A delegation from the Communist Party of China held a courtesy meeting with RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale in Delhi on Tuesday, marking a rare interaction between the two sides. The meeting, which lasted about an hour, was held at the request of the Chinese side.

A delegation of Communist Party of China on Tuesday Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale in Delhi a day after meeting the BJP leadership at the party's headquarters. 

The Chinese delegation met the RSS second in command at his office at 11 am, and the meeting lasted for about an hour. “It was a courtesy call by them. The request for the meeting had come from the Chinese side,"PTI reported citing sources.

The interaction came a day after a Communist Party of China delegation, led by its International Department Vice Minister Sun Haiyan, visited the BJP headquarters here on Monday.

First CPC-BJP interaction since 2014 

According to insiders, this was likely the first such interaction between the two parties since the BJP came to power in 2014. Sources said the last similar engagement took place in 2009, when the BJP was headed by its then president and current Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari.

During the meeting at the BJP office, the delegation led by BJP national general secretary Arun Singh discussed at length “the means to advance inter party communications between the BJP and the CPC.” Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong was also part of the delegation that visited the BJP headquarters on Monday.

RSS-Chinese interaction over the years
The interaction is seen as significant given the limited engagement between the RSS and Chinese representatives in recent years. Notably, during RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s lecture series in August last year, Chinese diplomats were not invited even as representatives from several other countries attended. The decision was linked to Operation Sindoor, after which neither Pakistan nor China was invited.

Congress, AAP react to BJP-CPC meeting
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has hit out at the BJP over the meeting with Chinese officials, questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Centre's policy towards China.

"This is no ordinary meeting at the BJP headquarters; rather, it is between BJP leaders and Sun Haiyan, a leader of China's Communist Party. On one hand, Modi ji talks about staring China down with a red eye, and on the other hand, a red carpet is being laid out in the BJP office for Chinese leaders," the party said in a post on X.