Even though the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) maintains it has nothing to do with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), RSS chief Mohanrao Bhagwat welcomed the changes within the right wing political party, which is the primary Opposition in the Parliament.
“The BJP has already started taking steps for a younger leadership. Whatever it does will not depend on my saying anything,” Bhagwat said on his first trip to Kolkata, after becoming the RSS Sarsanghchalak or chief.
Bhagwat, who earlier served as Sanghchalak in the city for four years, is on a two-day visit to Kolkata.
Although refuted allegations by the Congress that RSS was the guiding force behind the BJP, said that his organisation would never comment on these “false allegations.”
“It’s for the BJP to answer if it has any ties with us or not. As much as I know, BJP has said time after time that the inspiration for its ideology comes from the RSS. But day-to-day activities are not controlled by us,” he said.
He also said that despite media reports that most crucial decisions of the BJP are taken with a nod from the RSS, no decision is taken either from the RSS office at Jhandewalan in central Delhi or at the national headquarters in Nagpur.
{{/usCountry}}He also said that despite media reports that most crucial decisions of the BJP are taken with a nod from the RSS, no decision is taken either from the RSS office at Jhandewalan in central Delhi or at the national headquarters in Nagpur.
{{/usCountry}}“We don’t have to think beyond RSS,” he said. “To judge things like alliances and politics is better left to the people because they understand it best what will work for them.”
The 59-year-old RSS Sarsanghchalak also refused to comment on BJP’s recent departure from its initial stand of Hindutva. “If BJP should follow Hindutva or is its problem. We’ll keep on propounding and propagating Hindutva,” he said.
Stating that Hindutva was not a strategy for the RSS, Bhagwat said that he and his comrades would keep on talking about it. “It’s the truth for us.
Bhagwat also expressed RSS’s commitment to the Ram Mandir issue. “The matter is handled by an independent committee. We’re still true to the issue and whenever the committee decides to launch the issue we’ll be with them,” he said.
Bhagwat, the youngest RSS Sarsanghchalak, selected to his present office in March 2009, will address a public rally in the city on Saturday.