West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee makes momos at a local stall in Darjeeling.
Occasional lovers' tiffs have marked the history of RSS-BJP relations. To think that Nagpur will bring about any change in leadership is a misreading of both its intent and its power, points out Shekhar Gupta.
'This will be a close election. At least now, it appears that the NDA has an edge.'
Is the gentleman in the suit standing behind Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat who we think it is?
Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal wrote to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday, seeking answers to five questions on the Bharatiya Janata Party's politics and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's actions.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited Dr Hedgewar Smruti Mandir in Nagpur and paid tributes at memorials dedicated to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, and second sarsanghchalak (chief) M S Golwalkar.
The prolonged delay over electing J P Nadda's successor possibly stems from the RSS leadership wanting a person who is at least equidistant from the Sangh as well as the Modi/BJP edifice, observes BJP-RSS watcher Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Bhagwat told an event in Delhi on Sunday that there should be conversation in harmonious atmosphere between those in favour of reservation and those against it.
'On the one hand it will appeal to pan-Hindu sentiment and on the other opposition to it could well strengthen support for the BJP among Hindu voters.'
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's visit to a mosque and his meeting with the head of an organisation of imams were not a deviation from the outfit's line, its senior leader Indresh Kumar said on Friday.
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Mohan Bhagwat's reaffirmation of the RSS's Hindu rashtra ideal has shown that nothing has changed, that it remains firmly rooted in its fundamental beliefs, that the willingness to listen to voices from outside its fold was a pretence about being openminded,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
BJP and RSS leaders are once again pushing to remove the words 'secular' and 'socialist' from the Constitution's Preamble, showing a deeper effort to change India's identity from a diverse, multi-religious republic to a Hindu-first nation, even though they don't have the numbers in Parliament to officially change the Constitution, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The RSS wants to transform society and believes that victory of society must not be judged on wealth creation but religion, he said.
In the last 11 years, India and the world witnessed what he stood for, what he promised and did not deliver, and what he actually stood for and practised without fearing how history would judge him. Modi's tenure has been punctuated with headline-grabbing decisions, symbolic gestures, and stage-managed moments that continue to define his leadership and India's politics, points out Ramesh Menon.
Only in the event of the RSS managing to force Modi into accepting a consensual candidate, will the party not continue to 'being' the 'next Congress', observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Calcutta High Court has granted conditional permission to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) to hold a rally in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district on February 16, despite objections from the state government. The court allowed the event, which will be addressed by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, on the condition that the organizers keep the crowd size and sound levels under control and ensure that students taking secondary exams are not disturbed. The event will be held at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) complex, which is located in a remote area and away from any schools.
The RSS has decided that this year the festive occasion will only be addressed by RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and not by chief guests.
Much drama is likely to continue in the coming year, within the Sangh Parivar as well as involving the Opposition parties and, of course the BJP's allies, predicts Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
He won two terms in office, which was a stunning feat for a leader who used his silence as the most vocal weapon to change the economy and the lives of a billion people, asserts Tarun Vijay, former BJP MP and former Chief Editor, Panchjanya, the RSS weekly.
'I am not an aspiration-oriented politician.' 'This is the time to redefine politics.' 'Politics of power is not real politics.'
'What was said about Muslims was the most important part of the three-day RSS 'seminar'.'
Indications that Gandhi could be invited came on a day the RSS criticised him for drawing parallels between the Sangh and Islamic radical outfit Muslim Brotherhood.
The goings-on at the three-day Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh conclave, which is being attended by 390 delegates, are shrouded in secrecy.
Political power has now been outsourced fully to the Modi government. Even if the RSS is still, in principle, his guru, nobody would dare to whisper a word of advice to Modi, forget some whiff of criticism. When the shishya grows into such a popular and domineering leader, the guru has to applaud from the sidelines, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Thursday was the day results from the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly elections and by-elections in Bihar, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh were out, so what were some of our leaders up to?
The government has to specify what it intends to do with caste census data. It will be closely tracked if the government would simultaneously move towards removing the present 50% bar on reservations using means which are permitted in law. If this is not done, the entire exercise will become meaningless and could boomerang on the BJP, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'We want Muslims to go about their work and business unhindered.' 'They should not get victimised and that will only come through the process of reconciliation.'
Since 2014, many of Mohan Bhagwat's speeches have acted as cues for government policy.
What were our political leaders up to on the weekend?
A photograph of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat sitting with Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has set tongues wagging in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, with the Congress taunting that the S in SP means the Sangh.
"It is necessary for all to oppose this together," RSS spokesperson Sunil Ambekar said.
'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.
Terming as wrong perception that Sangh is ideological founthead of BJP, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Sunday said the essence of its activities is to build a strong India with Hindutva at its core.
What some of our leaders were up to over the weekend.
When Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's name was floated as Venkaiah Naidu's successor as vice president, the RSS instead suggested Jagdeep Dhankar, indicating that he was also Mohan Bhagwat's choice, states Prakash Bhandari.
'Undeniably, Modi's position has stabilised and he has staged a comeback of sorts from the weeks after the Lok Sabha results.' 'Coalition partners are likely to be more tolerant of Modi... The forthcoming elections in Delhi and Bihar will determine whether this continues or not.' 'To win Delhi and Bihar, Modi will have to work in conjunction with the RSS.' 'However, because of the 'truce' that has been worked out within the Sangh Parivar, Modi will have to be more consultative than he has been in the past ten years,' reveals Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'Any kind of political activity is not on our agenda.'
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