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Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, RSS set to step up mass-connect campaigns in U.P.
Within the RSS, the focus on enlisting ideologically aligned youths who, so far, have known the organisation from afar– a key point that emerged during Bhagwat’s meetings–is set to gain traction from October.
The BJP’s ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), is set to implement a slew of measures finalised during Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat’s three-day Awadh Prant visit that concluded in Lucknow Tuesday.
Within the RSS, the focus on enlisting ideologically aligned youths who, so far, have known the organisation from afar– a key point that emerged during Bhagwat’s meetings–is set to gain traction from October.
In October, the seven-day ‘prathmik shiksha varg’ (initial training camps)’ - the first interface with Sangh - will be organised across the state.
“There is a special focus on enlisting youths from marginalised sections, including OBCs and Dalits, in these training camps,” a Sangh cadre said. These camps will run till November.
There is a greater focus on expanding the Sangh’s reach in ‘yet-unreached’ areas.
Since 2014, when a ‘Modi-fied’ BJP came to power at the Centre, the number of youths showing interest in Sangh’s ideology and attending its ‘shakhas’ has increased, Sangh cadres said and added that ahead of 2025, the Sangh’s centenary year, the plan was to ensure 100% shakha coverage.
“With this in mind, we’ve been asked to step up campaigns in designated ‘bastis’ and make them ‘poorna’ (complete) bastis,” a Sangh cadre said. In Sangh’s parlance, an area or a unit with a population of 10,000 is referred to as a basti and approximately 10 such bastis comprise a ‘nagar’- a unit with a population of around one lakh. ‘Poorna bastis’ refer to a unit where all three ‘shakhas’ (for professionals and students, and weekly or ‘milan’) are held. “That’s when the basti is ‘sangha anukul poorna’ (complete by Sangh standards),” the RSS cadre said explaining that Lucknow had alone around 40 nagars, meaning 400 bastis.
Lucknow is a ‘vibhag’ in Sangh’s parlance and six vibhags make up a prant. U.P. thus has six prants and the Awadh Prant meeting that RSS chief attended covers politically key constituencies such as Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituency of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi where Sangh is stepping up campiagns to hold shakhas.
The Sangh leadership, which has already floated Muslim Rashtriya Manch (MRM) to build bridges with the most-influential minority and mostly considered skeptical to BJP-RSS, also tasked the cadres with connecting with them.
“We have been told to visit and accept invites from Muslims. The Sangh leadership is clear that we needn’t discriminate with them but yes, this approach will be applicable only to nationalists across communities,” a Sangh cadre said.
During his meeting with influential people on Monday, RSS chief set an inclusive agenda for cadres and stated that the “Sangh welcomes and connects with all, including critics, as it wants to take everyone along in the task of nation building”. However, he had made it clear that while “critics and criticism” were welcome, the Sangh would ensure that it (criticism) didn’t harm the Sangh’s image. “We will of course make it clear that we don’t suffer in the process,” the Sangh chief was reported to have said during a closed-door interaction.
The RSS is also connecting in a bigger way with ‘ghumantu jaatis’ (nomadic tribes). “Now there is a separate ‘pramukh (head)’ for them. And even in our training camps, we have started getting youth from such communities,” another RSS cadre said.
Rural outreach was also a key part of the Sangh agenda. Ensuring at least one RSS shakha in every village is part of the Sangh’s plan, which automatically entails connecting with farmers. The Sangh vistaraks (full timers) are being deployed for organisational activities in villages, a move similar to the BJP’s as part of its plan to expand its reach in the state. In BJP, too, Dalit and OBC outreach plans are taking place.
