An RSS top official has denied Hindi news daily Dainik Jagran’s front-page report on the right-wing body’s chief Mohan Bhagwat’s purported clarification over the comment made by BJP president JP Nadda about the party “running itself”, independent of the RSS.  

On June 17, Dainik Jagran reported in its Gorakhpur edition’s front-page and its website that Bhagwat had called Nadda’s comment a “personal statement” in response to a question asked by an RSS volunteer during his address at a trainee camp in Gorakhpur of Uttar Pradesh. The report’s headline quoted Bhagwat as saying that the RSS has nothing to do with Nadda’s views and said it was an “attempt to bridge the fissures between the RSS and the BJP”. 

However, RSS Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh Sunil Ambekar called the news report “baseless” in a tweet on X.

Ambekar also attached the Dainik Jagran report which said that Bhagwat’s clarification was in response to a volunteer’s question on the relationship between the BJP and the RSS, referring to Nadda’s statement. Bhagwat reportedly said that it was Nadda’s personal views and that there is democracy in the party, and everyone is free to express their views. As per the report, he added that there was “no need to pay attention to such things”.

Amid the Lok Sabha elections, Nadda said in a public address: “In the beginning, we would have been less capable, smaller and needed the RSS. Today, we have grown and we are capable. The BJP runs itself.”

Ambekar tweeted that Bhagwat “did not give any public statement in Gorakhpur”.

Meanwhile, the publication changed the headline of its digital report to “RSS calls Sangh chief’s statement on JP Nadda ‘baseless’”. Newslaundry tried to reach out to Dainik Jagran but could not connect with its representatives. We will update the report if a response is received.

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