THE NEW STRATEGIC SYNERGY

PM MODI'S FIRST VISIT TO THE RSS HEADQUARTERS IN A DECADE ENDED TALK OF THE BJP'S RIFT WITH ITS MENTOR AND SHOWCASED A RENEWED MARCH TOWARDS SHARED GOALS

- ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

On March 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Nagpur, visiting the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), his first visit since he took over as the prime minister of India in 2014. Visuals of him and sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat paying homage at the Dr Hedgewar Smruti Mandir in Nagpur dominated the news, which was significant as it laid to rest any speculation of a rift between the BJP and its ideological parent.

The last detail had been hanging fire since BJP president J.P. Nadda's comment last May that seemed to suggest that the party had outgrown the RSS. The consequences of that, the reverses in the general election, the patch-up efforts, the victories in the states afterwards, all is now water under the bridge. Sources in the RSS and BJP say the PM's visit was to underline how important both sides are to each other. When PM Modi talked about how the RSS's tapasya (penance)—with its sangathan (organisation) and samarpan (dedication) in the past 100 years—had borne fruit, he was only reiterating the message.

To the outer world, the PM himself is a prime example of the Sangh’s swayamsevaks. Modi had already articulated the ‘panch pran’ or the five fundamentals of ‘Amrit Kaal’ as the country approaches its target of ‘Viksit Bharat’ in 2047. At the core of the Sangh’s ideology of cultural nationalism and revival as well, these include the goal of a developed India, eliminating all traces of the colonial mindset, honour and pride in our roots, our unity and the realisation of a sense of duty among citizens.

In his 11-year tenure so far, PM Modi has popularised many of the RSS's ideas, including taking yoga to the world, articulating the worldview of vasudaiva kutumbakam (world as a family) as a mainstay of foreign policy, evolved the