NEW DELHI: On the third day of the RSS centenary celebrations in Delhi, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday dismissed the claims that Sangh decides on the president post for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying that it was “absolutely wrong”.
Responding to whether the RSS decides the BJP president, Bhagwat said, “It is absolutely wrong to say that the RSS decides everything. We can give advice, but decisions are made in that field itself. If we were deciding, would it take so long? Take your time.”
#WATCH | Delhi | On the question of ‘Should Indian leaders retire at the age of 75 years’, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat says, “…I never said I will retire or someone should retire. In Sangh, we are given a job, whether we want it or not. If I am 80 years old, and Sangh says go and… pic.twitter.com/p8wq03IKYj
— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2025
He further clarified that there are no issues of conflict.
“We may have differences of opinion, but not differences of hearts,” he said.
On opposition from political parties towards the RSS, Bhagwat recalled, “Initially, Jayaprakash Narayan was against the RSS, but later he came closer to us. Those who seek our help for good work receive it, while those who keep away don’t. What can we do?”
He narrated an incident from Nagpur, where the NSUI convention had 30,000 participants but no food arrangements.
“Plates were thrown, chaos broke out, and fights happened in the market. Eventually, a call came from the local Congress MP, and we took over the mess arrangements to resolve their issue. At that time, I was the RSS pracharak in Nagpur,” Bhagwat said.
During the interaction, he also mentioned former President Pranab Mukherjee.
#WATCH | Delhi: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat says, “Humare yahan mat bhed ho sakta hai par mann bhed nahi hai…Does RSS decide everything? This is completely wrong. This cannot happen at all. I have been running the Sangh for many years, and they are running the government.… pic.twitter.com/qClvA9HPFF
— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2025
Bhagwat said, “He too came to the RSS stage. Whatever misconceptions he had were cleared. Anyone’s heart can change. One should not dismiss the possibility of transformation. Leadership should always be transparent and clean. People must have faith that our leadership is transparent and clean.” (ANI)