Mohan Bhagwat’s platitudes fail to mask RSS caste reality

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's recent address to the youth drew criticism for being a collection of platitudes, according to Frontline. The young audience remained unimpressed, recognising that Bhagwat was sent to soften the damage done by swayamsevaks in government. Frontline argues that the RSS chief is treated with unwarranted reverence, but his authority rests on neither scholarship nor social work.

The article notes that caste stratification persists in Hindu society, with Dalits still facing temple entry barriers and discrimination in public life. It recalls the RSS's opposition to the Hindu Code Bill in the 1950s and its early discomfort with the Constitution. Bhagwat has expressed private reservations about caste-based reservation but speaks publicly in favour, reportedly advised to avoid antagonising OBCs and Dalits.

Frontline contends that the RSS appears changed only due to six decades of secular governance, which established legal equality. The organisation's older views on women's domestic roles and caste surface still in senior functionaries' statements. The column concludes that the true nature of the RSS is the caste truth it cannot outrun.