PM to Visit RSS Headquarters in Nagpur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit the RSS headquarters this Sunday, something no other Prime Minister has ever done. While Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bhawankule insisted that there is nothing political about the visit to Nagpur, this visit can be seen as an attempt to ease tension between the BJP and the RSS.

PM’s Schedule

“The PM will lay the foundation stone of the Madhav Netralaya Premium Centre building and share the dias with Mohan Bhagwat (RSS Chief) during this event. The PM will also visit the Hedgewar Smruti Mandir, which is the RSS headquarters. After this, he will go to Deekshabhoomi where B R Ambedkar and his followers embraced Buddhism,” told Bawankule to reporters.

The Hedgewar Smriti Mandir has memorials dedicated to RSS founder Keshav Balaram Hedgewar and MS Gowalkar, the second sarsanghchalak of the RSS. Ex-Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee visited the memorial in 2007 for the centenary celebrations of Gowalkar. During this time, he had stepped down as prime minister after the BJP lost the elections in 2004.

Modi himself last visited the RSS headquarters in September 2012 to attend the funeral of late RSS chief K S Sudarshan. Back then, he was serving as the Gujarat chief minister.