A political veteran rooted in the RSS ideology who worked closely with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani is bitter about the new culture in the BJP.

Indore-based Satyanarayan Sattan — well-known poet, civil society activist and former BJP legislator — was critical of the party’s policies and attitude under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in an interview with The Telegraph. Excerpts:

The BJP has established its supremacy in Indian politics under Modi’s leadership. Modi has achieved what Vajpayee and Advani couldn’t. Even the RSS never achieved such legitimacy as it has now….

A: The BJP has been built by its workers. No party has such committed, passionate workers. The value system and morality established by (Jana Sangh founder) Deendayal Upadhyay and lived by Vajpayee no longer forms the party’s guiding principle. People who chant slogans like “Mera booth sabse majboot” (My polling booth is the strongest, a slogan coined by Modi) won’t recognise the majority of workers.

Are you saying the current Sangh leadership and the Prime Minister have no regard for old values?

A: Have I named anybody? I am saying that the purpose is to inculcate patriotism, provide education, work for equality in society…. But greed and lust for power has replaced these values.

That obviously includes the RSS and the BJP.

A: I have been an RSS worker since 1953. There is doubtless degeneration today. An element of perversion has crept in. But (this has happened) in every party. Vested interests have become the guiding force in every organisation. The people’s welfare is now secondary — power games override everything else. The Ganga is not dirty at its origin: it slowly gets dirty.

So the bulldozing election victories aren’t satisfying?

A: Jag jeeta, man nahin jeeta to kya (What good is winning the world if you haven’t won hearts)? Governance should be driven by principles, not vested interests. Policy-making should be driven by noble intentions, not politicking.

One of the major changes Modi has wrought is that he has forced leaders older than 70 out of active politics….

A: An irrational decision. Age means nothing in politics. You are undermining the capital of experience and wisdom. People who struggled to build the party brick by brick, their struggle is being insulted.

There were barely 50-60 people in Indore supporting the Jana Sangh when we toiled to build the organisation. People used to laugh when we distributed press releases in newspaper offices. It is wrong to place only sycophants everywhere — people you are able to control, people who accept your diktat, your methods.

In that case, you declare, “We don’t need votes from people above 70.”

How do you see the anti-Muslim agenda, the lynching on the streets?

A: We cannot defend violence in the name of religion. Vajpayee said we cannot punish Muslims for Babar’s mistakes.

How do you see the demonetisation?

A: In a democracy, one person cannot decide. Policies should not bring miseries on the people. Some people died in the queues; in some cases banks queued up at rich people’s homes. Neither the government nor the banks acted honestly. (The demonetisation was a) failed policy. It was the same with the privatisation of education and health care — why is there no control over the fees?

Are you disagreeing with the majority of BJP workers that Modi is the greatest to have emerged from the Sangh parivar?

A: You take a suit worth Rs 10 lakh and then sell it after a controversy. That shows the mindset. Why should anybody gift you such a costly article? Either he is obliged to you or he loves you. And you sell a gift given out of love? Is there a commercial attitude here?

What is your message to the current BJP leadership?

A: Tread the noble path and make the organisation stronger.

But who cares for the noble path? None of the RSS or BJP leaders criticised the grisly Vyapam scam….

A: Who will appear naked, why demonstrate your shame?

How do you see the use of religion in politics?

A: Religion is not for use. If the motto is that everybody should be happy, why are you shouting when somebody goes to worship Lord Shiva?

Are you referring to the BJP’s objections to Rahul Gandhi worshipping Shiva?

A: I don’t talk about individuals. But anybody can go to temples; who are you to object? Is Lord Shiva your slave? Is God bound by your politics? Who are you to dictate to people? Are you the Shankaracharya?