UPDATE

Govindacharya's leave

THE concept of the pracharak, a whole-time publicist or propagandist in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), came under focus when the organisation's spokesperson, M.G. Vaidya, said that former Bharatiya Janata Party general secretary K.N. Govindacharya was no longer a pracharak. Vaidya's statements, made at a regular press briefing, created considerable perplexity over Govindacharya's current status and relationship with the BJP and the RSS. Embarrassed by reports that his remark indicated a move to punish the former BJP ideologue, Vaidya clarified that Govindacharya, "an outstanding swayamsevak", had been relieved from the position of a pracharak on his own request, for six months from July 2001.

K.N. Govindacharya.

Madan Das Devi, RSS joint general secretary, said that Govindacharya had been sanctioned leave to study economic issues and globalisation and that he would be back after January 14, when swayamsevaks of the RSS would be meeting informally on the occasion of Makar Sankranthi. "Govindacharya is an important functionary and there is no question of his giving up his position," Devi explained. BJP and RSS circles expect Govindacharya to be back in the limelight after he participates in the "get-together" function organised at the residence of the BJP's Rajya Sabha Member, Mahesh Sharma, in New Delhi on January 14.

Govindacharya, a member of the BJP National Executive, was dropped from the position of party general secretary in 2000, after Bangaru Laxman took over as party president. Laxman was widely seen as the nominee of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, with whom Govindacharya had developed serious differences. Govindacharya once reportedly described Vajpayee as the party's mukhota (mask, meaning the party's liberal face). Although Govindacharya denied making the remark, he opted to keep away from party affairs for two years from October 2000, to spend time on research and meditation. Since then Govindacharya has not been attending the party's National Executive meetings and has kept away from the media.

He briefly interacted with the press in Varanasi, when he broke his silence to deny media reports about his marriage with Union Minister for Sports Uma Bharathi. He said that he was once in love with her, she had turned down his marriage proposal and he respected her decision.

It is difficult to believe, as some media reports have suggested, that the short-lived debate over his status as a pracharak in the RSS has anything to do with his past association with Uma Bharathi. By convention and practice, RSS pracharaks cease to be pracharaks when they acquire a family. Vajpayee, Advani and many other BJP leaders are former RSS pracharaks.

There is considerable ambiguity over when a pracharak ceases to be one. It is, for example, not clear whether Narendra Modi has ceased to be a pracharak after assuming the office of the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Modi was a BJP general secretary appointment to the present post. Though he requested the RSS to relieve him of his duties as a pracharak they avoided making a decision as a section within the RSS felt he could continue being a pracharak as he was not pursuing any personal agenda. If Modi continues to be a pracharak, it should hardly cause any surprise. After all, the Gujarat government under his predecessor, Keshubhai Patel, under pressure from non-BJP national parties, withdrew a decision to remove the ban on State government servants from participating in RSS camps. With Modi's elevation, the blurring of the distinction between the RSS and the government seems nearly complete. Pracharaks have the option of taking leave from their pracharakships if they have some personal activity to pursue. This is what Govindacharya has done. Though pracharaks are not expected to accept offices of profit or contest elections, this norm has been waived by the RSS on some occasions.

Whether Govindacharya is in a position to reclaim his role as a party ideologue and an influential general secretary depends on his equations with the Prime Minister rather than his ability to return as a pracharak in the RSS, which would only be too pleased to bestow this honour on him once again. n

V.Venkatesan

The Vadra drama

A BIT of family drama, which obviously was brewing for some time at 10 Janpath, the residence of Congress(I) president and leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi, has spilled out in the open. A public notice on behalf of Robert Vadra, the husband of Priyanka Gandhi, was put out in two newspapers on January 2, 2002, announcing that he was dissociating himself from his father and brother. Interestingly, the advertisement went unnoticed in political and media circles until the Congress president's office circulated a brief press release about it.

The notice, published under the name of Arun Bhardwaj, counsel for Robert Vadra, stated that it had come to the notice of his client that Rajinder Vadra (Robert's father) and Richard Vadra (his brother), claiming to be acting on Robert's behalf, were promising jobs and other favours to people, in return for money. The notice stated that though the two were related to Robert, they had no access to him, and that Robert had not authorised them or anybody else to function on his behalf. It cautioned the people against being duped by anybody who claimed to be acting on behalf of Robert Vadra.

The press release, which was accompanied by a copy of the notice, said that copies of the public notice had been sent to the Chief Ministers of Congress-ruled States and Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) presidents for their information. It did not throw any light on why the notice had been necessitated in the first place. However, informed sources at 10 Janpath said that it had come to the notice of Sonia Gandhi quite some time ago that the father-brother duo had been moving around in Congress-ruled States, seeking to get things done by claiming to be relatives of Priyanka. A number of Congress Chief Ministers, including the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, also brought the matter to Sonia Gandhi's notice. The Congress president also learnt that the duo was promising people the ticket for the Assembly elections in four States.

The timing of the notice and the fact that the Congress president's office circulated copies of it along with a press release does give an indication that it was published on the direction of Sonia Gandhi, especially in view of the approaching Assembly elections where the Congress is hoping to do well. n

Purnima S. Tripathi