IS DEMONETISATION A SURGICAL STRIKE AGAINST THE RSS ALSO?

IS DEMONETISATION A SURGICAL STRIKE AGAINST THE RSS ALSO?

Prabhakar Sinha

Narendra Modi's demonetisation is aimed at killing several birds with one stone.

The people perceive the obvious but not the target Modi does not dare even mention.

The obvious targets are the opposition parties, which would be starved of money during the elections in U.P. and Punjab though the BJP will have much more than enough.

But that is not all he wants to achieve.

He has taken a cue from Indira Gandhi and has also adopted her strategy.

Indira Gandhi was preferred by the old guards of the Congress to Morarji Desai because she was  considered a weakling, who would do their bidding, but they were grossly mistaken.

She was no weakling and  had  no intention to play a second fiddle to anyone.

She realised that she could not take on the the old guards ( called the Syndicate ) in the organisation where they were deeply entrenched and decided to reach the people directly bypassing the party.

She took steps which caught the people’s imagination even though they did not  benefit them.

She ended the Privy purses granted to the Deshi Rajas and Maharajas and nationalised private banks. Though these measures did not benefit the people, they saw them as revolutionary steps against the feudal Rajas and the rich, who owned the private banks.

Later, she gave a call for ending poverty (Garibi Hatao), which had a huge appeal to the poor who whole heatedly voted for her and gave her a massive majority in Parliament in 1971 and decimated the Congress (O) of the old guards.

Modi has  similarly decided to follow her foot steps to free himself  from the stranglehold of his creator the RSS.

He has been groomed by the RSS and has been catapulted to his present position by them to make their  dream of  a Hindu Rashtra come true.

The RSS  now expects him to return the favour by using the power of the government to pursue their agenda.

Modi is not averse to the goal but would like to achieve it in a form compatible with the times  and the changed world, but the RSS would not allow him the freedom to choose his time and style.

Modi's silence on many shocking incidents and aggressive hate speeches against the minorities and the secular Indians of his colleagues may not be by design but due to his limitation for the lack of support of his creator the RSS.

The RSS is seen to have damaged his election campaign in Delhi and also Bihar by raising issues bound to damage its electoral prospects.

Modi has either to play a second fiddle to the RSS or weaken it to win freedom of choice and action.

It appears that he, like Indira Gandhi, has decided to win the poor to his side bypassing the organisation.

Demonetisation has caused untold suffering to the middle class but not to the masses who do not have  notes of high denomination.

They view it as an attack on the privileged and the corrupt and do not share the resentment of those who are suffering.

Modi had won their support by the false promise of 'Achchhe Din', which is depleted and now wants to restore it by this step, which is visible everywhere - one end of the country to the other.

His goal is to be fully free from the grip of his creator though not of their ideology and goal.

Thus demonetisation may also be a surgical strike against the RSS.