Government on right track but own economic model needed, says RSS

The RSS said on Friday that the Narendra Modi government was on the right track, and that the three days of discussions with government leaders had been "very useful".

RSS leader Dattatreya Hosabale also said that he and his colleagues told the government that India needed to go for an economic model suited to it instead of aping the West which was facing a grave economic crisis.

"For three days, we gathered and discussed various issues," said Hosabale, a senior figure in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological parent of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He told the media that the BJP-led government was now led by "those who are allied to our ideology".

"We had very useful discussions" with BJP leaders and ministers," he said.

"This was not a critical assessment of the government," he said. "Our people work on the ground, we came together to provide valuable and useful inputs to those in the government."

The Modi government, he said, had done good things since taking power in May 2014 and it was progressing on the right track.

"The government's direction is fine, so is its dedication and thinking," he added.

Hosabale, 59, who interacts closely with the BJP, said among the subjects that figured in the BJP-RSS discussions were cross-border terrorism, internal terrorism, better rural development, relations with neighbouring countries, and the country's cultural heritage.

He said the Modi government had raised the aspirations and hopes of the people as never before and it had created a sense of confidence both within and outside the country.

"That is the most welcome thing" about the government, he said.