The RSS leadership could have taken the Janata party off the hook if it was so inclined. At its Nagpur session last week-end the Pratinidhi Sabha could have adopted a resolution barring legislators or individuals holding offices from participating in the day-to-day activities of the organisation. Such a resolution would not cost the RSS anything. On the contrary, that would have not only enabled it to fulfil the promise it is said to have made to the Janata leadership last July, but also strengthened its claim that it is a purely social and cultural organization. By not doing so, it must invite the charge of insincerity and of wanting to continue to dabble in politics through its proxy, the former Jana Sangh. Why then has the RSS leadership behaved in this fashion? No satisfactory explanation is readily available in terms of its claims. The behaviour can make sense if we assume that the RSS leadership has concluded that it is time that the erstwhile Jana Sanghis pulled out of the Janata and revived their own party. But there is no warrant for such an assumption in the absence of any indication that the RSS leadership has taken the decision to ask the former Jana Sanghis to quit the Janata.
Like the erstwhile Jana Sanghis, the RSS leaders can well argue that the other constituents in the Janata are not justified in raising the dual membership issue in view of the understanding that had been reached before the formation of the party. They may also be justified in saying that both Mr. Charan Singh and Mr. Jagjivan Ram raked up this question deliberately after – and not before – the two had decided to leave the Janata for their own reasons. But all that is pertinent only up to a point. The political reality is that the issue of dual membership cannot just be shelved. It has come up again and again since the formation of the Janata in 1977 and it is bound to crop up in future even if it can somewhat be set aside at present. The motives of those who have raised it in the past might not have been above question. But politics is that kind of game and it is no use grumbling about it. The issue will not go away. It has to be tackled. And there are only two ways to do so – either to split the Janata for the third time or to accept the resolution of the Janata parliamentary board. Mr. Morarji Desai is trying to find a third solution and he may succeed but only for a short time. A third solution just cannot endure for long. It is possible that the RSS leaders feel that the Janata’s constituents other than the former Jana Sangh have been unfair to them and have humiliated them by accusing them of communalism. In that case it would be far more honourable and logical for the former to make a clean break. It has not chosen to adopt this course either. While the RSS may not be unduly perturbed if the Jana Sanghis are expelled from the party, there is no indication that it is looking forward to such a development. This makes it difficult to assess its intentions. Indeed, it is possible that it has not made up its mind. But indecision cannot help it preserve the status quo inside the Janata and it cannot help the Janata overcome the present crisis.