Ever since BJP chief J.P Nadda remarked that the party has outgrown the RSS and is no longer dependent on the latter to conduct its affairs, simmering tension between BJP and RSS has been going on. The BJP considers the RSS its ideological fount. The RSS leaders have not publicly retorted to him but it is believed the statement deeply hurt them. In this context, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks about the polarising election campaign will be seen as an indictment of the BJP’s shrill anti-Muslim rhetoric. Bhagwat, of course, blamed both the BJP and the Opposition for adopting campaign “strategies that would lead to divisions, increasing social fault lines.”
The reduced tally for the BJP in the general elections and its dependence on allies to run the government has encouraged the RSS to take a reflective, but critical, stance on the party’s politics. Even though the RSS chief criticized the polarising and personalized election campaign, the relationship between them and the BJP is not expected to deteriorate further. The liberals and opposition parties who seem to be excited by the statement of Bhagwat should be careful. There is nothing to celebrate. The BJP and RSS are inseparable. Both will continue to work together with their agenda.