Stung by Delhi poll verdict, RSS plans to strengthen base in UP

Lucknow: Stung by the result of the Delhi assembly elections, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has embarked upon an exercise to strengthen the organisation and thereby the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh with a sense of urgency. The RSS conclave currently being held in Kanpur is the first major gathering of the RSS top brass after the Delhi debacle. The gathering is significant in view of doubts being expressed over BJP’s real strength at the grassroots level in Uttar Pradesh. [caption id=“attachment_2102215” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AFP[/caption] The meeting will discuss the assembly election in Bihar due later this year. It will also have a brainstorming session over what went wrong in Delhi, despite the active role played by the RSS. The focus, according to sources, is on directly contacting youth across UP and Bihar and associating them with the RSS. More than statistics, the focus is on extending this connectivity to the farthest corners of these states. Interestingly, this was the second major national-level RSS meeting held in the state in three months. In December, a national meet was held where concern was expressed on the reduced visibility and importance of RSS shakhas in the state. The RSS Sar Sangh Chalak Mohan Bhagwat has been in Kanpur since Friday and is learnt to have urged the participants to act with a sense of urgency. According to sources, this urgency has stemmed from the fact that the BJP’s rout in Delhi came within nine months of a remarkable performance by the party in Lok Sabha election. “If the people can be swayed by another party in such a short time, then the effort to keep them connected to our ideology needs to happen continuously,” said a source in the RSS. The arrival of Bhagwat was kept well-guarded from the media and mediapersons were left guessing about his movement from one venue to the other. As is the case with all RSS meets, mediapersons were not allowed to enter the venue or attend any of the programmes. On Saturday, Bhagwat addressed RSS office-bearers, full-time volunteers and former pracharaks on the premises of an engineering institute in Bithoor on the outskirts of Kanpur. According to sources, the participants were of the view that the imposition of Kiran Bedi in Delhi, just a few days before the Delhi election was a mistake which even the RSS failed to foresee. Several former pracharaks who have been inactive or leading a retired life were invited to the meeting and it had been decided to entrust them with new responsibilities. According to sources, they will be urged to keep an eye on the working of volunteers and keep the top leadership apprised of the ground reality. Bhagwat and his deputy Bhaiyaji Joshi are learnt to have prepared a detailed roadmap in this regard. The former pracharaks are being urged to devote at least an hour a day and at least three days in a month to the organisation. On Sunday, Bhagwat addressed a huge gathering in the Railway Maidan in Niralanagar in Kanpur. Nearly 10,000 RSS volunteers in their distinctive white and khaki outfits and caps first recited the RSS motto and sat in neat rows in the huge ground. Bhagwat told the gathering that the RSS was fulfilling a historic duty of bringing together the Hindu community and for this purpose it was being expanded to newer areas. His stress was on maintaining discipline, ending corruption in public life, treating women with dignity and improving moral character. This objective, Bhagwat said, could not be achieved by mere speeches and a lot of ground work had to be done. The stress was on setting up more RSS shakhas at village levels. This programme, he said, was being named as a show of strength, but the RSS did not need to stage a show of strength since it already was a strong organisation. On Monday the scene again shifted to Bithoor where it will continue for the next two days, to be attended by key functionaries only. A functionary said the date of meeting had been decided several weeks ago and was attended by active members of the RSS in eastern parts of Uttar Pradesh, right from Gorakhpur to Kanpur, besides workers active in affiliate groups such as the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the Bajrang Dal, the Durga Vahini and Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh. It is learnt that RSS volunteers have been directed to intensify the membership drive and take the holding of shakhas more seriously. It is felt within the organisation that the time is appropriate to mobilise like-minded people from the community to associate with the RSS. This will help not only RSS strengthen its roots in the state but also prepare an environment favourable to the BJP before the Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.