Even though Narendra Modi has scored a hat-trick in Gujarat polls, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and anti-Modi factions within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are claiming (though not on record) that it is because of their underground work that the Gujarat chief minister could not cross the desired target of 145 seats.

Sources in the VHP and Sangh Pariwar in Pune revealed that neither of the right-wing Hindu bodies wanted Modi to come back to the power. In fact, a highly placed source informed that a force was sent to Saurashtra to help Keshubhai Patel so that Modi could be cut to size. “Our efforts have not gone waste. Modi is restricted to nearly 120 seats otherwise he could have been catapulted to the candidature for the post of prime minister for general elections in 2014,” said a veteran RSS worker.

Sources have cited three factors that prompted the RSS and VHP to act against Modi. The Gujarat CM has diluted the Hindutva stand and had appeased the Muslims. This, according to the VHP and RSS sources, would affect Hindutva and its politics for decades. Sources claimed that Modi has given more tickets to Muslims at gram panchayat and local bodies than even Congress.

According to sources, Modi did not act to save 370 Hindu activists who were sent to rigorous imprisonment for the 2002 Godhra riots. The Gujarat CM had given an affidavit for death sentence to a group of 37 Hindu activists, who were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment by the court.

The RSS and VHP, according to sources, was against Modi for betraying Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), which dominated Gujarat. Sources also informed that BKS had even demanded President’s Rule in Gujarat after which Modi victimised its office-bearers by acting against them using government machinery.

VHP international president Dr Praveen Togadia, who was a close friend of Modi and had suggested his name for the post of chief minister, no longer shares the same relationship with him either. After the poll results were out, Togadia was not reachable and chose not to talk to anyone even to his colleagues in the VHP.

Sources in the RSS and VHP claimed that the strength provided to Keshubhai could have been more effective had the former Gujarat CM had struck an understanding with the Congress.