Ideology as the organisational compass: How RSS imagines the next BJP chief should be

India Today

a day ago

The BJP has requisite quorum to elect its new national president. The party's discussions with its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), have happened. Senior Sangh leaders have emphasised to the BJP leadership that the appointment of their president was not a routine organisational exercise but a chance to recalibrate the party.In backchannel discussions, Sangh functionaries have conveyed to the BJP top brass that the next president must do what the Narendra Modi-Amit Shah era in the party sidestepped: restore the organisational, ideological and cultural balance that once defined the Sangh-BJP ecosystem. Sangh leaders also want the new president to be younger.advertisementOf the 36 state units, the BJP has elected (or re-elected) unit chiefs in 28 states; some crucial states, such as Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Gujarat, are works in progress. The party is also ready to announce the process and election of state chiefs in Jharkhand and Delhi. These two decisions could happen within a week before finalising the shortlisted panel for the national president and setting up the election process.Sangh leaders don't get involved in micro-management of any of the RSS affiliates, including the BJP. Yet they expect the affiliates to push their ideological narrative and build enablers in society. 'Politics and governance are not the goal but means to achieve larger goals,' said a senior RSS pracharak.
By now, there is little doubt that the tectonic plates beneath India's ruling party have shifted. The Modi-led BJP is in power, yet the party no longer wears the aura of unchallengeable dominance. Denial of an outright majority after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections triggered not only a rethink within the saffron bloc but also an unmistakable ideological rumble from the RSS headquarters. The RSS made no bones about its desire for introspection—and perhaps more importantly—course-correction by the BJP.Over the past year, the Sangh has grown increasingly vocal. In June last year, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's now widely-discussed address —wherein he lamented about the rise of arrogance, the decline of dialogue and the BJP's disconnect from civilisational humility—was more than a sermon. It was a coded critique of what many in the Sangh see as the BJP's over-centralised, personality-driven model.The sermon landed just as the BJP had entered its most vulnerable phase in a decade, forced into coalition management at the Centre with the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), struggling to contain factional frictions in Maharashtra and Karnataka, and facing organisational drift in some former bastions, including Uttar Pradesh.There is clarity among both Sangh and BJP leaderships that they need each other and can't have independent futures. There is also growing acceptance of the Sangh's ideas but, notably, also the enduring popularity of Prime Minister Modi across ideological spaces. The Sangh has been able to piggyback on this popularity to expand into new demographics and geographies.A top Sangh pracharak told INDIA TODAY that a towering figure like Modi does help, and that one doesn't have to remind him of the ideological stances. 'He is much clearer on the subject than anyone else. Yet we have the role of a custodian and watchdog to play, to caution our colleagues working in the various affiliates from time to time,' he said.advertisementIn the last week of June and the first week of July, several RSS pracharaks from around the country had camped in Delhi, particularly for the three-day annual convening of prant pracharaks at the RSS office in the national capital. Speaking to them gives one a sense of what the RSS would like to see in the next BJP president.For the Sangh, the BJP president must not be a mere electoral strategist or seat-sharing tactician, but rather a custodian of political dharma—grounded in the BJP's ideological moorings, respected by the Sangh and trusted by the cadre. In closed-door conversations, Sangh seniors have stressed on the need for a president with an organisational mind. The appointee should be someone who understands the pulse of the party, and can engage with not just ministers and state presidents but also booth workers, shakha volunteers and RSS pracharaks, who increasingly feel unheard.It is not that the incumbent J.P. Nadda or his predecessor, Amit Shah, never did so. They built infrastructure and programming for communication, including the robust mechanism of panna samitis, and kept cadre engaged via various party programmes. However, the Sangh wants the internal communication to become sharper and deeper.advertisementThere is particular concern over how the BJP, in its quest for electoral expansion, has become 'transactional'. The Sangh is uneasy about the growing influence of technocrats, political migrants (turncoats) and public relations operatives in shaping the BJP's public persona. The worry is not just that these newcomers dilute the party's ethos but that they hollow it out from within.The ideal president, in the Sangh's eyes, will be one who can reinstate ideological clarity—not only around classic Hindutva issues, such as the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) or population control, but also in domains like education, family values and cultural nationalism.To build the quorum, BJP has elected 28 new state unit chiefs, and nominated a working president in Punjab. Most of the state chiefs are hands-on politicians and dyed-in-the-wool Sangh leaders. 