RSS stand on yatra has BJP workers in a bind

Thrown into another miasma of confusion by the statements of Rashtriya Swaymsevak Sangh (RSS) chief KS Sudarshan, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) cadres are wondering what new revelations await them on the eve of the Bharat Suraksha Yatra to start tomorrow from Bhubaneswar by party leader LK Advani.

Speaking at Ajmer a week ago, Sudarshan said until before the Khilafat Movement, Mohammad Ali Jinnah was a nationalist. In fact, he was one of the strongest supporters of Bal Gangadhar Tilak.

But during the Khilafat Movement, when Gandhiji supported the "hard-line Muslim" Ali brothers, then Jinnah distanced himself from the mainstream national movement and began adopting separatist positions.

Compounding the confusion, Sudarshan cited the case of Kemal Ataturk, the moderate Muslim leader of Turkey, and said he was one man who advised his country to become "swadeshi" nationalists. Gen Pervez Musharraf also holds up Ataturk as his role model.

LK Advani's supporters are asking, after this endorsement of Jinnah, what crime Advani had committed by describing Jinnah as a nationalist, now that Sudarshan appeared to be of the same view.

Sudarshan's reaction and the absence of resonance from the BJP suggests that similar questions are bothering the party's rank and file.

In the run-up to the yatra, after the announcement, at least thrice, suggestions were made by BJP chief Rajnath Singh or those close to him that Advani embark on the yatra alone, the clearest signal that the RSS did not want the BJP to associate with the yatra and was putting pressure on Singh.

That finally both leaders are going to take part in the exercise suggests that the Advani writ still runs in the organisation.

The leader has told his followers that the mission of the yatra is to shake up a moribund organisation but that in the course of the yatra, he will say whatever he wants to say. Thus through the course of the yatra, whether the Sangh will cooperate with him or will just stay away needs to be watched.

The procession is going to wind through the states where the BJP has a substantial presence - like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Orissa. Even in states where it does not have a presence, it is going to go through regions where it does: like North Karnataka, for instance.

This is interpreted by Advani loyalists as the last chance of the party patriarch to re-assert his hold and support - both to the party and the Sangh.