BJP Starts Minority Outreach Program
Through its Minority Morcha, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) started the Saugat-e-Modi project aiming at delivering festive kits to 32 lakh disadvantaged Muslims ahead of Eid.
Originally meant to help Muslim populations, the project later grew to include Sikhs and Christians for Baisakhi and Easter, respectively, as The Hindu reports.
RSS Criticise BJP’s Action VHP
Although the project was presented as an inclusive gesture, Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) objected sharply. These influential Sangh Parivar groups said the BJP deviated from Hindutva values.
VHP names it “appeasement politics.”
VHP General Secretary Milind Parande publicly denounced the project at a Tirupati meeting on March 27, 2025, calling it a diluting of Hindutva philosophy.
Warning that such actions could alienate the primary Hindu voter base of the BJP, he contended that focused outreach to minorities was a political strategy rather than an intellectual commitment.
RSS Leaders Share Dissatisfaction
Similar worries expressed by an RSS Pracharak in a closed-door conference in Nagpur one day earlier, on March 26, 2025 Pointing to the RSS’s 2024 resolution against minority favoritism, he said that the BJP’s initiative ran against the long-standing Sangh opposition against religious-based social programs.
Many RSS officials apparently saw the action as a pre-election tactic meant to confuse ideological divisions.
Counter-campaign of VHP in Uttar Pradesh
The VHP organized 5,000 volunteers in Uttar Pradesh under a counter-campaign emphasizing Hindutva outreach even before Saugat-e-Modi was formally announced.
Their campaign sought to unite Hindu voters by distributing pamphlets and running awareness campaigns in important areas, so warning against assistance policies with minority targets ahead of the pivotal Bihar elections.
Internal RSS Survey Finds Cadre Opposition
Giving the opposition more weight, a February 2025 internal RSS poll found that 62% of its cadre disagreed with programs meant especially for minority groups.
Many RSS leaders cautioned the poll that the BJP’s strategy strayed from its ideological foundations, therefore undermining Hindu nationalist support.
BJP supports Saugat-e-Modi Initiative
Chief Jamal Siddiqui of the BJP Minority Morcha defended the project on March 28, 2025, under increasing opposition. Saugat-e-Modi, he said, fit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas vision.
Emphasizing that the program was a humanitarian endeavor designed to raise the impoverished across all societies, he discounted claims of appeasement politics.
Electoral Strategy against Ideological Consistency
Leaders of Sangh Parivar stayed dubious despite Siddiqui’s explanation, seeing the project as a pre-election tactic meant for late 2025 before the Bihar elections.
Though the Sangh Parivar regards it as a violation of Hindutva values, Bihar’s complicated caste and religious dynamics make minority outreach a possible electoral benefit.
BJP-RSS Rift: A Regular Tension
This inner struggle captures larger tensions between the political pragmatism of the BJP and the ideological rigidity of the RSS. Although the BJP is now a major electoral force, its calculated concessions to increase its voter base have often run counter to the RSS and VHP’s Hindutva goal.
an Ideological Conflict Pattern
The Saugat-e-Modi dispute is not a one-off incident. Similar conflicts emerged over: The PM Jan Vikas Karyakram, supporting minority-owned businesses.
Pasmanda Muslim outreach preceding the general elections for 2024.
Every time the RSS and VHP voiced worries that such actions compromise the Hindutva mission.
Harmonizing Ideological Coherence with Expansion
The issue still is to increase electoral appeal outside the conventional Hindu base as the BJP gets ready for the 2029 national elections.
Stay ideological coherent with the Sangh Parivar.
The Saugat-e-Modi conflict is a sign of a more general ideological conflict that will keep influencing the BJP-Sangh link going forward.
