Srinagar: The controversial remarks by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale that New Delhi should not shut the doors on dialogue with Islamabad indicates that India and Pakistan may be edging toward a diplomatic breakthrough, analysts say.Whether the remarks by Hosabale which have been opposed by some in the ideological fountainhead of the Hindu far right as well as the opposition Congress, lead to a comprehensive dialogue on normalising bilateral relations remains far from certain.However, the RSS leader’s suggestion which comes a year after Operation Sindoor, and the reaction to it from Islamabad indicates that the two nuclear-armed countries may have come to a realisation that they can’t afford another conflict over Kashmir, analysts said.In an interview to PTI, Hosabale said: “If Pakistan is like a pinprick trying to create incidents like Pulwama, etc., we have to answer appropriately according to the situation because the security and self-respect of a country and nation have to be protected, and the government of the day should take note of it and take care of it. But at the same time, we should not close the doors. We should always be ready to engage in dialogue. That is why diplomatic relations are maintained, trade and commerce continue, and visas are being given. So we should not stop these, because there should always be a window for dialogue.”The Congress has targeted the ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) for the remarks which have, however, earned widespread support including from the former Army chief general (retd) Manoj Naravane, the ruling National Conference (NC) patron Farooq Abdullah in J&K and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti. Islamabad has also welcomed the statement terming it as “a positive development”. The country’s foreign office last week expressed hope that “sanity will prevail in India”. Some analysts believe that the RSS leader’s statement suggests a recalibration of strategic assessments by the two countries amid the ongoing global upheaval due to the conflict in West Asia.Also read: Full Text | Operation Sindoor Balance Sheet: A Year Later, Where Do India and Pakistan Stand?Sheikh Showkat Hussain, senior political analyst and former dean at the School of Legal Studies, Central University of Kashmir, said that the call for the resumption of Indo-Pak dialogue seems to be the “realisation of devastating consequences to which the confrontation” on Kashmir may lead the two countries. “The RSS has been made to set the ball rolling lest they block any initiative towards resolution that may follow. We must keep the fingers crossed as invisible forces within the establishments have sabotaged previous such initiatives,” Hussain said. However, Aditya Sinha, senior journalist and co-author of The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, among other books, claimed that New Delhi was not acting on its own. He said that under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India was “buckling under American pressure” to mend its ties with Pakistan, and the RSS leader’s remarks are a “telling sign” that New Delhi may already be folding.US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed to have brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan following the May 2025 conflict, though New Delhi has denied such assertions as “baseless”.Trump has been all praise for Islamabad and more specifically its “fantastic” field marshal Asim Munir for his mediatory role in the US-Iran talks. The US president hosted Munir, twice, and Pakistan has handed over a number of high-profile terrorists to the US under his military leadership besides signing deals on crypto and mineral mining. On the other hand, many believe that India’s fortunes have dwindled in Washington in recent years under the Modi government including over the alleged Indian plan to assassinate US citizen and Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.An Indian national Nikhil Gupta who allegedly worked with Vikash Yadav, an intelligence officer with India’s external intelligence agency RAW, was arrested in connection with the plot. In 2024, the US Securities and Exchange Commission brought a civil fraud lawsuit against the Indian billionaire and Modi’s aide Gautam Adani over the alleged solar energy project bribes.Last week, The New York Times reported that Adani has agreed to pay a proposed $6 million penalty whereas his nephew Sagar Adani who is also an accused in the case has agreed to pay $12 million under the proposed settlement agreement filed in a federal US court earlier this month, though it will still need a judge’s approval. “I feel it is all American pressure,” Sinha said, referring to Hosabale’s remarks, “But India and the RSS will go through the motions. Modi won’t say anything because it dilutes his brand.”Jammu-based political commentator and senior journalist Zafar Choudhary said that the timing of the RSS leader’s remarks merits more attention than the suggestion itself. “RSS has a long held view of engaging Pakistan through people-to-people contacts. However, the organisation here draws a clear distinction of engaging with people and not the government and its institutions. Despite this being a very well articulated idea over the decades, its impracticality has never been questioned – no cross-border civil society engagement can ever be possible without the governments’ involvement.”He said that Hosabale’s suggestion was a continuation of “recent developments” including the Union defence minister Rajnath Singh’s speech at the Shanghai Corporation Organisation in Bishkek on May 14.Singh had faced flak in India for his statement that terrorism had no religion and no nationality which sharply differs from the Modi government’s public stance that Pakistan has been a state sponsor of terrorism in the region. The statement came a year after three terrorists in Pahalgam singled out a group of tourists on the basis of their Hindu faith and shot them dead, prompting Congress to allege that Singh had given a clean chit to Pakistan. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Singh’s statement was Modi government’s “policy appeasement of the US and calibrated capitulation to China”.In its 2026 Annual Report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended that the US should impose sanctions on the RSS and designate India as a “Country of Particular Concern.”Choudhary said that since RSS has been facing increased criticism from the West, the statement of engagement with Pakistan coming soon after Hosabale’s US visit can’t be seen in isolation.He said that the RSS leader’s suggestion could either be in consultation with or at behest of the BJP-led Union government to test the public response or a message to the west that the organisation’s views are rooted in civilisational ethos of dialogue. He said that there are instances from the past where RSS has provided cover to the Modi government and earlier Vajpayee government’s upcoming policy rethinks. “In Delhi’s strategic community, it is believed that the policy of zero engagement with Pakistan delivers no advantage. The war on Iran and the resultant crisis of security, energy and navigation has forced recalibration across multiple borders,” he said. Choudhary said that India may also be considering limited engagement with Pakistan for strategic purposes. “For example, with Chabahar port in crisis, India’s overland access to Afghanistan and further to Central Asia could only be through Pakistan. This is just one example. There are a number of instances from the past suggesting that potential incidents of terrorist violence could be prevented more efficiently when the two counties engaged with other”.