RSS changes tack, backs PM Narendra Modi's China visit

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to China slated this week gives him an opportunity to join the league of Lord Buddha, physician Dwarkanath Kotnis (revered in China for his medical services during the second Sino-Japanese war in 1942), Rabindranath Tagore and AB Vajpayee, all of whom have “left deep, lasting impressions on China’s popular consciousness”, according to RSS mouthpiece Organiser’s latest cover story. The Organiser said “the well-calibrated symbolism of Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping shows the duo has a better chance in achieving breakthroughs and bringing down the negativity over political questions”. The Organiser comments assume significance in view of the RSS’ long-standing suspicions about “Communist China”, whose territorial incursions had made many Sangh leaders refer to the northern neighbour as an “unchecked aggressor”. In his recent Vijayadashami speech in October 2014, Sarsangchalak Mohan Bhagwat had even called for a boycott of Chinese goods saying “where will the government draw strength from if we don’t stop buying things from China?”

Organiser editor Prafulla Ketkar told ET that although India existed significantly in political consciousness of the Chinese, there have been disruptions in the last many decades despite the “civilisational pride” associated with both nations. The Organiser, largely optimistic on the visit, added a dose of warning, advising Modi to be careful about Beijing’s ‘One belt, One route’ programme that it described as a legacy issue for Xi.

Estranged Sangh idealogue KN Govindacharya had more by way of caution to offer. “Modi should understand that the socio-political conditions in China and India are very different and he must not try to ape the Chinese. The border issues need to be sorted out first. Apart from that, we must realise that we can be competitors at best, if not rivals,” he told ET.

Modi in a recent interview to TIME magazine, said India and China have “learnt from history” in dealing with their border dispute and that by and large peace and tranquillity exists on the India-China border with not a single bullet having been fired for over a quarter of a century now.