Modi’s maiden Sangh HQs visit today as PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Sunday visit the Nagpur headquarters of the ruling BJP’s parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for the first time since his election in 2014.

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The politically significant visit comes ahead of the BJP’s presidential election which is due any time now, with the state unit elections already underway.

There are indications that the RSS and PM have resolved the differences that had cropped up during the 2024 Lok Sabha election cycle and would be on the same page about the replacement of BJP chief JP Nadda.

Read: Modi pays tributes to RSS founders, says their memorial dedicated to values of Indian culture

Read: RSS at 100: Introspection and resolve

Sangh functionaries have already clarified publicly that the BJP was free and independent to elect its chief.

Modi will arrive in Nagpur early Sunday and visit the RSS headquarters, famously called Resham Bagh first.

The visit is timed around the birth anniversary of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, the RSS founder, who was born on April 1, 1889.

“The PM will undertake darshan at Smruti Mandir and pay homage to the founding fathers of the RSS,” Modi’s schedule says.

At Resham Bagh, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will receive the PM. Smruti Mandir at Resham Bagh is a memorial to the first and second RSS chiefs — founder Hedgewar and MS Golwalkar — and is the nerve centre of Sangh work and activities. Key training modules are imparted here.

The RSS secretariat where Bhagwat and other Sangh brass reside is around 1.5 km from here in Mahaal.

RSS sources said PM would be felicitated by the Hedgewar Smarak Samiti, which is headed by senior RSS hand Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi.

The PM will spend around half an hour at the RSS headquarters. Importantly, this is not the first time a BJP PM is visiting Resham Bagh.

Late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee had visited along with his deputy LK Advani on August 27, 2000.

Modi’s visit comes as the RSS marks its centenary year. It was founded on Vijayadashami Day in 1925 and will enter its 100th year this October 2. Later in Nagpur, the PM will also visit Deekshabhoomi and pay homage to Dr BR Ambedkar. It was here that Ambedkar embraced Buddhism along with thousands of followers in 1956.

The Prime Minister will also lay the foundation stone of Madhav Netralaya Premium Centre, a new extension building of Madhav Netralaya Eye Institute & Research Centre. Established in 2014, it is a premier super-specialty ophthalmic care facility located in Nagpur.

He will then visit the Solar Defence and Aerospace Limited’s ammunition facility in Nagpur and inaugurate the newly built 1,250-m-long and 25-m wide airstrip for Unarmed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and the live munition and warhead testing facility to test the Loitering Munition and other guided munitions.

From Nagpur, the PM will visit Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh.