Modi back in RSS good books?

NEW DELHI: The much-talked of rift between RSS and Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has is set to be closed with senior Sangh figure Mohanrao Bhagwat providing the healing touch at a function on April 14 in Ahmedabad where he will launch 'Jyotipunj', a book authored by the saffron strongman.
The 200-page book, the third to be written by a political leader from the BJP, is not expected to generate the controversies associated with the efforts of former finance minister Jaswant Singh and leader of opposition L K Advani.Modi has stuck to writing of RSS figures, some not so well-known, who have played a role in building the organization.
Firmly keeping the spotlight away from himself, Modi has written of persons who have shaped the RSS as well as his own thinking. To that extent, the book is rather different from Advani's My country, My Life, which is seen as part of a build-up to his bid for the country's top job as BJP and NDA���s prime ministerial hopeful.
Yet, there is a political significance to the book launch. It will signal the RSS's approval of Modi with the organization's general secretary agreeing to be the chief guest at the function. With Bhagwat expected to succeed K S Sudarshan as RSS sarsanghachalak or chief, the point will only be underlined and taken due note of by the extended Sangh Parivar.
While the BJP has clearly decided that Advani will steer the party's challenge in the next general election, Modi might be slowly moving ahead of his contemporaries. This was quite obvious after his Gujarat win, but may now get more formal recognition. It also ends considerable acrimony between Modi and RSS. Some RSS leaders openly campaigned against him in last year's assembly elections. On his part, he has never made it a secret that he would not contenance Sangh guidance in running Gujarat.
Modi's narrative takes a close look at the functioning of an organisation which, to many people, still remains shrouded in mystery. It, at the same time, seeks to inform people about the elements that constitute his core ��� fashioned by decades spent in the Sangh. This should be reassuring to Parivar adherents as Modi has used the book to reassure the cadre that he remains firm in firm in his ideological commitments.
The Gujarat CM, it may be recalled, was himself an RSS pracharak (full-time functionary) before he entered the rough and tumble of electoral politics. The book, therefore, has been written by an insider. It profiles the life of 15 RSS workers, most of whom are relatively unknown entities. Of these, six hail from Maharashtra, while the remaining nine are from Gujarat.