Modi's Arthashastra

There are many ways to describe the split in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra but an article in the latest edition of Organiser, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) mouthpiece, says a lot about what the Parivar thinks. In it, veteran journalist T V R Shenoy has said Modi is "thoroughly steeped" in Kautilya's prescriptions on statecraft as detailed in the Arthashastra as also in the persona of Mudrarakshasa, the eponymous protagonist in the ancient play by Visakhadatta. The play, considered historical, tells the story of Chandragupta Maurya and his mentor Chanakya allying with King Parvateshwar to defeat the Nanda dynasty. But when Parvateshwar dies, his son Malayaketu, assisted by his brilliant prime minister Rakshasa, demands all the territories earlier held by the Nanda dynasty. But Chanakya convinces Rakshasa to join Chandragupta. Shenoy says the BJP struck a pact with the Sena to bring down a mutual foe but after Bal Thackeray's death, his son, Uddhav demanded the top job in Maharashtra. Shenoy writes how the seventh chapter of Kautilya's Arthashastra defines the virtues of an exemplary ally as "consistent, submissive, not prone to duplicity…" and that "someone is an ally only to the extent that he provides assistance". Sena, Shenoy says, ceased to be an ally when it started making demands rather than providing assistance. "It meant that Sena could no longer play a role in Modi's long term plan, which is to win the General Election 2019," he writes.