NEW DELHI: In a rare first remarks, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) praised PM Narendra Modi by describing him as the “best representative” of the Sangh, who has been spreading the message of the organisation in his own unique way.
RSS general secretary Dattatreaya Hosabale, who has been on a tour to the UK and the US to reach out to intellectuals and academics, on Saturday, said, “He (PM Modi) is doing these things in his own unique ways, all of them. He may not express the same words. For example, he said, ‘Ek Ped Maa ke Naam’. We have said, ‘plant a tree’.” Hosabale was addressing a conference in Washington.
Reportedly, for the past few days, Hosabale has been attending conferences in the US at the Stanford University in San Francisco and Hudson Institute in Washington and meeting a cross-section of the Indian diaspora.
The RSS leader said, “The organisation has laid down five focus areas for the next 25 years that include working for social harmony and cohesion, creating self-awareness and shedding the colonial mindset, instilling civic sense, strengthening family values and pursuing sustainable development models.”
He noted that many government programmes reflected the values espoused by RSS, including ‘Atamnirbhar Bharat’ initiative and the Five Resolves (Panch Pran) spelt out by the PM in his Independence Day address in 2022. “So, being a Swayamsevak, these things are natural to the Prime Minister,” Hosabale said.
“All these years, the RSS has been working silently with the belief that our work is the message. Now, we thought that it is better to reach out. Our words should also become the message,” he told a news agency.
The RSS general secretary said that there have been misconceptions about the organisation, especially in Western countries, which view the Sangh as a “Hindu organisation”, which is “not true”.
In its centenary year, a key task before the RSS is to address the misconceptions about India and Hindu culture and set a clear narrative of what it stands for, the leader said, adding: “The narrative about India and Hindu culture has been distorted for decades within India and outside. Such narratives have to be corrected.”