Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nagpur, to pay homage to RSS founder Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in the centennial year of the organisation, was hardly surprising. Nor was the apparent bonhomie between Modi and RSS sarsanghchalak Mohan Rao Bhagwat, given their long association. The riots that erupted a fortnight prior to the PM’s visit, however, hold implications for the Sangh-BJP dynamic.

The visit, the first by a sitting PM, has been interpreted as a peacekeeping mission after an extended period of froideur. The success of reconciliation efforts after the setback in the general elections was reflected in the results of the Maharashtra assembly polls. But the recent hardening of the Hindutva stance by some of the Sangh frontal organisations could become a matter of concern.

In Nagpur, for example, eyewitness accounts indicate that gratuitous provocation by members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal contributed to the disturbances. By all accounts, public sentiment was largely indifferent to the demand for levelling Aurangzeb’s tomb. But Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis came dangerously close to an apologist stance when he claimed that public anger had been ignited by the film Chhava, which depicts the Maratha struggle against the Mughal emperor.

Clearly, action against the provocateurs will be left to the judiciary, as in the case of the 2020 Delhi riots. Five years after the fact, the courts have directed an FIR against........

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