The RSS was hardly amused at this open advice rendered by Atal. But what led to the beginning of the formal sidelining of the BJP president was his insistence on modelling the newly formed party on the principles of Gandhian socialism. Deoras now increasingly began to depend on the till then inert VHP to propagate the cultural objectives of the RSS. He also lent support to Indira Gandhi’s Congress, that was perceived to be furthering the Hindu cause more fervently than the BJP.
