The election campaign was marked by Modi’s criticism of the opposition for allegedly favouring India’s 200 million minority Muslims – a change of tack after low voter turnout in the initial phases became a cause of concern.
The opposition blamed him and the BJP of targeting Muslims to woo hardline Hindu voters, a charge Modi denied saying he doesn’t do “Hindu-Muslim politics”.
Chandrachur Singh, who teaches politics at Delhi’s Hindu College, said Bhagwat’s comments were not aimed at Modi.
“It’s an attempt to ensure that the political culture underlining our parliamentary democracy doesn’t get vitiated and that it operates on a healthy balance of ideas and perspectives,” Singh said.
Bhagwat also talked about Manipur, where fighting between the majority Meitei and minority Kuki communities over economic benefits has killed at least 220 people and displaced 60,000 in the last year.
Modi has not visited the north-eastern state, where his party controls the local government, despite crisscrossing the country conducting rallies during the campaign. At the general election, the BJP lost both parliamentary seats in Manipur.
“Manipur is still burning,” Bhagwat said. “Who is going to pay attention to it? It is a duty to deal with it on priority.”
