Surprise, Mohan Bhagwat Meets the Foreign Press

By NIHARIKA MANDHANA

Mohan Bhagwat usually reserves his remarks for his cadres in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or R.S.S., the right-wing Hindu group based in Nagpur. But on Thursday the group's leader found himself in New Delhi addressing an unlikely audience â€" some 30 international journalists.

Mr. Bhagwat, often a taciturn figure, was affable and composed as he parried questions on the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, the Hindutva movement and the prime ministerial designs of Gujarat's chief minister, Narendra Modi. He did not make any news, nor divulge any secrets about his organization's relationship with the B.J.P. Instead, the news was that he agreed to speak at all.

To some political observers, Mr. Bhagwat's uncharacteristic appearance was a deliberate act of signaling as political parties are beginning to position for the run-up to the general elections in 2014.

“The R.S.S. is worrie d, but it is trying to say ‘All is well. We will be back in control in two years,' ” said Shiv Visvanathan, a sociologist. Mr. Visvanathan, who has watched the group's activities for several years, said the organization is facing a crisis, as it has lost control over the B.J.P. and its leaders, most notably Mr. Modi.

“It knows that the Congress is in disarray,” he said. “But it can't do anything because it has a party that is as badly behaved and anarchic.”

Peppered with questions from foreign journalists, Mr. Bhagwat repeatedly denied that his organization had any link to political groups, including the B.J.P., or politicians.

The goals of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, he said, include the building of character and the imparting of values, and he emphasized that his organization's influence comes from its network of members in tens of thousands of Indian villages. The group offers Hindu values training and runs some 130,000 public service pr ojects in health care, education, rural development and disaster relief.

“In fact, I'm least interested in current politics,” Mr. Bhagwat said.

It is a stance the R.S.S. has long taken and that has been long dismissed by political analysts and rival parties. Asked how the organization was helping the B.J.P. in electoral planning, Mr. Bhagwat said he had no influence on the party's choice of a prime ministerial candidate and dodged questions about whether he would endorse Mr. Modi.

“There is no question of control on the B.J.P.,” said Mr. Bhagwat. ”The R.S.S. imparts help to policies, not parties.”

Founded in 1925 as a social and intellectual movement, the R.S.S. is not a political party. But scores of its members are career politicians, with many having used the organization as a launch pad to enter mainstream electoral politics. B.J.P. leaders like L.K. Advani and Mr. Modi were a part of the organization before they entered politics.

< p>The guiding principle of the R.S.S. is Hindutva, a term Mr. Bhagwat defined as a path of truth and nonviolence but that has come to be associated with right-wing Hindu nationalism. Senior R.S.S. leaders have been blamed for spreading an anti-Muslim sentiment in the country, an accusation Mr. Bhagwat dismissed as the handiwork of his enemies. Addressing the issue of “saffron terror,” he said, “Hinduism means nonviolence. Extremism is not saffron or green or red.”

Mr. Visvanathan, the sociologist, said that the R.S.S. â€" which traditionally is more seen than heard â€" has now realized it must adapt to regain relevance. He said the group continues to speak an “archaic, swadeshi lingo” while leaders of the B.J.P. are now trying to “use ideology as an instrument of ambition.”

He said that the controversial Mr. Modi, for example, had repackaged himself from a “hard core R.S.S. pracharak” into a political figure now trying to broaden his appeal by writing books about climate change.

“They need to stop being custodians of ideology,” Mr. Visvanathan said, “and become agents of change.”

On Thursday, Mr. Bhagwat also addressed a range of questions, during which he threw his organization's support behind all anticorruption movements, including those led by Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare. With ethnic strife engulfing India's northeastern state of Assam, he said the authorities needed to stop Bangladeshi migrants from illegally entering India. He also said that India needed to be tougher in its dialogue with Pakistan and expressed skepticism about Pakistan's sincerity.