CRACKS APPEAR IN HINDU UNDIVIDED FAMILY.

THE RSS created a political wing in the form of Bharatiya Jana Sangh in 1951 to articulate its position in Parliament after Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

But the goings on in its political offspring, the BJP, on Tuesday reflected that the RSS is facing a revolt from within even at a time when the core saffron ideological agenda of Ram Janmabhoomi is under attack.

Even as the Union cabinet decided to table the Liberhan Commission report in the Lok Sabha, the BJP held a meeting of its parliamentary party.

A careful reading of the voluminous report by Tuesday evening revealed that while the top BJP/ RSS leaders have been held culpable for demolishing the Babri mosque in Ayodhya, they do not have much to fear in terms of indictment.

But this fact, reflected in the Action Taken Report ( ATR) tabled by the Centre, was not known in the morning when the Hindu undivided family was still speculating on whether their top leaders will have to face more criminal charges in the case.

The BJP parliamentary party meeting, therefore, was expected to evolve a strategy on how to counter the Liberhan panel's conclusions. But, contrary to expectations, the parliamentary party meeting witnessed an aggressive attack -- not on the government but on the RSS. Immediately after the meeting commenced, Uday Singh, BJP MP from Purnia, rose up and reportedly launched a scathing attack against the RSS. Uday was believed to have been " harshly critical" of reports that the RSS has handpicked Nitin Gadkari as the next BJP president. He also referred to L. K. Advani's reported retirement plans owing to the Sangh pressure.

" Outsiders are appointing the BJP president," Uday is believed to have said. " The parliamentary party elects its leader. No one else has the authority to remove him." This tirade apparently went on for about five to seven minutes while top leaders, including Advani, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, looked on silently. Someone had to take up cudgels on behalf of the BJP's mother outfit. Predictably, it was Rajnath Singh who came to the RSS's rescue. " You have said a lot of things. I am still the BJP president. No outsider appoints the BJP president," Rajnath reportedly told the Bihar MP. Party insiders said the incident reflected that Advani has consolidated his position within the parliamentary party. The Leader of Opposition ( LoP) along with four of his trusted lieutenants -- Sushma, Jaitley, M. Venkaiah Naidu and Ananth Kumar -- clearly seemed to be digging in his heels.

A clever political strategy had been evolved with the four lieutenants on how to brave the storm kicked up by the Liberhan report. Advani apparently commissioned his deputy, Sushma, to keep the focus on the leakage of the report and its credibility rather than letting the discussion veer towards who was responsible for the demolition of the mosque.

" A commission that has taken as many as 17 years to submit its report is questioning the length of the trial of the cases in Rae Bareli," Sushma said, while lashing out against the panel's observations on how long the case was going on in the trial court. The effort was on delegitimising the panel by first demanding home minister P. Chidambaram's resignation for the leak and then demolishing, in parts, the contents of the report.

But the RSS clearly does not rely only on its political wing to raise ideological issues. The long- forgotten Pravin Togadia of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad ( VHP) resurfaced on Tuesday to assert that the " falling of the mosque is the proudest moment for Hindus in Bharat". Dismissing the BJP's outrage against the implication of its top leaders, especially Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in the case, Togadia said no sacrifice was greater than dedicating one's life in the movement to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya.

" Panels like Liberhan come and go. Leaders come and go and governments come and go.

But the movement to build the temple will go on. We will enroll anyone, even if it is Sonia Gandhi, if she agrees to participate in the movement for the temple," Togadia said.

[e-mail]

Copyright 2009 India Today Group. All Rights Reserved.

Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company