In signs of an intensifying rift between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its ideological mentor, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh leader Indresh Kumar on Thursday sought to take a critical view of the saffron party’s lower-than-expected Lok Sabha tally, terming it a punishment by Lord Ram over the party’s “arrogance”.
This is the first time that an RSS leader has publically spoken against the BJP and its leadership over the poll results. “Those who did bhakti of Lord Ram gradually became arrogant. That party was declared the biggest party but were stopped at 241 by Lord Ram due to their arrogance,” RSS leader Indresh Kumar said at an event near Jaipur yesterday.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BJP could win only 240 seats, a sharp fall from the 303 seats it won in the 2019 polls and much lower than its projected tally of 400 paar’. This was the first time in the last three general elections that the BJP failed to get a majority on its own and is now dependent on its allies to run the government.
Kumar’s remarks came just days after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat also sought to take an indirect shot at the BJP as he observed that a true sevak always maintains dignity in his actions and words. In words seen as directed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bhagwat said a true leader “does not have the arrogance to say ‘I did this work'”.
Kumar’s remarks mirrored Bhagwat’s observation and were made naming the BJP. The remarks come amid reports that the BJP and the RSS haven’t shared the best of relations, particularly in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The absence of RSS cadre in door-to-door campaigning is being seen as one of the reasons why the BJP performed poorly in the Hindi heartland.
Kumar, however, did not spare the INDIA bloc too. Terming the election results as justice by Lord Ram, the RSS leader said that those who had no faith in Lord Ram were stopped at 234. Notably, the INDIA bloc collectively won 234 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, with the Congress winning 99 of them.
Indirectly labelling the INDIA bloc as “anti-Ram”, Indresh Kumar said, “Those who had no faith in Ram, they together were stopped at 234. God’s justice is true and enjoyable.”