It was a major crisis for religious people and to be far removed from their worship idols was unthinkable. Yet people accepted their separation from their saviours for as much as for two years. The idea may have been abominable for the Sangh chief but he had begun the political race only two weeks before the lock down by publicly disassociating the Sangh from all that smelt of NaMo. It was public withdrawal of support. NaMo reacted sharply knowing or being fully aware that political power was more important even to the Sangh. Only in 1998 it had agreed to put on the back burner the mainstay religious issues so Atal Behari Vajpayee could move closure to political power. A decade and half later NaMo had merely elaborated the point with promise of economic power in every hand by improving the economic growth rate.

The Sangh chief was alarmed when NaMo appeared to be striving to deliver his election promise and refusing by his silenced to return to old party fold. The harsh message may have deterred him from further actions but not from use of power to deliver unpalatable step of demonetization. The Sangh won over his close friend with false promises to lure him to isolate the Muslims by delaying citizen rights to them. NaMo preferred to give him up rather than betray his causes.

He had suffered for more than a decade calumny of false charges of being communal mind of worst kind. He continued to walk on his chosen path to win over minds of Muslim females by sponsoring education to the Muslim girls. Even in scrapping the evil custom of oral divorce, he had sought and sold it as social reform to end uncertainty to marital status in life of poor Muslim women.

He had not hesitated to publicly repudiate his friend and home minister Amit Shah and refused to allow him within a close political distance. He also knew surrender by the UP chief minister was merely play acting to seek his assistance to win back power through the assembly polls due shortly. Otherwise Yogi remained entangled in the dream world spun for Yogi that he will soon be successor to NaMo.

The concrete evidence of play acting was provided by Yogi through his political reshuffle in his team. Instead of accommodating Arvind Sharma who prematurely retired his IAS job to join politics. Sharma moved to UP with recommendation from NaMo to utilize his services. But Yogi did not accommodate Sharma. Instead Yogi took new entrant to the party in his cabinet. It was also an opportunity to teach a hard lesson to Yogi by making even more difficult his effort to get back in power. Ajay Mishra his minister of state for home was readily available to serve and thus realize his own ambitions. Nothing else can explain the accident that three cars mowed down eight adult farmers returning home from their agitation going on for months now. It does not take months to swell to action in anger as the preliminary reports suggested, Yogi restrained his hand from action for three days for a message to follow but nothing came so he withdrew his restraining hand.

The election seems to have been lost to the BJP as even NaMo cannot instill fire of hope in voters from rural areas. The state has 54 towns with population over a million. Rural seats are overwhelming in proportion. The leader Akhilesh has already started working alone and may not join hands with the Congress though may not be averse to hold hand of cooperation if the former chief minister Mayavati extends it. She drew blank in two Lok Sabha elections and would see profit in joining with Yadav. The Sangh cannot remain silent or inactive while NaMo is playing politics. It would need to strike back or else get used to loss. After having passed judgments twice by expressing its dislike for the NaMo regime, no retaliation will be writing off or forget the centenary celebration in 2025.

Vajpayee had established the BJP as the secular alternative to the Congress party then led by equally formidable leader but Vajpayee got only heads around him and legs were left behind with the RSS. The Sangh refused to lend its election machinery to work for the new secular party in 1984 election and it turned the event into an embarrassing debacle. Vajpayee had to surrender. NaMo did not leave option to the Sangh. His victory in 2019 without any achievement on his list and without the Sangh machine working for him was in a sense a political miracle.

In 1980 the Sangh did not act against Vajpayee but Bhagwat has publicly denounced NaMo twice in last two years. Hence most politicians believe that NaMo would complete his term without the Sangh actively seeking his removal. It does not have a winner in its ranks. That brings forth even more intriguing query whether NaMo will seek a third term?