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Critics will tell the unpleasant truth. But when even admirers don’t try to please the rulers with a song-and-dance show of lies and adulation, it is revealing. The subjects and metaphors used by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat in his customary Vijaya Dashami speech betrayed a growing unease with the Narendra Modi dispensation.

Giving vent to the exasperation with the popular development paradigm, Bhagwat said, “India should give the world a new model.” This can be interpreted as Bhagwat’s dissatisfaction with the Modi model of governance. He unambiguously demanded a new model. Admitting that an abrupt U-turn might not be possible, he suggested a smooth, gradual departure from the existing model.

But the issues he chose to highlight left no doubt about his displeasure with the prime minister. He expressed concern about the increasing gap between the rich and the poor and exploitation by the powerful. He also raised serious objections to environmental damage in the Himalayan region because of reckless development projects. Bhagwat also stressed on the need to learn from Mahatma Gandhi, whose simplicity and frugality might show the way out of this morass. Above all, he disapproved of hooliganism and violence and emphasised the need for social unity.

Contextualise this and you are able to decode the message. Crony capitalism has become a byword for the Modi government –the Congress defines the system as “Modani”.  Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Murli Manohar Joshi not only presented a detailed report to the RSS on the miserable plight of India’s economy, he also wrote to the Supreme Court against the ill-effects of the Char-Dham project in Uttarakhand. It is clear that Bhagwat chose to offer a critique of the government at this critical juncture instead of endorsing Modi’s propaganda of unprecedented development.

Bhagwat did endorse Modi’s push for self-reliance but subtly made the point that inter-dependence of the global community in this age of liberalised economy cannot be wholly reversed. He went so far as to suggest that public revolt, like what was seen in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, happens primarily because governments become insensitive and unresponsive. Bhagwat........

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