File photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Press Trust of India)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that the annual Dusshera speech of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat raised "important national issues."
"The issues of social reform that he raised are very relevant today," the PM tweeted.
The RSS - the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh - is the ideological parent of the PM's party, the BJP. The opposition has objected to the broadcast of Mr Bhagwat's speech by national broadcaster Doordarshan. It said state-run television has no business in telecasting a speech by an organization that promotes communal tension, a charge the BJP and RSS describe as baseless.
Mr Bhagwat, 64, in his address to cadres, flagged "a serious upsurge in the jihadi activities" in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and alleged that illegal immigration "of a particular community from across the border in West Bengal and Assam has endangered the life of local Hindu communities" and law and order in those regions.
The RSS is often attacked by critics for being anti-secular. Mr Bhagwat, appearing to counter that criticism, said, "Full freedom of unrestricted debates on opinions about faith and beliefs intellectually, at the same time respect and acceptance of each other's faith, harmony and cooperation is the hall mark speciality of Hindu Culture."