However, he made a most significant statement at the Delhi victory rally, saying that “the victory in UP is a result of several sacrifices” which has not been 'inherited', adding that the BJP's 'Golden era' has now begun. His emphasis on “not been inherited” has wide implication and connotation; he tried to distance the present form of the party from the previous set up led by veterans like L K Advani and others. At some level, these old guards had turned liberals and shed their ultra Hindu shells, a Hindu ecdysis, as it were. Modi made it clear that the new leadership was not under any obligation as it has not inherited the legacy, obviously it would be free in pursuing its independent line.

Actually what he wanted to tell the Indians is that with the BJP attaining pre-eminence in the country’s polity, the task of transforming secular India into a Hindu Rashtra would be accomplished soon. Though the RSS has put its entire energy and might to fulfill the mission, it has been trying to hide behind the façade of people playing the main role in transforming the present India. Modi’s words ought to be watched carefully: “In a democratic setup like India, the government, although formed by a majority vote, is still based on a 'sarvamat' system”. RSS leadership is obvious that in India people could not be forced to accept the Hindu Rashtra. Instead they should be made to accept. One of the modes has been to manufacture consent.

The urban middle class would serve as the fulcrum of the operation to bring about the transformation. The RSS knows it quite well that for incorporating any change in the governance and polity of the country it is imperative that this middle class, which is 37 per cent of the Indian population, must support the move. In the prevailing political scenario the middle class is with the BJP. The party intends to keep it as its trusted ally. Its association would hasten up the process. This was the reason that made Modi to observe’ “I can foresee an India where the poor are now looking for opportunities to uplift themselves. If the burden on the middle class is reduced, they will be able to utilise their complete potentials. The elections are seen as an opportunity to work towards wholesome development, rather than just a political phenomenon.”

Decoding the Modi effect should be the primary task of the secular and democratic forces. Unless they do, it would a tough proposition to counter the RSS and BJP challenges. The dalits, extremely backward castes and even a sizeable section of Muslims voting for BJP, that too at the call of Modi, has raised the passion of the Sangh. They are sure that the marginalised sections would eventually accept the RSS and its ideology. So far the BJP had to depend on upper castes for survival and winning the elections. They are the only legitimate Hindus. The BJP never treated the dalits, tribals and backward classes who constitute more than 70 per cent of the country’s population as the Hindus. Paradoxically, they still not treat them as caste Hindus, but are desperate to bring them closer and assimilate.

In this backdrop, the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat inviting university teachers from all over the country in order to hold a seminar on 'Parting with Colonial Ways: Imbibing Nationalism' is quite significant move. Of late, the Sangh Parivar has been trying to depict the Congress rule as the perpetuation of the colonial regime and Congress leaders, particularly Jawaharlal Nehru, as the executor of the British hegemony. The RSS is aware of the fact it is imperative to bulldoze the Neruvian ideology for transforming India into a Hindu Rashtra.

It is a fact that the RSS never opposed British colonialism and remained aloof from the freedom struggle. By raising the bogey during those days when the freedom movement was witnessing a significant emergence, the RSS was simply trying to sabotage the struggle for freedom and thus help British. The RSS and BJP know that Indians are fundamentally nationalists and forcing the brand of Hindutva nationalism down the throats of the country’s vast majority, they can achieve their mission. The strategy of Sangh is to propagate intolerance, suppression of freedom of expression, rationalism, and above all democratic and secular values in the name of patriotism and nationalism.

Incidentally, the main worry of the RSS has been the existence of the secular academic and intellectuals. At the three-day meet of the All India Pratinidhi Sabha (AIPS), the highest decision-making body that concluded in Coimbatore, the RSS leadership conceded that they are worried of the approach and attitude of the academia towards them. The RSS is no longer in direct confrontation with the state. Those who considered the RSS the enemy of “secularism and nationalism” no longer hold state power. While the RSS dominates India’s politics, its domination in the country’s intellectual discourse is not upto the mark. The RSS holds the misconception of the academia and intellectuals is not misplaced as they find little substance in popular literature on the RSS to allay their misgivings. The RSS feels that the trajectory of its movement since the 1980s shows that saffron political actors have been more successful than saffron intellectuals.

An insight into the policies and also the style of functioning of the Modi government would unravel that he has been pursuing the capitalist economy. India has been also losing its economic independence, which true enough has not been a perfect mode. Economic policies are neo-colonial which lead to internal colonialism by a comprador state. All the moves for reforms, and bringing in foreign direct investments in defence, financial sector, railways, retail trade, etc are meant to boost the business interest of the private businessmen, who incidentally have projected them as corporate sector. It is absolutely clear that India is getting caught in the grip of new order of colonialism which is more dangerous than the British colonialism.

The capitalist economy has provided the much-needed infrastructure for transformation to Hindu Rashtra. The way it has transformed the attitude or the urban middle class, which is keen to adopt the capitalist life style, is the first step to facilitate the switch over. No doubt patronising middle class has vote-value, but more than that it has served as the instrument to promote the Sangh mission. Unfortunately the secular and democratic forces have not taken initiative to make aware the people of the dangers of this neo-colonialism. They should have told the people about the distress the Latin American countries have to face due to this neo-colonialism.

The Sangh is playing the most dangerous game. On the one hand, it has directed the Modi government to pretend itself as a government committed to the left of centre policies; it also tried to confirm it by implementing some of the secular pro-people programmes of the Congress, particularly those of the Manmohan Singh government, exactly as it encouraged the BJP state governments and organisations to intensify and promote the saffron agenda. The idea behind the shift is to expand its voter base and form a colourful coalition of the rich, the middle class and the rural poor.

A closer look at the election figures of 2014 underlines that despite the Modi wave in 2014, only 24 percent of the poor preferred the BJP. It makes obvious that the poor of the country never wanted BJP. But the UP election has completely changed the politics and perspective. The RSS cannot waste time. It is in a hurry to strike and Modi dropped enough hint by saying that he was seeing emergence of New India. (IPA Service)