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.