Like UPA’s NAC, is RSS becoming Modi government’s policy thinktank?
18 Nov 2014 5:39 AM IST
Considering the flak laid by the BJP, early during the regime of the Congress and its UPA for having an ‘extra-constitutional’ body like the National Advisory Council (NAC) of Sonia Gandhi, the interest of the RSS to act as policy consultant for the government is worth noting.
At a recent meeting at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry – about a fortnight after the Vijaya Dashami speech by Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarasanghachalak – groups of former bureaucrats, diplomats and security experts and others met the top man for providing policy ideas.
A group of security experts included Ambassador P Stobdan, Prabhat Shukla, Shakti Sinha, Virendra Gupta etc, some of whom also being members of the Vivekananda Foundation, are also aspirants for the job of the director of quasi-government Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses.
The VFI was established as a security-related think-tank, considered to be supported by the RSS.
There were other groups comprising former intelligence boss, Rana Bannerji, former director-general of the Border Security Force, Prakash Singh, and others who were to advise Bhagwat on internal security issues. Similarly there were groups on public health and the like. The meeting was spread over two days. And the discussions, in-depth.
In fact, political observers say that as the days of the Modi govt are progressing, they are observing the slow rise of various RSS pracharaks to positions of power in both the state governments run by the BJP and the Union government.
But otherwise, there is a ‘mission creep’ permeating the government functions of the country. These are now being felt even in the semi-government organisations like the IDSA, where earlier ‘secular’ directors donned the robe of the senior ranks. But now there is clearly an attempt to add a tinge of saffron to those positions.
The IDSA insiders, however, say that while they acutely feel the need of a director who could become a policy adviser to the government while giving directions on research, they are weary of former military men donning the mantle as that does not augur well for a middle-of-the-road think tank with international repute.
At a recent meeting at the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry – about a fortnight after the Vijaya Dashami speech by Mohan Bhagwat, the Sarasanghachalak – groups of former bureaucrats, diplomats and security experts and others met the top man for providing policy ideas.
A group of security experts included Ambassador P Stobdan, Prabhat Shukla, Shakti Sinha, Virendra Gupta etc, some of whom also being members of the Vivekananda Foundation, are also aspirants for the job of the director of quasi-government Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses.
The VFI was established as a security-related think-tank, considered to be supported by the RSS.
There were other groups comprising former intelligence boss, Rana Bannerji, former director-general of the Border Security Force, Prakash Singh, and others who were to advise Bhagwat on internal security issues. Similarly there were groups on public health and the like. The meeting was spread over two days. And the discussions, in-depth.
In fact, political observers say that as the days of the Modi govt are progressing, they are observing the slow rise of various RSS pracharaks to positions of power in both the state governments run by the BJP and the Union government.
But otherwise, there is a ‘mission creep’ permeating the government functions of the country. These are now being felt even in the semi-government organisations like the IDSA, where earlier ‘secular’ directors donned the robe of the senior ranks. But now there is clearly an attempt to add a tinge of saffron to those positions.
The IDSA insiders, however, say that while they acutely feel the need of a director who could become a policy adviser to the government while giving directions on research, they are weary of former military men donning the mantle as that does not augur well for a middle-of-the-road think tank with international repute.
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