Jaswant becomes a Swayamsevak?

By Harish Khare

NEW DELHI, AUG. 13. The old adage says ``a picture is worth a thousand words''. But this picture is indeed worth many times more than a thousand words. Though only a handful of newspapers chose to print it, the ``pix'' does capture one of those images which conveys the changing ambitions and positions of the political leaders.

This is the picture of the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Jaswant Singh, at a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh camp in Bangalore on Sunday. Standing with other RSS bosses, who are attired in the traditional dress of khaki shorts and black caps, the Foreign Minister strikes an incongruent figure. Though Mr. Jaswant Singh himself did not make any sartorial concession to the RSS crowd, his very presence at an RSS rally is not without significance. And it has very much to do with the re-alignments being attempted for a possible post-Vajpayee scenario.

For the record, Mr. Singh was in Bangalore to attend the valedictory function of the Vishwa Sangh Shiksha Varg, an RSS outfit of overseas wings (generally called Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh). Many senior RSS functionaries were also present and spoke on the occasion. This is perhaps the first time since the Vajpayee Government came to power that Mr. Singh was invited to speak at an RSS rally.

Thus, the very urbane, the almost cosmopolitan, Mr. Jaswant Singh's presence at such an incongruous platform is rather intriguing. It is no secret that the RSS top brass is not particularly enamoured of him. A senior RSS functionary was recently believed to have dismissed him as being ``too much under the American influence''.

In fact, the three defining images of Mr. Jaswant Singh in recent years put him totally at odds with the ethos of a crowd that wears its ``deshbakhti'' (patriotism) on its white sleeves. There was, first, the sight of Mr. Jaswant Singh escorting the hijackers to Kandhar; the entire episode was seen as an act of ``Hindu cowardice'' by the RSS chief, Mr. K. S. Sudarshan. Then, the RSS-wallahs were not amused when they watched those television pictures of the Foreign Minister of a great country escorting the teenaged daughter of a visiting American President. And, now, only last month, according to prevailing mythology, Mr. Singh was prepared to be conned by the Pakistani Foreign Minister, Mr. Abdul Sattar, and only a brave intervention on the part of Mr. L. K. Advani saved the day.

Now, Mr. Jaswant Singh chose to travel to Bangalore - and, more to the point, was received by the RSS brass there - tells us that perhaps someone is trying to brew a post-Vajpayee scenario. For a while it looked like that there was an Advani- Jaswant Singh axis, forged at Srinagar after the famous Unified Headquarters meeting. This axis obviously broke down in Agra.

The Advani camp has already given indications of wanting to move in for the kill on an aging and faltering Prime Minister. But Mr. Advani has not exactly endeared himself to the RSS bosses as things have gone from bad to worse in Kashmir and the northeast during his indifferent stewardship of the Union Home Ministry. Could it be that Mr. Jaswant Singh thinks he can propitiate the RSS bosses - the ultimate, self-styled king-makers - this late in the day?

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