Praise for RSS, warning against demographic change, reminder of ‘murder of Constitution': PM Modi dishes out poll messaging in Independence Day address
Terming the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of his party, as possibly the 'world's biggest NGO,' Mr. Modi lauded the organisation for its work in civil society, naming it a golden chapter in India's history as it hits its centenary this year.
'Today I want to mention one thing with great pride that 100 years ago an organisation was born — the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Its 100 years of national service has been a very proud and glorious page,' he said, for the first time, referring to the RSS in his Independence Day address. The message is being seen as significant not just because it is the 100th anniversary of the RSS and that Mr. Modi has been a full-time pracharak in the past, but also the 14-month wait for the ideological parent RSS and its offspring, the BJP, to decide on a national president for the party.
Sources say that both sides are holding tight to their positions on who should be the next BJP president — someone completely aligned with the BJP's current leadership or closer to the RSS?
This is the second time Mr. Modi has heaped praise on the RSS in the recent times. Earlier, he termed the organisation as a 'banyan tree' giving shelter, at a function in Nagpur. 'Prime Minister Modi's words point to the fact that, while there are differences, there are no fundamental or ideological issues between the RSS and the BJP, rather more to do with organisational and Human Resource related,' said a senior Union Minister.
The mention of a National Demographic Mission to go into illegal immigration, especially in border areas, is significant as it plays to the BJP's agenda for long.
The current drive to weed out alleged Bangladeshi immigrants especially in Assam and West Bengal, States that will be going to polls early next year, coupled with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls makes this a hot button issue for the BJP. 'When demographic change happens, especially in border areas, it creates a crisis for national security. A challenge for unity, integrity and progress. It sows the seeds for social tension. No country can handover itself to infiltrators. How can India do that?' Mr. Modi said in his speech.
On the continual charge by the Opposition that the BJP government would 'change the Constitution' of its social and political safeguards of civic freedoms, PM Modi said people remember how 'the Constitution was murdered' and who murdered it.
On another charge by the Opposition, that the BJP was of a party with mainly Hindi speakers and only represented them, Prime Minister Modi spoke at length about the beauty of all Indian languages.
In his 103 minute record-breaking length of speech, Mr. Modi may have appeared to be inordinately consumed with policy reforms but his messaging on domestic politics, and within his own ideological sphere was also something that stood out.
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