Newsmaker: Pravin Togadia

Glaring through a saffron haze

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It is not much of a secret that Narendra Modi and Pravin Togadia, working president of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), have an ambivalent relationship. A long way from Togadia boasting in 2002: "Narendrabhai is riding the horse but the reins are in my hand." In Modi's second term as Gujarat chief minister, there was nothing private about Togadia's ambitions. "I was offered the chief ministership of Gujarat twice by the sangh parivar," he declared once, revealing that plans were afoot to create a new political formation to take care of the interest of the Hindus. This was because the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had become a "B-team of the Congress".

The Gujarat VHP tried to launch a movement around the trishul, encouraging Hindus to carry a miniature like a Sikh kripan. It found no resonance in Gujarat, as Modi didn't want any parallel Hindu structures. He virtually externed Togadia, who then had to go to Rajasthan to launch it. VHP supporters once flaunted their connections with the state government and used to offer their services to investors in Gujarat for a small fee. They then found themselves cut out of all government deals. As Modi's second term wound down and the 2007 Assembly elections approached, Togadia said at a press conference that the VHP would not support the BJP in the polls. "No one should consider himself the most powerful person and ruling over the hearts of the people," he declared. A strained relationship.

When the Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government came to power at the Centre, it was the late Ashok Singhal who offered himself as a bridge between Modi and Togadia. He made placatory noises and tried to bring the estranged ones together. However, Modi did not bite. The ban on the Ram Mandir Yatra imposed by the UP government in 2014 elicited no response from the Centre. Nor did Modi react when Singhal and Togadia were arrested by the UP government.

Now, however, his remark that 70-80 per cent of 'gau rakshaks' (cow protection squads) are anti-social elements has stirred a hornets' nest. Although the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parivar's parent body, has publicly said it agrees, Togadia has blasted it and says he's going to challenge it. He has said Modi's directive to states for creating dossiers on cow vigilantes amounted to 'racial profiling' of Hindus. It appears 2,000 gau rakshaks will congregate in Jaipur next week to discuss how their campaign can be taken forward. So, does Modi have a problem on his hands? The signal he is sending is, he doesn't care. Togadia was asked to come to Nagpur last week and spent nearly five hours in the RSS headquarters. He was reminded of the statement by Manmohan Vaidya, an RSS senior, that Modi's gau rakshak statement should be taken in the right spirit. How the VHP is going to take the rebuff remains to be seen. Modi might be 'Hindu hridaya samrat' but it is Togadia who is VHP hridaya samrat.