Last Sunday will prove to be a red-letter day for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It’s the first time that Narendra Modi visited its headquarters in Nagpur as prime minister. He had come here twice earlier, in 2012 and 2013, when he was the Gujarat chief minister. Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited twice, once as PM in 2000 and then in 2007.
Modi’s visit to the RSS headquarters on 30 March—when he also visited Deekshabhoomi, where BR Ambedkar embraced Buddhism—may give the Opposition a reason to chant “Sangham sharanam gachhami (I go to the Sangh for refuge)”. But there were clear signs of that right after the Haryana Assembly elections.
As I noted in my column dated 14 October, shortly after RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat’s Vijayadashmi speech last year, PM Modi had tweeted. He congratulated all swayamsevaks on the Sangh entering its 100th year and showered praise for its service to the nation. The last time he had tweeted about the Sangh’s foundation day was in 2017.
Modi also tweeted the YouTube link to Bhagwat’s Vijayadashami speech. That was a first. And the last time he had tweeted about Bhagwat was to greet him on his birthday in 2016. Only a fortnight ago, he told podcaster Lex Fridman how the RSS had given him “a life of purpose”.
Modi’s visit to the RSS headquarters marks the culmination of the BJP’s endeavour to put behind JP Nadda’s remark about the Sangh’s inutility to today’s ‘capable’ BJP, which cost the party dearly in the last Lok Sabha election.
Modi’s dilemma
Guess what Modi and Bhagwat might have discussed during the visit. About the two of them turning 75 in September, Bhagwat on the 11th and Modi on the 17th? Unlikely. It’s such a touchy subject. Bhagwat is known to believe that nobody should hold a post after turning 75. He hasn’t revealed his plan post-11th yet. Modi was also known to hold the same view very strongly, but he has changed his mind now. Just the other day, he was telling the Opposition in Parliament that his government was in its third term only.
So, what else could Modi and Bhagwat have discussed? About the new BJP president? Nadda’s extended term as president ended on 30 June 2024. Going by the party’s Constitution, he holds the post unauthorisedly now. His three-year tenure ended on 20 January 2023. One can’t blame him if he hopes for the current stalemate to continue.
Modi and Bhagwat could have discussed anything and everything under the sun. Just what, we wouldn’t know. One can only hope that a visit to the RSS headquarters helps Modi resolve his dilemma—a tricky choice between India’s economic imperatives and his politics and ideology. It’s a choice between US President Donald Trump, his ‘great friend’, and Deendayal Upadhyay and Dattopant Thengadi, the RSS ideologues who ‘inspired’ his economic philosophy. These two have been the guiding forces of his governance since 2014, be it the abolition of the Planning Commission, Atmanirbhar Bharat and Swadeshi, Ayushman Bharat, fiscal conservatism, ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ motto, et al.
He did make a few digressions and adjustments here and there—without letting the RSS or its affiliates interfere—but he stuck to Thengadi and Upadhyaya’s broad principles. It was like Modi as the Gujarat CM driving the Hindutva agenda without letting Sangh activists steer the wheel.
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Thengadi vs Trump
When I was in Gujarat to cover the Assembly elections 2007, I was surprised to find activists of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and other Sangh Parivar outfits unhappy with the Modi-led government. Many of them had expected cases against them to be closed, while others missed the support that they hoped for from a BJP administration. It’s more or less the same story about PM Modi’s economic pursuit. RSS-affiliated bodies like the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, and the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh have virtually lost their voice even as their founder, Thengadi, remained the source of inspiration of the Modi government.
In September 2021, for instance, Union minister Bhupender Yadav tweeted that he was “delighted to note PM Shri Narendra Modi ji’s govt. is working on the path laid out by Dattopant Thengadi ji for workers’ welfare.” In 2020, when finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman explained that Modi’s definition of a self-reliant India or Atmanirbhar Bharat didn’t mean looking inwards or becoming an isolationist country, she was only repeating Thengadi’s idea.
The 63rd Foundation Day of Dattopant Thengadi National Board for Workers Education and Development is being celebrated as #WorkersEducationDay. I am delighted to note PM Shri Narendra Modi ji’s govt is working on the path laid out by Dattopant Thengadi ji for workers’ welfare.
