a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

There are clear illustrations of the nexus between religion and politics during the
BJP’s rise to power. For example, religious leaders began to counsel government
officials. Jaffrelot gives examples to show that the RSS exerted a strong influence
over Indian politics while BJP was in power. According to him, Sangh Parivar
leaders regularly met the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other key
ministers like L.K. Advani. Special meetings were convened by Rajendra Singh,
the RSS chief, to interact with BJP Members of Parliament (MPs). He was
allowed to address a group of top bureaucrats, including the chief secretary and
the Director General of Police in the presence of the ministers of the BJP
government in Uttar Pradesh. 94
It is also significant to note that the RSS has moved from the position of its
founder in their attitude to politics. Hedgewar argued that Hindus did not need a
political party of its own, but a communal discipline and revitalization, but the
RSS was turned into a more politically conscious and active body through
establishing political front organizations. 95 However, Golwalkar emphasises the
superiority of religion over politics.
The political rulers were never the standard-bearers of our society. They were
never taken as the props of our national life, Saints and sages, who had risen
above the mundane temptations of self and power and had dedicated themselves
wholly for establishing a happy, virtuous and integrated state of society, were its
94 Jaffrelot, ‘Hindu Nationalism,’ 364.
95 Cherian, Hindutva Agenda, 190-91.
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