A senior ideologue of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) says he expects a government headed by Narendra Modi to make some forward movement on the three issues of concern to it — repealing Article 370, building a Ram temple in Ayodhya and introducing a Uniform Civil Code.

“There should be some initiative from the new government on the issues of Ram temple in Ayodhya, the Uniform Civil Code and repealing Article 370,” RSS ideologue M.G. Vaidya told The Hindu. This is his “personal” view, he added.

He felt the BJP lost the 2004 Lok Sabha election because these core issues were put on the backburner. Claiming that the BJP alone would get 230 to 240 seats in the new Lok Sabha, Mr. Vaidya appeared confident that a “stable” NDA government would take office.

He said the three issues could be resolved within the parameters of the Constitution. Article 370 was a temporary arrangement, the Civil Code was one of the Directive Principles and the presence of a temple beneath the demolished structure in Ayodhya had been proved, he argued.

Asked if such expectations would hamper the functioning of a possible BJP government, Sudhir Pathak, former editor of RSS daily Tarun Bharat said, “I don’t think so. The current RSS leadership and BJP leadership are of the same age group and all these issues will be tackled much more tactfully than was done at the time of the previous BJP government.”

Mr. Pathak also felt that a Modi government would take some steps on implementing the core concerns of the RSS.

“But it is going to be a coalition government with regional parties, and these regional players will have their own compulsions,” said Mr. Pathak. However, he added that a “strong leader” like Mr. Modi could handle these problems.

Vikas Jambhulkar, who teaches Political Science at Nagpur University, felt the Sangh Parivar would certainly pressure a possible BJP-led government to take some initiative on these three core issues.

“They [Sangh Parivar] may even go on their own and try to fast-track these issues, but it will be interesting to see if Modi budges under this pressure. But the dangers of a communal flare-up will always be there now,” Professor Jambhulkar told The Hindu.