This refers to the Chinese Whispers item "Posturing over Yoga postures" (June 12). The repeated comments from the Sangh Parivar's senior members, including MPs and ministers, should not cause surprise. While it is true that the 2014 elections were founded on Narendra Modi's performance as Gujarat chief minister, one cannot ignore the undeniable role played by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) in mobilising voters and marshalling them in to the polling booths. Without that force, even the ineptitude and the scandals of the United Progressive Alliance-II might not have tilted the scale so decisively. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now caught in an impossible situation. On the one hand, it is trying to present itself as a modernising force that is clearly attuned to aspiring Indians, but it can't dare drop the VHP-RSS demands such as a ban on cow slaughter, removal of Article 370, "ghar wapsi" and other slogans of Hindutva.
To partly overcome this, Modi has been trying hard to get international acceptance and also verbally assert that to him, all Indians regardless of community, gender or ethnic differences, are equal. To his credit, he has steered clear of frequent controversial statements. The question remains who needs whom more, and it appears that the verdict is still out.
P Datta Kolkata
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