Varun barricaded from Congress

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi has, for the time being, virtually ruled out any possibility of his cousin, Feroze Varun joining the Grand Old Party. Varun is a third term BJP Member of the Lok Sabha, and there has been speculation regarding his future, particularly after he has been speaking out openly against some of the policies of the Central government.
There were conjectures on whether he would shift to the Congress, which over the years has been nurtured by his father, the late Sanjay Gandhi, grandmother Indira Gandhi and great grandfather Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, besides many other members of his family.
However, during the course of the Bharat Jodo Yatra, Rahul Gandhi more or less barricaded his possible switchover on the ground that ideologically, he (Varun) and he himself were not on the same page. Varun had accepted the RSS doctrine to which he and other members of his family were totally opposed. Rahul said that he would under no circumstances ever embrace the principles of the RSS. He claimed that as a cousin, he was ready to hug him but politically there was no meeting ground.
Varun has, for the time being, not reacted, but it does not mean that he would remain quiet on the issue and may retaliate at the time of his choosing. He has never stated publicly that he wanted to join the Congress, but it is evident that he is no longer comfortable in the BJP and may make a switch to some political party or the other, ahead of the Lok Sabha polls.
In Uttar Pradesh, he is considered to be close to both Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Chaudhury and many believe that he could be a Samajwadi Party candidate in the 2024 polls. Similarly, he enjoys a good equation with West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee and it was believed at one point that she may bring him to Parliament from her state, though this seems unlikely at this stage.
It is understood that some other political outfits have also sounded him and would be happy to have him assist them in the Lok Sabha elections. However, a section of the RSS does not want him to leave, and considers him to be an asset, though in the BJP, it is the writ of the Prime Minister and Home Minister which runs and the RSS does not matter.
Rahul and his sibling, Priyanka and their mother would never want to share the Gandhi space in the Congress with the late Sanjay Gandhi’s son given his accomplishments and his being recognized as a future leader by many of his contemporaries. During the Yatra, Rahul’s image has undergone a change and people have started taking him seriously. Therefore, after this makeover, why would Rahul want his cousin to be in the limelight.
However, Rahul needs to understand that his hatred for the RSS is unfounded and not consistent with the policies of the Congress in the past. Both in 1980 and 1984, the RSS had supported the Congress due to the extraordinary political circumstances and in the process had forged a good equation with Indira Gandhi and her two sons, Sanjay and Rajiv.
There is a political anecdote, which is often quoted in power circles regarding the meeting Sanjay Gandhi had with some RSS functionaries ahead of the 1980 polls. He had made it emphatically clear to the RSS leaders that the basis of their friendship could never be the misplaced perception that he was anti Muslim, which he was not. The grounds for them to forge a relationship could only be that like the RSS, he too was anti Communist.
After the 1984 landslide victory of the Congress in the aftermath of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her own security guards, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Bhaurau Deoras, the younger brother of the then RSS chief, Balasaheb Deoras, developed a close bond. Bhaurau, in fact, influenced Rajiv to allow the telecast of the Ramayana serial made by Ramanand Sagar and also tipped him on many matters which were politically relevant.
According to informed sources, the locks of the Babri Masjid were also opened at the behest of Bhaurau, who had subsequently advised the Prime Minister to hold elections, earlier than schedule in 1989, so that the opposition parties, grouping together against him, did not have sufficient time. It is another matter that Rajiv did not pay heed since he was told by his colleagues that his support for the Panchayati Raj would ensure a big victory for the Congress. The then Director of Intelligence Bureau, M.K. Narayanan had projected at least 300 seats for the party.
The outcome of the Lok Sabha polls saw the Congress losing power but it helped in transforming Rajiv into a much evolved and mature politician. He started viewing politics from a more pragmatic prism and changed his outlook towards a number of matters.
It is also a matter of record that in 1963, after the Chinese aggression and in view of the civil defence duties performed by the volunteers of the Sangh, the then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had invited an RSS contingent to participate in the Republic Day parade.
Yes, Rahul is correct that the RSS ideology is in variance with that of the Congress but during the UPA regime, the Congress too had deviated from its core beliefs and instead of remaining secular, was perceived to have tilted towards the minorities leading to its defeat. Between us.