Parivar Prevails

For over a decade, Narendra Modi has loomed over Indian politics like a colossus who appeared to transcend party structures and ideological hierarchies. The BJP was remade in his image, its electoral fortunes tied to his persona, its slogans infused with his personal guarantee. But the Prime Minister’s recent visit to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur suggests a shift in power dynamics. Modi’s effusive praise for the Sangh and its leaders was more than mere homage; it was an emphatic acknowledgment of the ideological parent that nurtured his rise.

Modi’s pilgrimage to the RSS headquarters was conspicuous. In his eleven years as Prime Minister, he had pointedly kept the Sangh at arm’s length, maintaining a careful balance between ideological fidelity and political autonomy. The RSS had watched with unease as Modi fashioned himself into the sole architect of the BJP’s success. The 2024 general election, however, proved a chastening moment. The party’s underwhelming performance, falling short of the bombastic ‘400-plus’ seat target, forced a reckoning. The RSS, long content to exert its influence from the shadows, reasserted its role as custodian of the movement.

The strain in relations had been evident for some time. The Sangh bristled at Modi’s personality cult, his relentless self-promotion eclipsing the BJP’s traditional ethos of collective leadership. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s veiled rebukes in recent months hinted at this discontent. The tipping point came when BJP president J.P. Nadda declared that the party no longer required the RSS’s handholding, an assertion that did not sit well with the organization that sees itself as the ideological spine of Hindu nationalism. When the BJP faltered in the elections, the Sangh seized its opportunity to recalibrate the balance of power.

Modi’s visit to Nagpur was thus a conciliatory gesture, an attempt to placate a parent grown weary of its wayward offspring. His lavish tributes to the RSS were an implicit recognition of its enduring authority. Modi’s presence alongside Bhagwat, their convivial exchanges, were a carefully choreographed display of unity after months of visible tension.

At stake in this rapprochement is the question of who will lead the BJP. With Nadda’s extended tenure as party president at an end, the appointment of his successor will be a litmus test of Modi’s ability to maintain his grip. The RSS, emboldened by recent events, has insisted on a leader of its choosing who is not a mere loyalist to Modi and Amit Shah.

For the Sangh, this moment is a reaffirmation of its role as the guiding force of the Hindu nationalist movement. It has endured for a century not by playing second fiddle to political leaders but by shaping them, moulding them into instruments of its vision. Modi’s rise was not an exception to this rule. His return to Nagpur, hat in hand, confirms an iron law of the BJP-RSS relationship: no leader is indispensable, and no individual is bigger than the Parivar.