Much depends on the BJP's electoral performance in next year's assembly elections. If the party fares well in UP and some states like Goa and Gujarat, it will be able to fob off the attempt at a reappraisal of its Hindutva doctrine, observes Amulya Ganguli.
The RSS has been at loggerheads with Advani ever since the latter praised Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah during a recent visit to that country.\n
Speaking at the RSS's annual Vijayadashami rally in Nagpur which was broadcast online and attended 50 swayamsevaks (volunteers) due to the COVID-19 guidelines, Bhagwat said when the Sangh says Hindustan is 'Hindu Rashtra', it does not have any political or power-centered concept in its mind.
Bhagwat presented Sangh's views on a number of contentious issue while answering wide-ranging written questions on the last day of the three-day conclave, including on matters like inter-caste marriages, education policy, crimes against women, cow vigilantism.
The intellectual climate in the country is tilting towards Hindu ideology, RSS general secretary Mohan Bhagwat said.
Immediately following its ban being lifted on July 11, 1949, the RSS began debating entering politics in the pages of its house organ, The Organiser. Thus was born the Jana Sangh/BJP, points out Aakar Patel.Thus Was Born Jana Sangh/BJP, asserts Aakar Patel.
Mohan Bhagwat flagged a number of issues like illegal immigrants, cow vigilantism, situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the economic scenario in his Vijayadashmi address.
The new Ram Lalla idol was consecrated at the Ayodhya temple on Monday, an event led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and watched by lakhs of people on television at their homes and in temples across the country.
Saisuresh Sivaswamy/Rediff.com decodes Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech after the Pran Prathistha ceremony at Ram Temple in Ayodha.
'Was there an element of orchestration between Mukherjee and Mohan Bhagwat about their speeches to the effect that the former would leave out any reference to Muslims while the RSS chief will not talk about a Hindu rashtra?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend.
'Modi campers are aware that the Sangh may keep a Nitin Gadkari under wraps.' 'He may be pulled out of the hat if push comes to shove and if the Modi-led BJP is unable to deliver a decisive victory.' A revealing excerpt from Kingshuk Nag's new book, Mohan Bhagwat: Influencer-in-Chief.
"I do not answer hypothetical, speculative questions... This is purely imaginary at the moment," Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.
Swami Aseemanand appears to have become a habitual retractor. After his explosive interview in to the Caravan, the accused in the Samjhauta Express, Hyderabad Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Dargah blasts denied speaking to the magazine.
What were our political leaders up to on the weekend?
Addressing a lecture series 'Positivity Unlimited', Bhagwat said the country should stay united and work as a team in these testing times, instead of pointing fingers at each other.
"Whose country is Germany?...It is a country of Germans, Britain is a country of Britishers, America is a country of Americans, and in the same way Hindustan is a country of Hindus. It does not mean that Hindustan is not the country of other people," Bhagwat said.
A private complaint was filed in a Hyderabad court seeking direction to police to register a case against AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi.
"The RSS runs nearly 60,000 daily shakhas (branches) across the country and 97.5 per cent shakhas have started functioning again after the easing of COVID-19 related restrictions," joint general secretary Manmohan Vaidya said.
Backing Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's elevation in the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Tuesday said that Hindutva was the only way to bring about change in the country.
Bhagwat referred to Gandhi's writings in Harijan in which he had declared himself a "fanatic Sanatani Hindu".
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Thursday met Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief Mohan Bhagwat at the Sangh founthead office in New Delhi to discuss the recent developments in the party, including the elevation of Narendra Modi as Election Campaign Committee head and the Janata Dal-United's decision to quit the national Democratic Alliance.
The goings-on at the three-day Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh conclave, which is being attended by 390 delegates, are shrouded in secrecy.
'Rama is Lord God of maryada. Today's maryada is the Constitution.'
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam had once cancelled his visit to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur for an event after friends warned him that he would be labelled as an "RSS sympathiser", claims a new book, Kalam: The Untold Story.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's action against its two members for their controversial comments against Prophet Mohammed cap a series of statements from its top brass and also Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat that sought to distance their organisations from shrill and combative religious rhetoric, even as it has brought to fore the conflict within their wide sphere of support.
Mohan Bhagwat said the temple would be constructed in the same grandeur as it existed before, using the "same stones" under the guidance of those who were the flag-bearers of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement for the last 25 years.
The RSS has decided that this year the festive occasion will only be addressed by RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and not by chief guests.
What some of our leaders were up to on Thursday and Thursday.
The 93-year-old leader was admitted to the hospital on June 11.
"It is necessary for all to oppose this together," RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar said.
"Debate is just an excuse, the real target of the RSS-BJP is social justice," Priyanka Gandhi said.
He arrived at the RSS headquarters in Mahal area in Nagpur around 9.25 pm and left after one and a half hours.
"There is no place for Hindus in the world except India," sources said quoting Bhagawat.
Even if someone did something wrong, do not consider everyone guilty. Some people want to misuse it, the RSS chief said in an apparent reference to incidents involving Tablighi Jamaat members after it centre in Delhi emerged as a major coronavirus hotspot.
RSS on Thursday made a series of tweets quoting Bhagwat on the issue.
In the last 9 years, the BJP govt has marked some anniversaries and events with more zeal than Congress-led governments.
'I'm sure the central government must have been thinking over the technicalities, that how to pave the way for construction of the temple.'
The Nagpur Anti Terrorism Squad unit has arrested a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist from Jammu and Kashmir who had allegedly conducted a recce of Dr Hedgewar Smriti Bhawan of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur, Maharashtra, last year, an official said on Wednesday.
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