Mr. Modi delivered a 15-minute address at the meet attended by 93 delegates of RSS-affiliated organisations and almost his entire Council of Ministers, and the BJP’s Parliamentary Board.

“The Prime Minister said he was proud to be a Swayamsewak and that he had reached where he had because of the values he had imbibed as a member of the RSS,” said a source present at the meeting. The conclave drew much flak from the Opposition which questioned the closed-door consultation between the government and the RSS, a “socio-cultural organisation.” Congress’ deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma termed the meeting “unconstitutional.”

“The Prime Minister and his Council of Ministers take an oath under the Constitution that they won’t disclose their plans and policies with those who are not under constitutional oath,” he added.

The RSS countered this charge saying there was only an exchange of ideas and no official secrets were revealed.

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi tweeted his rather strong views on the RSS-BJP ‘samanvay baithak’:

Countering the Opposition charges, senior RSS office-bearer Dattatreya Hosabele said: “The Congress, which has run the government of this country by remote control, has no right to question us. We are not an illegal organisation, we are interested in certain issues. When people associated with us have become Ministers it is natural to have some exchange of ideas. Nothing has been divulged in these meetings which cannot be discussed by any organisation, like the CII or the Press Club.”

According to Mr. Hosabele, “this was not a chintan baithak where decisions were to be taken, but one where discussions on issues were held.”

He said the RSS was going to set up a committee to examine the figures revealed by the religious demographic census (2011) and was in favour of cultural ties with neighbours like Pakistan and Bangladesh who were “like our own brothers as they were once part of our country.”