RSS veteran Madhav is J&K BJP pointman

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 20

In signals that it has begun placating the upset Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ruling BJP on Tuesday appointed old Sangh hand, Ram Madhav, as incharge for the upcoming Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

The appointment comes ahead of a three-day coordination committee meeting of the RSS with all its 37 affiliates from August 31 to September 2 in Kerala’s Palakkad. Madhav, once a permanent fixture in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign entourages, was ousted as BJP general secretary in September 2020 and has been in the cold since then.

Before his ouster, Ram Madhav had been tasked by the BJP to stitch party’s pacts in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.

Today, the BJP facilitated his return to active party politics with his appointment as J&K election incharge alongside Union Minister G Kishan Reddy.

Importantly, the RSS never abandoned Madhav, famous as a star pracharak in Sangh circles. Once out of BJP, Madhav was quickly inducted as RSS national executive member. In that capacity, he leads the intellectual outreach of the Sangh.

Madhav is currently a member of the governing council of pro-right think tank, India Foundation, in New Delhi.

Madhav’s return has caused a flutter in BJP circles as he was rumoured to have fallen out with Amit Shah over differences in approach to alliances in North East with Himanta Biswa Sarma, a Shah confidante.

At his peak in the BJP, Madhav was said to have orchestrated PM Modi’s famed presence at Madison Square in New York, Wembley in London and Sydney in 2014.