The third tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi got off to a turbulent start. A series of unrelated events―paper leaks, a train accident and terror attacks―within weeks of his swearing-in thrust the government into crisis management mode. Additionally, the BJP's ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, appears to have conveyed a message of “course correction” as the ruling party did not secure a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha elections.
The RSS message delivered publicly, often couched as advice to every swayamsevak, meant that it was heard within the parivar. It started with RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat addressing the trainees in Nagpur, a day after the Modi government was sworn in. Bhagwat's insistence on peace in strife-torn Manipur, which has been burning for a year, was seen as call for action by the government.
He spoke of adherence to decorum during elections and using consensus to engage with the opposition. “A true sevak maintains dignity,” he said to the trainees. “He follows decorum while working. He does not have the arrogance to say, 'I did this work.' Only that person can be called a true sevak.” It was interpreted by many as a shot at the swayamsevak who heads the government. Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar’s subsequent jibe that arrogance restricted the BJP to 240 seats further amplified it.
The RSS-inclined publication Organiser, which analysed the 2024 results, also highlighted weaknesses in the BJP’s messaging and strategy, particularly in not listening to feedback from the cadre and inducting tainted leaders into the fold.
As the controversy swirled in Delhi’s power corridors, several sangh commentators argued that Bhagwat’s message caused a stir because of its timing, but noted that he had expressed similar views earlier, too. “But what Indresh ji said, we are not sure of his motivation, but he retracted it later,” said a sangh insider.
When it comes to such statements, it is not a one-way street.During the Lok Sabha elections, BJP president J.P. Nadda had said that his party had grown to a degree that it did not need the RSS anymore. “The statement should have been clarified in time, which was not done,” RSS leader Ram Madhav had said. Nadda's words signalled to the sangh cadre that they were not needed during the elections, which led to confusion on the ground.
For outsiders, it might appear as a schism between mentor and mentee, but for insiders it is a nudge for action. The last two terms of the BJP government marked the substantial rise of the RSS. Relations were cordial between the two and views were exchanged through the regular coordination meetings.
As controversy erupted after the poll results, the BJP dismissed any talk of differences with its ideological mentor. “The BJP and the RSS are part of the same ideological parivar,” said BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal. “Various organisations of the parivar are independently working in their respective fields, be it labour, education, tribal area, youth, farmers etc., but the objective of a strong and vibrant nation is common.”
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In the past 10 years, the BJP has become the world’s largest political organisation, gaining significant influence but also accumulating flab. Even the BJP leaders agreed that over-reliance on Modi and the slogan of 400-plus made leaders complacent and shirk responsibility. “What worked in 2019 did not work as much in 2024,” said a party leader, adding that ignoring feedback from the cadre and sangh volunteers during the 2024 campaign also did damage. This “complacency” was evident in the selection of candidates and alliances, such as with the Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, a party it had previously criticised.
The RSS had participated enthusiastically in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, mobilising its cadre to ensure maximum voter turnout as Modi sought the throne in Delhi. After being out of power for a decade, the sangh parivar had reasons to celebrate Modi’s rise. Buoyed by the prospects of a second term for its most prominent pracharak, the RSS supported the 2019 campaign. Modi delivered on most of the ideological agenda, including the construction of the Ram Mandir and the abrogation of Article 370, earning high marks on the RSS report card. But the BJP embracing turncoats and ignoring diehard workers cost it dearly. There was also a certain indifference as, unlike earlier, RSS workers stayed away from booth management.
“The biggest grouse of any BJP or RSS worker and the common citizen for years has been the difficulty or even impossibility of meeting the local MP or MLA, forget the ministers,” RSS leader and author Ratan Sharda said in Organiser. “Why are they never visible in their constituencies?”
The loss in Faizabad, especially, hurt a lot. The constituency includes Ayodhya, where the Ram Mandir was consecrated as a symbol of Hindu resurgence. When BJP state president Bhupendra Singh went there to analyse the results, he heard that candidate and sitting MP Lallu Singh did not campaign much in the rural areas and was not available to meet people.
However, the RSS's hands-off approach was not pan-India. “In Delhi, we held over 1.2 lakh drawing room meetings to mobilise our cadre and to get people to vote,” said RSS leader Rajiv Tuli.
This election had similarities with the Delhi and Bihar state elections of 2015, when there were accusations of the BJP becoming impervious to the sentiments of the cadre after the historic win at the Centre the previous year. The RSS had expressed its concern then, too. After that, the BJP had shifted gears to energise its cadre and to evolve a better communication mechanism.
Unlike the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led government, which had frosty relations with the RSS, Modi’s tenure had harped on having samanvay baithaks (coordination meetings). Any divergent views have not played out in the open, but within the RSS there is a feeling that the “mistake” of Vajpayee-Advani era should not be repeated.
In their time, Vajpayee and L.K. Advani dominated the organisation. The next in line were Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu, who were much younger. There was a huge gap. When they were voted out, the BJP was out of power for 10 years, which also affected the Hindu cause, said an RSS source.
The RSS, which will be celebrating its 100th foundation day next year, has its eyes set on the larger hindutva project. And this project, it knows, will suffer when sentiment is whipped up against it as it happened when the BJP was not in power. As the largest Hindu organisation in the world, it bats for polity centred on consensus to maintain harmony in the larger community. RSS leaders are endorsing better dialogue with different communities within the Hindu fold, which may have felt alienated with the 'changing the Constitution' narrative.
“The RSS works with longterm plans in mind. There is a need for next-in-line leaders after Modi. There should not be so much of a gap that they (the BJP) have to stay out of power for long before a new leader rises as it happened earlier,” the RSS source said.
This may reflect in the choice of the next BJP president. It might be a person who could stay “independent” of Modi’s aura and focus on different aspirations within the organisation. How far the RSS succeeds in having its way will be known in a few months when the process takes a more concrete shape.