Bjp Ministers Want Bms, Sjm To Observe Restraint

Some senior BJP ministers in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government are unhappy with the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh affiliates, like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) and the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), for openly criticising the government's economic policies.

These leaders, most of whom have an RSS background, privately say the RSS should not allow its affiliates to issue threats against the government.

One of the leaders quoted instances of the BMS' opposition to the government on the Sankhya Vahini issue. The Swadeshi Jagran Manch, too, has been very critical.

The BJP is as much a part of the Sangh Parivar as the BMS or the SJM, and putting one organisation against the other would create a bad image for the Sangh Parivar, a senior minister said. He said he was peeved at the BMS' criticism and stressed that they should be more responsible.

Liberals within the BJP too are unhappy with the RSS' expectations from the coalition government. However, they defend the RSS saying that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has accepted that the RSS be given a free hand to react the way it wanted, in order to keep the cadre's morale happy.

At the felicitation of RSS chief K S Sudarshan at Vajpayee's residence, it was decided that the RSS would continue to pressurise the government, though it would not do anything to destabilise it or come out openly against the coalition.

The RSS wanted to keep alive the other view point to prepare itself for an alternative model if the model pursued by this government failed, a BJP office-bearer said. This was clear to all leaders present at the high-level meeting with senior RSS functionaries.

The same understanding about the RSS, however, is missing among senior ministers who are not aware of the RSS-Vajpayee understanding. Some of these ministers were trying to deliver the goods despite limited experience in governing, a minister said.