— Bhupender Yadav (@byadavbjp) September 16, 2021
These organisations were more vocal—though not powerful—during the Vajpayee government. Remember how Thengadi had said Yashwant Sinha was not an arth mantri (finance minister) but an anarth (disaster) mantri. In 2001, Thengadi called him a ‘criminal’ for pursuing the reforms agenda. Interestingly, it was then-BJP general secretary Narendra Modi who—at Vajpayee’s and LK Advani’s instance—issued a press statement, disapproving of Thengadi’s diatribe against Sinha.
Thirteen years later, when the BJP returned to power, Sinha found no place in the Modi cabinet. Thengadi was said to have influenced Modi deeply in his formative years.
In 1979, he reportedly assigned Modi the task of researching the RSS’ role during the Emergency, which gave the latter an opportunity to spend more time in Delhi and interact with key leaders. Modi’s economic and social welfare philosophy is deeply rooted and inspired by Thengadi and Upadhyaya.
This is where Trump has posed a big dilemma—rather a crisis—for PM Modi. While he calls Modi a great friend, he minces no words in questioning India’s “brutal” tariffs. As ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta wrote on Saturday, 10 years of Make in India has done little for manufacturing or exports.
He argued that Trump holding a gun to our heads over tariffs could be the best thing yet. A drastic reduction in tariff protection will force entrepreneurial India to become competitive again. I reckon Modi couldn’t agree more—if it was just about India’s economy. He has already sought to mollify Trump, reducing import duties on Harley-Davidson bikes and Bourbon whisky, and rolling back the so-called ‘Google tax’.
The government looks ready to go a little further to meet Trump’s expectations. But Modi would be concerned about the political fallout of going too far in that direction. His global stature and India’s stature as ‘Vishwaguru’ under his leadership have been one of the BJP’s central electoral planks. The Vishwaguru image is also critical to Modi’s public persona. He can’t afford to be seen as being pushed around or bullied into submission by any other country’s leader—friend or adversary. The pictures of Indians deported from the US like criminals in shackles have already created an unease among Modi fans—not because they didn’t deserve to be deported or treated like the way they were but because Modi’s India can’t imagine any country meting out such a humiliating treatment to Indians when he is at the helm.
Weeks after the Galwan valley clashes in 2020, I was travelling in Bihar, trying to see if it would have any electoral fallout. The impression I got from my interactions with the people was that China was cowering in fear and that it should have learnt lessons from what PM Modi did to Pakistan. Well, Modi can’t let Trump’s words and actions dent this public image.
Politics aside, agreeing to Trump’s demands would mean a repudiation of what Thengadi stood for.
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‘Third Way’
In a chapter titled “Swadeshi: The Practical Manifestation of Patriotism” in his book, Third Way (1998), Thengadi says that the Swadeshi spirit inspired the British to restrain their Head of State from purchasing a luxurious German Mercedes car for her personal use. Imagine what Thengadi’s followers in the RSS may be thinking about the concessions to Harley-Davidson or Bourbon whisky today.
In his book, Thengadi offers another example. When the US forced Japan to give market access to its Californian oranges, Japanese customers did not purchase a single Californian orange and thus “rendered the American arm-twisting a ridiculous affair”.
While the increased dose of protectionism formed the core of the (US) state intervention in earlier years, seeking increased market access to US products by compelling its partner countries to change their policies and become more open has been the present line of its policy, Thengadi wrote. Remember, this book was first published in 1998. “It [the US] is subsidizing heavily its farm sector, while demanding that other countries should withdraw all subsidies to that sector. It is following double-standards in the pharmaceutical sector also,” Thengadi added.
Thengadi and other RSS ideologues provided the foundation of PM Modi’s economic philosophy. Trump is trying to tear it down. He is unwittingly forcing his ‘great friend’ to carry out much-needed transformative changes in the Indian economy to make its business and industry globally competitive and truly atmanirbhar. How PM Modi will reconcile it with his politics and ideology is a moot question.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)