In first visit to RSS headquarters for an Indian PM, Modi calls Sangh ‘banyan tree’ of Indian culture

On Sunday, Narendra Modi made history as the first Prime Minister of India to visit the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Nagpur, Maharashtra.

Modi paid a visit to the memorial of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar located at the Sangh’s headquarters in Reshim Bagh. He was joined by RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the RSS headquarters.

Subsequently, Modi inaugurated the foundation stone for an extension of the Madhav Netralaya Premium Centre in the city. RSS serves as the ideological guide for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). No Prime Minister of India has ever been to the RSS headquarters located in Nagpur.

While addressing the event at the eye hospital, Modi referred to the RSS as the “vatvruksh,” or banyan tree, emblematic of India’s eternal culture and modernization, whose values and principles aim to safeguard the national consciousness.

Modi appeared alongside Bhagwat at the event for the Eye Institute. This marked the third occasion that the PM and the RSS leader shared the stage since 2014 and the first instance since the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Madhav Netralaya was established in 2014 to honor the memory of the late RSS leader Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar. Modi characterized it as an establishment that has benefitted society for many years based on the principles of Golwalkar, the RSS’s second leader.

Modi has frequently discussed the impact of the RSS on his life. In his latest podcast with Lex Fridman, the prime minister mentioned that the principles of Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Vivekananda, and the service-oriented ideology of the RSS significantly influenced his development.