Mohan Bhagwat’s Gen Z Outreach Signals Trouble for the Modi-Shah Model

Bhagwat has put a question mark on the idea entertained by some in the BJP about the permanence of Modi-Shah.

Bhagwat sounded almost appeasing towards Gen Z, calling them nationalists, “more honest than our generation”, and saying that “they ask questions”.

(Photo: The Quint)

Mohan Bhagwat, Chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has given his verdict on the Jantar Mantar Gen Z protest, almost saying that dissent is democracy and dialogue is at the core of governance. Without spelling out in clear terms, the RSS Chief also suggested that he disproved the use of force against the youth.

At the outset, Bhagwat’s remarks made in his conversation at a Mumbai event show his keenness to disassociate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government’s brazenness in dealing with the Gen Z protest, as well as making a pitch for the youth to look at the RSS favourably. 

The RSS Chief speaks with a few advantages. He sits outside the government at the Centre. He can also wait for an event to run its full course before offering his views. And he has one more advantage: the press cannot confront him and ask where he was when the Jantar Mantar protest had already entered a phase in which all the signs pointed to a looming crackdown.

Balm on the Wound and Hard Politics

Bhagwat sounded almost appeasing towards Gen Z, calling them nationalists, “more honest than our generation”, and saying that “they ask questions”. The RSS Chief also appeared to lend legitimacy to the protests, arguing that a lack of dialogue spurs protests to bring issues to centre stage.

Bhagwat has seen many rough weathers in his life before ascending to the position to helm the RSS. The Mumbai conclave of 2000 Gen Z and Gen Alpha delegates was primed to send messages to the young generations, as well as Modi and Union Minister for Home Affairs Amit Shah. 

The savage Gen Z attack on Brand Modi during the Jantar Mantar protests is now a subject of discussion within the RSS. Shah’s administrative acumen and his role as a crisis manager are also under scrutiny. Modi and Shah represent the top brass of the BJP, which has sought to assert functional autonomy from the RSS in recent years.

If some believed in the idea of permanence of Modi-Shah phenomenon, Bhagwat sent out a clear message that the Centre erred in not talking to the agitating youth in the first place, and the police crackdown was a grave error.

In suggesting that he was sending such messages, Bhagwat has put a question mark on the very idea entertained by some in the BJP about the permanence of Modi-Shah phenomenon. 

Mohan Bhagwat and Gen Z

Before Bhagwat shot to fame, he was known for his two qualities in the RSS — physical trainer and Boudhik (intellectual discourse) giver. He gained the finesse in these two skills by spending time with youngsters in the RSS. This may possibly explain why he knows many, in thousands, in the RSS by their first names. 

At the helm in the RSS, Bhagwat has overseen a generational change in the organisation, lowering the average age of functionaries at the district and zone level to 30s and 40s age group. He also unveiled an outreach with the youth almost a decade ago by which the RSS now claims to have 62 per cent new members from the 26 lakh registered volunteers in the age group of 22-35 years age group. 

Thus, the Gen Z eruption at Jantar Mantar came as a shock to the RSS. Rather it was a jolt, for the RSS leaders down the ranks somehow had begun believing in the narrative that Brand Modi is all shining and unassailable as the BJP kept winning elections. The case that the Jantar Mantar protest also stirred and challenged settled political views in the RSS seems to be getting more credence as reflections begin within the saffron outfit.

RSS and Modi Govt: Lengthening Distance

The decision of the Union Cabinet to include caste enumeration in the Census was preceded with Bhagwat’s meeting with the Prime Minister. The dots when connected led to the interpretation that Bhagwat somehow persuaded the Modi government to change the views on the caste census.

If he has such a heft, why did he not just dial Modi and tell him to talk to the agitating youth at Jantar Mantar? 

The answer to the question lies in the fact that Bhagwat is aware of Modi and the BJP asserting autonomy in functioning. It’s worthwhile to recall that the RSS almost held two sessions in a year in different cities for the first seven years of the Modi government in which ministers came to listen to feedback and prescriptions for policy course corrections. That exercise afterwards gradually ceased. 

Bruised Brand Modi and Bent Amit Shah’s “Steel” 

Brand Modi was born in the world of social media. The internet now threatens to take this brand down. The cleansing of the internet platforms of anti-Modi content is an exercise in damage control. 

Shah as the Home Minister sought to make an image of a leadership crafted in steel. The police crackdown against the youth evidently boomeranged. Shah neither shielded Brand Modi nor preserved his image of the government's top crisis manager. 

The RSS, being a parental organisation of the BJP, may not mind the scrutiny of Modi-Shah leadership. The core of the RSS worldview lies in the argument that individuality isn’t important as organisational goals shouldn’t be compromised. 

Last year when Modi approached his 75th birthday, Bhagwat had lifted the clouds hovering over the Prime Minister by saying that there is no age limit for the people in offices as long as they are physically fit. But the scope for a revisit to the old statement is always open in politics. 

Significantly, the RSS for the past few years has been discussing ways to avoid pitfalls of being seen to be associated with the RSS and the Modi government. In the aftermath of the Jantar Mantar protest, the RSS leaders may feel vindicated that they were right in making efforts to stay away from the BJP and the Modi government.

But stakes are too high for the RSS, for the outfit has also been a major beneficiary of the BJP rule in furthering its influence in the country. For this, Bhagwat signals that Modi and Shah begin listening to others, importantly to the RSS. 

(The author is a senior Delhi-based journalist, with over two decades spent in tracing the BJP and Indian politics. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author's own. The Quint does not endorse or is responsible for them.)