SANGH CALLS ACTION AGAINST ‘ULTRA LEFT’ A WELCOME STEP

NEW DELHI: The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has welcomed the police action against activists who were arrested on Tuesday for their alleged involvement in the violence that rocked Bhima-Koregaon near Pune in Maharashtra on January 1. The Sangh, the ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Wednesday said the action against the “ultra Left” ideologues was “a welcome step.”

“It is a good step by the government to identify these elements and investigate to bring facts to fore. The ultra left has been instigating violence and it needs to be probed,” said Sunil Ambekar, the national organising secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), which is the students’ wing of the RSS .

The ABVP will initiate a panIndia contact programme across campuses on Thursday to reach out to students, especially those who they feel are more “vulnerable” to gravitating towards ideology of the “ultra left”.

The RSS has been raising red flags over the prevalence of leftist ideology across campuses, blaming it for inciting students to “rebel against constitutional institutions”. The contact programme is a part of the larger battle that the Sangh is waging against Leftist ideology.

Ambekar said the organisation will initiate a ‘Samvaad Abhiyan’ (dialogue campaign) for reaching out to students and addressing their concerns. “The Samvaad Abhiyan will have state and national-level leaders of the ABVP interacting with students, especially those who come from marginalsied sections, to bridge the gaps that exist between communities and to prevent ultra Left activists from recruiting them .”

While RSS functionaries hailed Tuesday’s arrest of five activists as a “step in the right direction”, civil rights activist Anand Teltumbde, whose residence was also raided , said the police action is a step to “terrorise people into silence by targeting select intellectuals and activists.”