'They could still make mistakes but at least, they will not deviate from the core philosophy of the Sangh,' remarks a pracharak.There's more. July 2025 marks a critical moment in the BJP's succession calendar. Modi turns 75 in September. While there is no formal resignation mechanism tied to that age in the party, the transition moment—anticipated for years—is no longer abstract. A week before Modi, RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat will also turn 75. And within a fortnight, the Sangh will be celebrating its centenary.advertisementNeither in BJP nor in the Sangh is there any anticipation that Modi will make space for a successor soon. There is consensus that Modi is the best bet to push the ideological agenda, take everyone in the ideological sphere together and re-strengthen the narrative. In fact, some Sangh ideologues believe Modi is needed for a longer term to set the trajectory to bring 'civilisational change' in the wider Hindu society.However, on July 10, Bhagwat surprised everyone when he said that people in public life must make way for their successors after attaining the age of 75. He was speaking at the launch of a biography of veteran pracharak Moropant Pingale, who himself retired after 75 years of age. Whether Bhagwat's statement was aimed at Modi or a general comment, only time will tell. Yet it has stirred a political storm.Any BJP preparation for a post-Modi era will require a lot of hard work. It would mean building a second-rung leadership, mentoring state-level satraps and restoring inner-party democracy. The high-command culture—long typified by Modi-Shah-Nadda's closed-circle style—is now being seen as unsustainable.advertisementMany pracharaks call for a renewed focus on cadre-building. The post-Covid years have seen an explosion in electoral technology—apps, data dashboards, call centres, and so on. But Sangh functionaries complain that ideological education has weakened. Shakhas may be growing, but the party, they say, is losing character. In states like Bihar, West Bengal and Telangana, the BJP's growth has to be complemented with depth. The new president will be expected to rebuild the training architecture in order to elevate not just performers but believers in the ideology.There is also a political imperative: the BJP's coalition compulsions in 2024 forced it to compromise on long-pending ideological agendas. The Sangh believes that only a grounded, ideologically attuned BJP president can safeguard the party's convictions in the coalition era. On contentious issues like the UCC or education reforms, there is apprehension that coalition partners will demand dilution or may bargain hard.The Sangh would obviously want a party chief who knows how to balance alliance pragmatism with ideological persistence. It is looking for someone with organisational experience and depth, a long innings in the trenches and the ability to engage with both the Delhi leadership and the shakha network.Meanwhile, the BJP's internal climate has grown more brittle. Post-2024, state units have begun asserting themselves again. Fissures have opened in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana and West Bengal. Leaders once overshadowed by Modi-Shah are staking claims. Sangh leaders do see this decentralisation as healthy but only if channelled by a party president who can mediate between ambition and alignment. Someone who respects feedback, tolerates constructive dissent and rebuilds what insiders call the 'invisible glue' of the BJP.Sangh leaders are mindful of how the BJP engages with the larger non-political ecosystem. In recent years, several movements—on Sanskrit education, decolonisation of history, Ayurveda and cultural revival—have emerged from Sangh affiliates. Yet, the BJP's attention has been episodic.The new president, the Sangh hopes, will institutionalise these linkages. Not just through photo-ops but policy direction and party philosophy. In short, the RSS wants the BJP to remember who it is. The party may have won 240 Lok Sabha seats, but in the Sangh's reckoning, the election was a wake-up call. It proved that Modi alone can no longer win the war. It underlined that governance, ideology and organisation must now go together. And it reminded the BJP that even empires need renewal.The choice of the new BJP president will signal the direction of that renewal. Will the BJP tone down on centralised charisma? Will it continue to treat ideology as a campaign asset or re-embed it as a moral compass? The Sangh has made its preference clear: it wants a president who is less of a war general and more of a civilisational steward. One who leads not from the stage but from the sangathan.The Sangh knows it cannot dictate terms to today's BJP. But it also knows that the BJP cannot afford to ignore the ideological umbilical cord that made it what it is. In the year after the 2024 Lok Sabha poll verdict, the Sangh's mood has changed—from celebration to scrutiny, endorsement to expectation. As the BJP prepares to anoint its next chief, the message from Nagpur is clear: course-correct or risk drift.Subscribe to India Today Magazine- EndsTune InMust Watch