RSS evaluates Modi government work

Holds meeting with senior ministers while Modi is away on foreign tour

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New Delhi: With barely a week left for the Narendra Modi government to complete one year in office, its performance and achievements are being evaluated independently by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

RSS is the parent organisation of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Several senior federal ministers and the BJP president Amit Shah have already met the RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. The ministers who have so far called on Bhagwat are federal home minister Rajnath Singh and defence minister Manohar Parrikar.

Singh met Bhagwat on Thursday and explained that since he was in Nagpur to attend an official engagement, he decided to call on the RSS chief.

Shah met Bhagwat on Saturday while Parrikar was scheduled to meet him Monday. Former federal minister Murli Manohar Joshi and at least two other federal ministers are also scheduled to meet the RSS chief this week.

Interestingly, these meetings took place while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been away on the three nation tour which concluded Tuesday.

These meetings are being described as courtesy call, RSS sources confirmed that performance of the Modi government was discussed and evaluated at these meetings.

RSS is said to be not very impressed with the overall performance of the Modi government since the pace of economic development it had envisaged is slower than expected.

A section within the RSS is unhappy that on the name of economic development, the Modi government has put some core pro-Hindu issues of the RSS and BJP to the backburner though it has majority of its own in the Lok Sabha.

Sources added that there is a possibility of Modi-Bhagwat meeting in the next few days where they may discuss the proposed expansion cum reshuffle of the council of ministers.

The prime minister’s office has already completed evaluation of performance of each of the ministers based on which Modi is expected to rejig his government.

“RSS will definitely give some inputs on this though we don’t interfere with day to day functioning of the government,” RSS sources at its New Delhi office said.

RSS is also concerned about the upcoming state assembly elections in Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. Victory of BJP in these key states is seen as crucial for BJP’s expansion.

BJP has already drawn-up a week long celebrations of Modi government’s anniversary and is planned about 250 rallies across the country. Modi himself would address one such rally, venue of which is to be decided after Modi’s return to the country.

RSS had hand-picked Modi, the then Gujarat chief minister and forced BJP to project him as its prime ministerial candidate for 2014 general elections despite protests by some individuals including the former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani. Modi later on implemented the RSS plan of sidelining veteran leaders and keep them away from holding ministerial berths.

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