When the BJP swept to power in 2014, the mood across much of India was electric. Citizens believed that the BJP-led government would deliver a socio-political transformation capable of rewriting the country’s governance script. The promise was ambitious — to dismantle the post-independence inertia that had long plagued India’s bureaucracy and public mindset, and replace it with a decisive march toward Vikshit Bharat — a developed, self-assured, and globally respected India.
At the centre of this political churning stood the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Sangh Parivar — not just ideological patrons, but the backbone that enabled the BJP’s rise and sustained its grip on power over a decade. Their deeply rooted cadre base, cultural connect, and ability to mobilise masses turned what was once an electoral aspiration into political hegemony. Narendra Modi was never an afterthought in this narrative. He was the Sangh’s first choice — the “blue-eyed boy” seen as the ideal carrier of its vision.
The Performance Gap
Yet, ten years since that resounding mandate, the sheen of that promise appears to have dimmed. Across crucial sectors — education, healthcare, public distribution, institutional reform, and administrative accountability — delivery has faltered. Instead of building a beacon of meritocracy, governance in many areas has slipped into a pattern of consolidation, where power appears more ornamental than transformative, and influence trumps accountability.
The early optimism has increasingly given way to unease. The dream of a new governance ethic, rooted in performance and reform, now contends with growing signs of bureaucratic stagnation and policy inertia.
The Credibility Risk for RSS
The RSS, which for decades cultivated an image of ideological purity and moral capital above the fray of everyday politics, now finds that image under stress. By being the chief ideological force behind a government that many now see as faltering, it risks being seen as politically captive to the very power it helped legitimise.
This is not merely a reputational issue. For the Sangh, the growing perception gap between its long-projected ideals and the performance of the BJP in power could trigger an identity crisis — one where it is no longer seen as the conscience keeper but as an enabler of drift.
India’s Double Pull: New World Order vs Poor State
This moment in India’s political trajectory is both precarious and consequential. One path leads toward the Sangh’s vision of a New World Order — a strong, self-reliant India capable of shaping global narratives. The other pulls towards internal fragility: a state weighed down by institutional decay, unfulfilled promises, and a creeping sense of governance fatigue.
The tension between these two pulls is not theoretical. It reflects in the lived experiences of citizens navigating rising costs, fragile institutions, and eroding public trust. It echoes in the growing chasm between political rhetoric and administrative delivery.
The Legacy Question
For the RSS, the question now is larger than immediate political loyalty. It is about historical legacy. Should it continue to stand uncritically by its first choice and risk sharing in the cost of stagnation? Or should it recalibrate — reclaiming ideological discipline and asserting its moral distance, before the performance gap becomes unbridgeable?
In the end, the choice before the Sangh is also the choice before the nation: whether to press forward toward transformation, or to risk drifting into systemic decline. The consequences of this choice will reverberate far beyond party politics. They will shape how this political epoch is remembered — by both history and the generations that inherit its outcomes.