E-Paper
Meet Atul Limaye: RSS strategist who engineered Mahayuti's landslide victory
Atul Limaye played a crucial role in coordinating with top BJP leaders and reached out to discontented social groups during the election campaign.
Atul Limaye, a 54-year-old joint general secretary of the RSS, has become the focus after the Mahayuti alliance's landslide election victory.
Limaye's strategy and calculated social engineering, including reaching out to leaders of discontented social groups, have reportedly played a major role in helping the NDA tackle anti-incumbency.
Who is Atul Limaye?
An engineer from Nashik, Limaye quit a multinational company nearly three decades ago to join the RSS and became a full-time pracharak.
The new Sangh strategist initially worked in western Maharashtra regions like Raigad and Konkan, later becoming a Saha Prant Pracharak for the Devgiri Prant, encompassing the Marathwada and North Maharashtra regions.
Also read: Congress suffers worst-ever defeat in Maharashtra, can it bounce back?
Limaye was in charge of the western Maharashtra region, including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa, when the BJP captured power in the state in 2014.
Limaye's tenure as a Saha Prant Pracharak helped him understand the issues facing the state's agrarian economy and the region's socio-political dynamics.
As the western region chief, Limaye gained a deep understanding of Maharashtra's political landscape, including the strengths and weaknesses of BJP leaders and the opposition.
After these roles, Limaye formed various research teams, study groups and think tanks that deliberated on various issues, from the demographics of religious minorities to policy-making within the government framework.
Also read: RSS plays a key role in BJP-led Mahayuti’s big win in Maharashtra
How Atul Limaye helped Mahayuti?
Limaye's task was cut out when the RSS decided to play a proactive role in supporting the BJP, in contrast to the Lok Sabha election earlier this year. As the joint general secretary, Limaye teamed up with veteran BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, and top BJP leaders from Delhi.
With Jarange Patil's pro-Maratha reservation agitation shaking the state's social landscape, Limaye reached out to various Maratha leaders, assuring them that the BJP genuinely supports reservation for the Maratha community without categorising them as OBCs.
Also check live updates on election results
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi in power at the Centre, Limaye's team also promised to pursue the matter in the Supreme Court.
Gajanan Nimdeo, chief editor of Tarun Bharat, a Marathi daily and RSS mouthpiece, told the Hindustan Times that the strategic planning and inclusion of Gadkari and Fadnavis worked wonders in the elections.
