The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has issued a veiled warning to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that it would lose the basic purpose of its existence if it diluted its commitment to Hindutva.

While claiming that the Sangh did not interfere in the day-to-day working of any of its organisations, RSS joint general secretary K.S. Sudarshan ... said it would concern itself in ensuring that the BJP remains firm on its commitment to Hindutva.

He also claimed, in another context, that the biggest problem before the country today revolved round the existing differences on the concept of the nation and whether India should be a Hindu rashtra or not.

His remarks were aimed at reassuring the cadres that the induction into the BJP and its alliances with other groups would not dilute the party's basic character.

The RSS leader has also, in effect, put paid to assessments that the BJP may dilute its principal planks for the sake of its allies to come to power while lending credence to reports that any BJP-led Government would be ideologically remote-controlled by the RSS.

In a wide-ranging, free wheeling and surprisingly hard hitting interview, Sudarshan recalled that the primary objective behind establishing the Jan Sangh and then the BJP was to ensure a politics of value-based commitment to Hindutva ...

" ... India will have to present a model of development before the world that is based on Hindu thought. If the BJP becomes the vehicle of this, it will succeed both in India and also help contribute to peace and progress in the world," he said.

If the BJP keeps this vision of its missionary role for the future in mind it would perform a constructive role, he said. "But if it thought it could go ahead on its own and disassociated itself from the fundamental principles and beliefs then its fate would be like that of the Congress," he warned.

Sudarshan maintained that the new entrants were few in number. Besides ... the basic issue was whether they ... accepted the BJP's ideology or not ... He said that any organisation which kept in mind its ideology, forged ahead while one which failed to do so lagged behind.