Yet another peculiarity in Golwalkar’s character was that while he didn’t encourage frequent interactions with the Hindu Mahasabha, he routinely had regional Congress leaders preside over RSS’ programmes.60 The reason for this stark contradiction in a man who was known for his bitter criticism of the Congress party, could have stemmed from the fact that he wanted the RSS, and not the Hindu Mahasabha, to appropriate the space for shepherding the Hindus and moreover, his antipathy towards the Congress had not yet developed into an ideological hatred.
