It may turn out to be a race between politics and ideology. In other words, on one side is the Modi-Shah quest to retain political power at any cost, continue to win national and assembly elections, and expand the BJP’s presence in south India, especially Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Pitched against this mindset is the cultural, religious, and civilizational tone of the RSS. The umbrella organization needs to decide whether it will cater to the politico-electoral needs of Modi-Shah combine, or vote for those who have spent their entire lives in the service of the RSS to grab plum government positions. This will decide whether the country’s next Vice President is Harivansh Narayan Singh, the existing deputy speaker of Rajya Sabha, or Sheshadri Chari, a known and respected ideologue and the former editor of Organizer, the mouthpiece of the RSS.
Harivansh is educated and seasoned politician-journalist, and was the former editor of a Hindi daily, Prabhat Khabar. He is well-versed with crucial issues like the mining of black gold, i.e., coal, in Dhanbad and Jharia areas, which continue to be embedded in deep controversies. Recently, the owners of Prabhat Khabar, Jhaver brothers, were raided by ED, which recovered cash of Rs 190 crore. He was also the media advisor to former prime minister, Chandrasekhar. Although he hails from the same village i.e Sitab Diara as the legendary Jai Prakash Narayan, he does not enjoy the same depth and credibility. His ideology too has moved from socialism to the other extreme. After the state of Jharkhand was formed, he shifted to Patna, and used Prabhat Khabar to service the political needs of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Harivansh was rewarded with a membership of the Rajya Sabha. Given the importance of the forthcoming Bihar assembly elections, where the BJP is on the back foot, and Nitish Kumar’s fate is undecided, Harivansh can emerge as the new political ace to change the contours of this card game. On the negative side, his Thakur lineage has not affected the caste’s vote bank in Bihar, and new electoral equations have not emerged since he became the deputy speaker. But elections are about perceptions, so he remains the front-runner in the Vice-Presidential race.
Running alongside Harivansh is the Sangh’s renowned ideologue, Chari. When the RSS divided the country into sections for better administration and reach, he was the head of the Mumbai branch. He is educated, and well-versed in several languages such as Marathi, English, Hindi, and Tamil. Media persons have long thronged his room, and knocked at his doors to get crucial insights into the working of the RSS, its vision and mission, and relation with the political arm, BJP. Not to forget that he is a staunch Hindu, and a Brahman from Thanjavur in south India. He is picture-perfect poster boy of the Sangh Parivar. In addition, the elections in Kerala are on the anvil, and the RSS-BJP is striving hard to make inroads in the state. Chari can prove to be an asset to pursue this journey. Given this logic, although he may be behind Harivansh, he enjoys the support of both the Modi-Shah duo, and RSS.
But never forget the dark horses, who have entered the fray – Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Shashi Tharoor, Manoj Sinha, and several others, who have fine tuned their own political and ideological pitch. But, as we said before, the clash between politics and ideology will decide, and not the individual merits of the candidates.
