Nagpur: The modest, double-storeyed Hedgewar Bhawan, the headquarters of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has stood in a narrow city by lane for nearly eight decades.

Today, the sleepy edifice housing just half a dozen residents is in sharp contrast to the Ladies Club at civil lines, which is bustling with activity for the three-day national council meeting of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political offshoot of the RSS.

BJP functionaries from across the country have flocked to this city of oranges for the crucial meet. But the ambience at RSS headquarters belies the grand event ahead.

Neither RSS chief K. Sudarshan nor joint secretary H.V. Seshadri are in town, strengthening speculation that all is not well between the two organizations. An RSS official, however, said their tours had been planned before the party meet. For BJP leaders, their absence is a mere "coincidence."

But though RSS is not directly involved with the BJP get-together, it is quietly preparing for Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's visit to the Murti Mandir, the memorial of Keshav Baliram Hedgewar who founded the Hindu nationalist RSS in 1925.

Located 1.5 km from the RSS headquarters, the Mandir has been readied with fresh flowers and decorations to welcome Vajpayee and new BJP president Bangaru Laxman when they come calling later.

But at the entrance to the RSS office, it is only the aged workers who huddle around chatting leisurely, sundry newspapers and a telephone the only props beside them. Inside, the small rooms with their minimal furniture are virtual retiring chambers for the RSS oldies. Delhi has clearly taken the power away.

"As long as Balasaheb Deoras (former RSS chief) was living here, Nagpur was an active RSS center," said a long-time resident. "But when Rajju Bhaiyya (Rajendra Singh) took charge, activity shifted to Delhi," he added.

Hedgewar Bhawan is today a far cry from the proud days of yore, they said. Only 20 people live here, six of whom are over 60 years old. Old-timers said the surge of committed, young workers, who left their homes for the RSS, has abated.

But there is still one key resident here, the frail, whispering 87-year-old Narayanrao Tarate, who had introduced a young Vajpayee to the RSS six decades ago. Their relationship revived this March when he wrote a letter to Vajpayee. The "teacher" now waited for his "student" prime minister's visit.

"When I was ill I received his letter saying 'we will break but not bend,'" recalled Tarate. "I wrote back: 'we will neither break nor bend,'" he added.

The recent RSS unhappiness with Vajpayee's ruling coalition of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) notwithstanding, Tarate is all praise for him.

"I think Vajpayee is managing the circus well," he told India Abroad News Service. "Circumstances" are the real culprit for Vajpayee's inability to fulfill the saffron agenda, he said.

But when the two meet, they are unlikely to talk politics. "I just want to meet him and spend as much time with him as I can," Tarate whispered. His religious agenda, however, stays unchanged. "Watch out," he said, his eyes lighting up, "Hinduism will flourish in this century... India will be a great nation."

Most others at the RSS office are unwilling to talk on national issues. But much persistence elicited their unhappiness over developments in Jammu and Kashmir, and their clear view is that India has no alternative but to take a hard line.

India Abroad News Service