Caste connection
The former president, Ram Nath Kovind, was the chief guest at the centenary celebration of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Vijaya Dashami in Nagpur, the headquarters of the Hindutva outfit. But it was the presence of two leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party — the Union transport minister, Nitin Gadkari, and the chief minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis — that drew special attention. Dressed in traditional RSS uniforms, Gadkari and Fadnavis stood with the swayamsevaks and recited the sangh prayer. Their gesture was read as a deliberate effort to underline their deep bond with the sangh. The two leaders, both Brahmins, are widely seen as favourites of the RSS. Gadkari recently had thanked god for making him a Brahmin. “I often joke that the biggest favour God has done to me is that I am a Brahmin and I did not get reservation,” he had said, speaking at an event in his constituency, Nagpur. Gadkari had gone on to obliquely rue that Marathas as a community wield considerable political power in Maharashtra while the Brahmins have little say. Contrary to this, the Brahmins continue to dominate the RSS. The RSS chief, Mohan Bhagwat, is also a Brahmin. The sangh strives to bring Dalits and tribal people under the wider Hindutva umbrella but none from the community has made it to the outfit’s top post so far.
Balanced approach
The prime minister, Narendra Modi, is an astute politician and knows how to keep all factions within the party united and working towards achieving a single goal. After the Union minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, was given the responsibility of managing election affairs in Bihar, his faction in Odisha was elated. Pradhan’s camp was joyous as it felt that the CM’s camp would no longer be able to sideline Pradhan in Odisha politics and the latter would soon take a leading role in Odisha’s BJP as he had before the general elections. Mohan Charan Majhi’s camp was upset with the sudden development and the PM was informed about this. But during his visit to Odisha, Modi heaped praise on Majhi, describing him as hardworking and popular. He thus managed to ensure that the double-engine government did not go off the track.
Stormy issue
The famous Sabarimala temple in Kerala has been embroiled in a controversy over 4.541 kilogramme of missing gold in cladding for dwarapalaka (gatekeeper) idols and two pedestals at the entrance to the sanctum sanctorum . The Opposition, the United Democratic Front, turned this into a political weapon against the ruling Left government, while the BJP tread cautiously on this matter. It should be recalled that the former liquor baron, Vijay Mallya, who is in exile in the United Kingdom, had donated gold for the entire exterior of the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple, including the dwarapalaka idols and pedestals, in 1999. The missing gold follows the entry of Unnikrishnan Potty, a former aide of the Sabarimala priest, currently based in Bengaluru, to sponsor the maintenance of the gold cladding on the dwarapalaka idols. With the Kerala High Court, acting on suo motu proceedings based on a report filed by the temple’s vigilance officer, and the state government involved in the controversy, the drama is getting thicker by the day. This is not the first time that the Sabarimala temple has been in the eye of the storm. The Left has been embroiled in it each time.
Crash and
burn
Speaking at Columbia, Rahul Gandhi used mechanical engineering as a metaphor for systems of governance. He said that cars are heavier than bikes because they are designed to prevent the engine from crushing the passenger during a collision whereas in a bike, the engine is under the rider and therefore less of a hazard. An EV, which uses multiple motors, he explained, “is a decentralisation of power”. BJP leaders found his analogy difficult to digest.
