Back BJP but stop chanting NaMo: RSS chief Bhagwat tells cadre

The 2014 Lok Sabha election has seen what is perhaps an unprecedented involvement of the RSS in the campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party, right from the PM-nominee wrangling to meetings with state-level leaders including the state chief of the all-important Uttar Pradesh.

The RSS has also periodically issued bits of advice -- to the BJP in February, when RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat called for the leaders to stay united; a couple of days ago when RSS general secretary Bhaiyyaji Joshi advised BJP chief Rajnath Singh to engage with leaders with diverse opinions.

But maybe the RSS is doing some course correction on just how it participates in the BJP's affairs, because on Sunday, Bhagwat told RSS men that they should not cross their "limits" while promoting the BJP.

"We are not in politics. Humara kaam Namo Namo karna nahin hai (Our work is not to chant NaMo NaMo)," Bhagwat said on the concluding day of the RSS's Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha in Bangalore.

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According to The Indian Express, Bhagwat was taking questions in an open forum when the subject of the RSS's role in the BJP came up. When somebody suggested that the role should be similar to that of Chanakya vis-a-vis Chandragupta Maurya, Bhagwat said the RSS should work in a more detached manner.

"We have our own limits, we should not cross our limits," he said, according to the paper.

He also said the RSS's efforts were not concentrated on who should become prime minister but on who should be blocked from gaining power.