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As a pracharak—the group’s term for its young, chaste foot soldiers—Modi started by cleaning the living quarters of senior members, but he rose quickly.

As a young pracharak, he had taken a vow of celibacy, and he gave no public sign of breaking it.

Modi, who was an RSS pracharak, or propagandist, for 12 years, claimed in 2014 that the transplantation of the elephant head of the god Ganesha to a human—a tale told in ancient epics—was a great achievement of Indian surgery millennia ago, and has made claims about stem cells similar to Rao's.

The Indian Express quotes a senior "pracharak" - full time RSS worker - as saying that the two main leaders of the organisation are in favour of a new dress code.

“Without it he could not have become a pracharak. They had to be unmarried. Questions would have been asked.”