Power and discipline: Inside Modi’s delicate balance with the RSS

As Prime Minister Modi turned 75 last week, his legacy as the tallest leader of the BJP was further cemented. Despite a big electoral setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Modi has bounced back and kept his allies, the Telugu Desam Party and the Janata Dal (United), close. Many had predicted rumblings in the National Democratic Alliance government that could even curtail the BJP’s Hindutva agenda, but that has not happened. The allies have been happy to keep quiet and go along.

What is more interesting, however, is the relationship between Modi and the BJP’s ideological mother-ship, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or the RSS. The parliament election results were a shock, with the BJP down from 303 seats to 240, well below the majority mark of 272. There was intense speculation in political circles that the RSS had not campaigned as enthusiastically for the party, not with the aim of defeating the BJP but perhaps of cutting it down to size.

In the last decade, Modi has become much bigger than the BJP itself, a personality cult that the party has cashed in on in election after election. Perhaps that overconfidence is what prompted BJP president JP Nadda to remark in an interview to the Indian Express in May 2024, that “in the beginning, we would have been less capable, smaller and needed the RSS. Today, we have grown and we are capable. The BJP runs itself. That’s the difference.” Those comments, which were made bang in the middle of the Lok Sabha election campaign, created a huge rift with the RSS.

Eyebrows raised

Soon after the results, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat raised eyebrows when he talked about “humility in a true sevak” and even highlighted that normalcy was yet to return to Manipur.

Months after the Lok Sabha shocker, however, the RSS rallied together to help the BJP win the state of Maharashtra. The message was clear - however powerful you may think you are, you still need the RSS on the ground.

That is why in his Independence Day address this year, the Prime Minister talked about the RSS for the very first time, talking about its “100 years of national service... whose service, dedication, organisation, and unparalleled discipline are the identity of the organisation.” It signalled a patch-up after a rather patchy year of mixed messaging on just where the RSS-BJP relationship stood. Mohan Bhagwat had recently said leaders should retire at 75, which many took as a hint to Modi. Later he back-peddled on the same.

Complicated relationship

However, the complicated relationship between the BJP and RSS is on full display when it comes to deciding who the next BJP president should be. JP Nadda has been on an extension for over a year. When Mohan Bhagwat was asked about the delay some weeks ago, he smiled and said “we don’t decide. If we were to decide, would it take so much time?... Take your time”. The comments indicated that Modi and Amit Shah could take as long as they want but the RSS was not going to be weighed down. At the heart of the battle over the BJP president’s post is the desire of the RSS to have a person who would be committed to the organisation first, not to personalities and individuals. It is also no secret that many BJP leaders are privately unhappy that the party has become centred around two individuals with zero consultation on anything, including the distribution of tickets in elections.

At the end of the day, the BJP still needs Modi to win but as 2024 proved, perhaps a little less so. Modi may be the biggest leader the party has seen, but the RSS is still fundamental to the BJP’s success or failure on the ground. Finding a way to harmonise that is where the real challenge lies.