BJP to take a more diagnostic look at the Sangathan. BJP can use this opportunity to fine-tune its machinery to become not just a fantastic election fighting machine, but also a more wholesome organisation that can guide India to Viksit Bharat in 2047.

The comments of the RSS Chief should be seen as the beginning of the rejuvenation of the Sangathan and Karyakarta.