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Narendra Modi on Sunday became the first Prime Minister to visit the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) headquarters in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Modi visited the memorial of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar at the Sangh’s headquarters in Reshim Bagh, Nagpur on the occasion of his birth anniversary. He was accompanied by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Later, Modi laid the foundation stone laying of Madhav Netralaya Premium Centre, a new extension building of Madhav Netralaya Eye Institute & Research Centre in Nagpur, Maharashtra. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also accompanied PM Modi. RSS is the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
No Prime Minister of India has ever visited the RSS headquarters in Nagpur. Speaking at the eye hospital function, Modi described the RSS as the "vatvruksh", or banyan tree, of India’s immortal culture and modernisation whose ideals and principles were to protect the national consciousness. ''We discarded the penal code which was made with a slave mentality and implemented the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Our mantra of vasudhaiva kutumbakam (the world is one family) is reaching all corners of the globe,'' he said. Modi shared the stage with Bhagwat at the Eye Institute event. This was for the third time that the PM and the RSS chief shared the stage since 2014 and the first time since the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
The RSS volunteers are working selflessly in various spheres in different parts of the country, the PM said. "The Sangh is the ‘banyan tree’ of India’s immortal culture and modernisation," Modi said. ''This large vatvruksh is not an ordinary one," he said, adding the RSS is synonymous to service.
Madhav Netralaya was founded in 2014 in memory of late RSS chief Madhavrao Sadashivrao Golwalkar. Modi described it as an institution serving the society for several decades on the ideals of Golwalkar, the second RSS chief. Influence of RSS on Modi's life Modi has repeatedly spoken about the influence of the RSS on his life.
In his recent podcast with Lex Fridman , the prime minister said the teachings of Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Vivekananda, and the service-driven philosophy of the RSS played a crucial role in shaping him. “More than anything, the RSS provides you with a clear direction toward what can truly be called a purpose in life. Secondly, the nation is everything, and serving the people is akin to serving God,” Modi told Lex Fridman in the podcast released on March 16.
Modi said on Sunday the ''tapasya'' of RSS with its ''sanghathan'' and ''samarpan'' in the last 100 years is showing fruits as the country approaches its target of 'Viksit Bharat' in 2047. The 1925-47 was a crisis period as the country was fighting for independence and now, after 100 years, the RSS is stepping into another milestone, he said. ''(The time span from) 2025 to 2047 is important because big goals are ahead of us.
We have to lay the foundation stone of the next 1,000 years of a strong and developed India,'' Modi said. The nation is celebrating 75 years of the Constitution this year and the RSS is completing 100 years (of its formation), Modi said. (With PTI inputs).
